The new owner of the old Saskatoon police headquarters is already renovating the building, despite not having a lease agreement in place for tenants to occupy it.
While most companies won’t start renovations until a lease is signed with a tenant, a spokesperson for Duchuck Holdings Ltd. says the developer is confident it can fill its 64,020-square-foot office building by the end of 2018.
"I think the unique opportunity that this building presents is that it’s like a new building at considerably less cost, so it really just does offer great value,” said ICR Commercial Real Estate managing partner Barry Stuart, who helped broker the deal on behalf of Duchuck Holdings president Brent Suer.
Duchuck Holdings Ltd. — which purchased the site from the city late last year for $10.7 million — has been working on the interior of the building for weeks and already has plans to transform the concrete exterior into a glass facade by this spring.
“The interior has been ongoing with demolition improvements, upgrading and renewal of the entire mechanical systems, and just because of the time of the year, the plan is to start in spring of 2018 to remove the exterior and install the new front elevation,” Stuart said.
The plan for the front of the building is to create a new 12-foot floor-to-ceiling glass facade. Other planned renovations include 85 heated parking stalls as well as a complete replacement of electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems.
ICR Commercial Real Estate says it hopes the renovations will reach Gold Leed standards, which is a high energy efficient standard for buildings.
The exact cost of the new renovations was not made available, but Duchuck Holdings says it would cost considerably lower than that of a new build. All renovations are expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
