Potential locations for downtown Saskatoon arena district narrowed to 2 sites

The Midtown Plaza's north parking lot and the undeveloped north downtown area near the city yards are in the running as the location of Saskatoon's proposed new Downtown Event and Entertainment District, which would include a new arena.

City council will be presented a report on Monday that includes a detailed technical study of potential locations for the arena, a Wednesday news release from the City of Saskatoon said.

Saskatoon has been mulling over the prospect of a downtown arena and entertainment district since 2018, when council decided a replacement to SaskTel Centre and TCU Place should be built in the city's downtown.

Coun. Troy Davies, the co-chair of the city's advisory group on the entertainment district, said the proposal is about getting in front of a trend.

"We need to make sure that concerts and conventions are no longer skipping the city of Saskatoon, and that's the trend that we're starting to see here," he told reporters Wednesday. 

Many other potential sites have been floated, including the Toys "R" Us parking lot south of Midtown Plaza and a parking lot near the Farmers' Market in Riversdale.

"Sites determined to be too small were eliminated from further consideration," the city's news release said. 

Proponents of the district hope the project will be similar to Edmonton's Ice District, home to the Rogers Place arena.

Consultants have found that the Midtown location was the "highest-scoring site" based on the technical criteria, according to the release.

If council approves the plan to consider the two sites, public engagement will take place from Aug. 30 to Oct. 3.

In 2018, the expected price tag of a new combined facility was in the $330 million to $375 million range.

The city said Wednesday that it doesn't have updated costs.