Arbutus Properties has placed an indefinite delay on the Midtown Plaza grocery store they were planning for Saskatoon after city council refused to remove a hold placed on one of their other projects.
The Holding Symbol was amended in 2014 and requires properties to adhere to certain criteria before continuing development. This includes providing adequate sewer, water and servicing capacity. It also forces an agreement between the City of Saskatoon and the developer for payment and development charges.
The City of Saskatoon denied a formal application made by Arbutus requesting the removal of the Holding Symbol for the development of a new apartment tower in the Rosewood area.
“What we basically asked them was to let us go ahead because there is existing capacity in the existing sanitary system to accommodate this project in the worst-case scenario,” said Jeffery Drexel, president of Pitchfork and Arbutus, “and basically as they denied that, it has caused us some hiccups in terms of our cashflow because there is cash invested in there that we can’t draw out.”
Arbutus has currently not met the conditions necessary for the removal of the Holding Symbol, including providing adequate sewer capacity and paying outstanding offsite charges.
This hold and disruption of finances has delayed one of Arbutus’s other Saskatoon projects, the construction of Pitchfork Market grocery that was to be located in Midtown Plaza in downtown Saskatoon.
“We don’t sit on $6 million in cash so when we have a delay like that it delays other projects and impacts the timing of it.”
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Arbutus cannot say how long the delay will be and said that the city is now asking them to meet additional conditions to finish the infrastructure.
Mayor Charlie Clark, along with seven other council members voted against the request.
A report from city council said that this would protect the city from absorbing costs on any unfinished projects and protect them from the risks of building on unserviced land.
Drexel said that business with the City of Saskatoon has always seen difficulties.
“We’ve had major problems. Every time we turn around, we’re shut down by the City of Saskatoon. We have been developing in the city for 12 years. We brought the second Costco, we built 220 apartments, we’ve built a few hundred houses. We feel we have added a lot.”
“We intend to finish with our projects and not deal with the City of Saskatoon again. We will deal with Corman Park and will build in other cities,” Drexel said, “We will stay away from the City of Saskatoon as long as the current council is composed as it is.”
Drexel confirmed that if they can receive approvals, they will complete the affordable housing they have been working on and the Midtown Pitchfork grocery store.
Randy Pshebylo, executive director of Riversdale Business Improvement District, says that finding larger scale grocery stores in city centres can be difficult.
“This isn’t an isolated, stand-on-its-own grocery store in the downtown. We need to provide services for everybody and that’s what the Pitchfork opportunity was going to be and provide one more type of food service for the area.”
Although the Pitchfork Market being delayed seems to be a missed opportunity for the area, Pshebylo said that the area’s needs are currently satisfied with the 14 smaller market stores in the area.
“At the end of the day, any small business enterprise that we have in Riversdale will continue to serve the residents city-wide.”
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