Replace or renovate 30-year-old SaskTel Centre? Consultants to talk costs Monday

Hired hands will talk publicly Monday about how much it would cost to renovate Saskatoon's aging SaskTel Centre arena — or build a new venue. They'll also riff on the future of the even older TCU Place convention centre.

It's been a long time coming. 

SaskTel Centre CEO Will Lofdahl announced a market analysis would be sought in April 2016. The report was expected to be ready by last June after the downtown TCU Place was added to the study's focus. 

Two years since Lofdahl's announcement, the results from the highly-anticipated study will finally be shared with city councillors some time after 1 p.m. CST today at city hall. 

Few advance details

The study was ordered by the independent corporations that run the facilities and was budgeted at $261,000. 

Unlike reports requested by the city, it has not been released early, and few people involved in its creation or affected by its conclusions wanted to talk about the findings before Monday.

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Lofdahl did not return several requests for comment.

Steve Hogle, the team president of the Saskatoon Blades, said he could not comment until after Monday.

'You should come down on Monday'

Toronto-based HLT Advisory headed the trio of consultants that studied the costs of both upgrading SaskTel Centre and replacing it with a newly-constructed venue.

The study was also meant to consider how to repurpose the current SaskTel Centre if it's found a new building is warranted.

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HLT is known for having laid out the multi-billion dollar plan for Edmonton's Rogers Place indoor arena, completed in 2016.

"You should come down on Monday and find out," said HLT managing director Lyle Hall of the Saskatoon study. 

HLT subcontracted the help of two American companies, Kansas City-based Convergence Design and Ocoee, Fla., company Conventional Wisdom.

"We're a firm that designs public assembly buildings," said David Greusel, a founding principal of Convergence Design.

"We have a pretty good working knowledge of both arenas and convention centres in term of how they function," Greusel added. "So we were called in to help analyze and conceptualize how new or renovated facilities might work in Saskatoon."

Rick Schmidt, a principal at Conventional Design, said "our specialty is more on the conference and convention centre" and facility programming while "Convergence is more on the arena side."

Neither Greusel nor Schmidt would say much more.

Ex-mayor is staying out of it

Former mayor Don Atchison, who previously expressed support for a new arena located downtown, wouldn't revisit the topic when contacted on the weekend.

"I've tried to stay away from that now," he said. "The reason being is I don't want to look like an ambulance chaser and second-guessing council."

But what does the post-mayoral, private-citizen Don Atchison think?

"Once a mayor, always a mayor," he said.

'Very loose costs' floated

One person did offer some details.

Al Ryz, the chief operating officer and governor of the Saskatchewan Rush lacrosse team, which calls the SaskTel Centre home, said he'd seen "somewhat of a 75,000-foot presentation."

While the version of the study he saw did not weigh in on whether an upgrade or new build is recommended, it did compare the "very loose costs" for each scenario.

"They don't have definite costs yet," he said. "But obviously to build, it was significantly higher than doing the reno."

Ryz said the team would prefer to see a new arena built. Parking and traffic flow issues mar the current arena, he said, and the team would like more space for its dressing room and coaches and for selling Rush merchandise to fans.

"I think it would really support the local business," said Ryz of a downtown arena. "When you look at the restaurants and the hotels, they would all benefit from it."

Profitable but problems

SaskTel Centre and TCU Place both posted profits in 2017 — $1.4 million and $1 million, respectively, according to preliminary financial results.

But the city and the corporations have cited issues with the buildings.

SaskTel Centre, with a current capacity for 15,000 spectators, was finished in 1988 at a cost of $26.1 million — $49.3 million in 2018 dollars.

The facility is held back by several shortcomings, according to the corporation that runs Sasktel Centre:

• No loading dock for quickly loading shows in and out.
• Roof and trusses too low for event rigging.
• "Inadequate" kitchen and catering space.
• "Limited" public washrooms.
• No permanent artist dressing rooms.

The city has called it "an aging facility" that "may require increased maintenance costs and innovative solutions to remain competitive in the touring market."

A new roof is among the projects planned under the building's maintenance reserve. 

TCU Place, built in 1967, is showing its age, too, with high maintenance costs that continue to increase, according to the city.

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"Inadequate space to provide services for larger events and increased public and private-sector competition with local, national and international providers has led to a loss of business," the city reported last November.

There has been "a decrease in the number of events hosted in our facility," echoed Matt Petrow, the TCU Place corporation's director of finance.

'Is it a need or is it a want?'

Saskatoon resident Harvey Peever wrote councillors two years ago to oppose the idea of a new arena complex.

He hasn't changed his mind.

Coming off the $84.6-million Remai Modern Art Museum, the city should "look carefully" at the cost of either replacing or upgrading Sasktel Centre.

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"Is it a need or is it a want?" he said Saturday. "I guess I'm more concerned with things like road clearing, proper low-cost housing for the poor and working poor."

Not that SaskTel Centre is without its issues, he said, bringing up one of the same problems flagged by Ryz.

"How do you get in and out of [the parking lots] without a monumental traffic jam?"

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Monday's presentation at city hall is open to the public.

Can't make it? You can watch the city's live video feed of the meeting here.