The University of Saskatchewan is nearing completion of the design for their single campus in downtown P.A. Building work is set to start this fall with all students moving onto site in the fall of 2020. (File photo: Tyler Marr/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

downtown planning

U of S nears final design for P.A. as housing and parking needs loom

Mar 26, 2019 | 5:02 PM

As the University of Saskatchewan finalizes plans for the renovation of the downtown forestry building, thoughts will also soon be turning to the housing and parking requirements for what will be their single campus in Prince Albert’s central core.

While the university has no immediate plans to invest directly in student accommodation for the Central Ave. site, the mayor of P.A. said there were a number of ideas being considered by developers.

University of Saskatchewan vice provost Patti McDougall told paNOW the architectural designs for classrooms, labs and other spaces were nearly complete and she expected a public showing of the renderings by September ahead of the start to building work. The campus is still on target for an opening in the fall of 2020.

Once the construction gets underway McDougall said they would be looking into best options for student accommodation. Over 300 people are expected on campus at times, even before the anticipated expansion of full degree programs in future.

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“Housing has been raised to my attention before, and absolutely we’ll be looking to facilitate that,” she said. “There is no plan right now to buy or lease, but we’ll facilitate because it’s part and parcel of the whole experience.”

One company is looking at a 10-storey building. _{– Mayor Greg Dionne}

McDougall said the university would help organize a repository, or housing registry, for people who want to let out their rental spaces to students. She explained such a registry could be maintained by the local student government.

While the university was not signalling an interest in buying or leasing downtown accommodation, Mayor Greg Dionne said the private sector was showing interest.

“We have two or three developers that are looking at downtown residential apartment buildings for the university,” he told paNOW. “The one company that came to see me are looking at a 10-storey building.” Dionne noted these discussions were preliminary.

As the city of Prince Albert gears up for their major overhaul of the downtown core, along with improved pedestrianization, there have been concerns raised about additional traffic congestion and parking challenges. There are plans to create a narrower one-way flow for vehicles with wider sidewalks.

McDougall notes the underground parking in their building would not be enough capacity for all of their students.

“We will work with them for above ground parking, that’s in our plan,” Dionne said. “We have opportunities across the street; we own two big parking lots there.”

The university has no immediate plans to change the exterior elements leading up to their main entrance according to McDougall, but she hoped there could be possibilities for some students to work together with the city on their streetscape improvements.

“We have a regional and urban planning program that we thought could be a good intersection for those sorts of things,” she said.

—

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow