Private partner agrees to contribute $170M for Saskatoon's downtown arena district under new tentative deal
City council still has to approve deal with facility management company OVG360
The City of Saskatoon has reached a tentative deal with a private partner to help fund the ambitious plan for a new arena and convention centre downtown.
OVG360, a facility management company based in Denver, Colo., has agreed to manage the new facilities and fork over a projected $170 million to the city over the course of the 25-year agreement.
In exchange, OVG360 would receive a percentage of profits at the facilities as well as some other fees.
Though the deal has been hammered out, Saskatoon's city council still has to approve it.
The bigger question of how the city will come up with the rest of the money — and how much other levels of government will kick in — still needs to be worked out.
"I would say the deal is very good," said Dan Willems, Saskatoon director of technical services, at a news conference on Wednesday.
"The information we've received from OVG is that this is the largest financial commitment they've made in the Canadian market. So we're pleased with that."
The new district plan includes an arena to replace SaskTel Centre, and renovation and expansion of TCU Place.
Price and timeline still open questions
The overall price tag for the new district is still unknown.
That means it's unclear how much of the overall cost OVG360's contribution would cover. Willems said it would be a "significant portion."
Later this month, when council considers the deal, the public will also learn how the city plans to raise cash for the project. Possibilities include a ticket surcharge and an accommodation tax.
Past reports raised the spectre of property tax hikes, but Willems said that's now off the table.
"That's what our report at the end of the month will show: how we can raise the funds without an increase to property tax," Willems said.
Similar private-public partnerships have been used in other cities, with the divisions of costs varying.
In Edmonton's Ice District — which Saskatoon pointed to as an inspiration — Rogers Place ultimately cost $483.5 million. Private partner The Katz Group paid $132.5 million, while the City of Edmonton put up $226 million. A ticket surcharge raised the remaining funds.
Willems said the timeline for Saskatoon's new arena is still difficult to predict, even if council approves the new deal later this month.
"Even if we had all the funding in place today, it would likely be five to six years of construction," said Willems.
"I'd love to be able to tell you how fast we could convince the feds to create a grant program that some of these venues would be eligible for.… We just don't know that. And there's a federal election coming."
3 decades in the making
The push to bring an arena back to Saskatoon's downtown has been going on for decades.
In 1989, when the Saskatoon Arena on 19th Street E. downtown was demolished, Saskatchewan Place — now called SaskTel Centre — was built to take its place in the city's northwest corner.
In the decades since, the Saskatoon Downtown Business Improvement District has consistently argued that the arena should be brought back to the city's core.
In 2016, the city took up the cause after learning that both TCU Place and SaskTel Centre were "nearing the end of their useful life."
Since then, Saskatoon has inched toward a new downtown area, setting up an advisory committee and buying land in the area.
This past winter, the city unveiled its design concepts for the district, with colourful renderings showing a transformed 22nd Street, complete with space for pop-up markets and an ice rink in the winter.
In 2018, a report commissioned by Saskatoon also suggested that the new district would create significant economic spinoff.
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