Billion-dollar boost: Saskatoon chamber talks economic impact of downtown entertainment district

The Saskatoon chamber said the project could generate $332 million in consumer spending per year and $213 million in gross economic activity.

The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce released a study on Tuesday claiming the proposed entertainment district could deliver over a $1.37-billion boost to the city’s economy.

The study, prepared by Praxis Consulting, said the district will generate $1.1 billion in economic activity, add $509 million to Saskatoon’s GDP and create 1,580 jobs.

It also said the project could boost the population of downtown by 10,000 new and existing Saskatoon residents within 10 years, generating $332 million in consumer spending per year and $213 million in gross economic activity.

“It’s more than we would have expected, in spite of the fact that the study is very conservative in its assumptions,” said Jason Aebig, CEO of the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce. “It is clear that the co-location of these facilities in a residential and downtown entertainment district will deliver a huge amount of economic impact to our city in the form of jobs, in the form of an expanded tax base, private investment and, importantly, countering the cost of urban sprawl.”

Aebig said that when cities continue to grow and expand outwards, everything becomes more expensive as services are forced to stretch to new neighbourhoods.

“This piece of infrastructure, this entertainment district and these facilities, really have the potential to act like a magnet to attract people, investment and capital to downtown.”

Brent Penner, executive director of Downtown Saskatoon, said none of the economic activity that will accompany the district has been seen at SaskTel Centre.

“I would challenge anyone to tell me what really has co-located near SaskTel Centre because of it being SaskTel Centre.”