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Ground breaks at Saskatoon Parcel YY development at River Landing

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Ground breaks at Saskatoon Parcel YY development at River Landing
WATCH ABOVE: It's been a long time coming but on Wednesday, a ground breaking ceremony marked the start of construction on a large-scale mixed use project at Saskatoon's River Landing. Joel Senick reports – Jun 29, 2016

Phase one of a large-scale mixed use project at Saskatoon’s River Landing is officially beginning after ground was broken by developers there Wednesday afternoon.

The first phase of Parcel YY will begin with a parking garage that will eventually serve a 155-room hotel and 16 storey condominium development. Developers said the parkade could take between nine to 12 months to complete.

“That work will commence as soon as permits are released, which we expect to be a few weeks away,” said Blair Sinclair, an executive vice-president with Calgary-based Triovest. The company is the project’s development manager.

“What we hope comes out of today is it absolves any questions on anybody’s mind as to whether this project [is] finally going to start,” he added.

READ MORE: 15-storey Group Germain Hotel to go up at River Landing

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Money was allocated for Parcel YY in 2004. In 2010 the land was sold to Saskatoon-based Victory Majors. They have since teamed up with a number of Canadian developers to bring the project to reality.

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“It’s been an uphill battle, I’ll admit that,” said John Nasser, the president of Victory Majors Investments Corp.

“But it is the biggest project funded by commercial private dollars in Saskatoon.”

READ MORE: Saskatoon city council approve changes to ‘Parcel Y’ at River Landing

Nasser jokingly said even his own wife was asking him over the years when the digging would begin at the site. He expects that there will still be some people who doubt the project will be completed.

“I think until you see cranes in the air, it will start being real.”

Phase two of the project is slated to include two office towers, however officials can’t commit to a timeline for when those will be built.

“Their construction will still be dependent on the economy and the level of pre-leasing sufficient to start construction,” said Sinclair.

Condominium units will be put on the market this fall, according to developers. Construction on that complex and the hotel will begin once the parkade is complete.

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