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Originally Posted by mmx
If Edmonton is Deadmonton, then Saskatoon has got to be Betelgeuse of the Prairie. Downtown is quite frankly deader than a doornail. What happened to all that momentum created by River Landing? After the shutdown faded to black I thought Toon Town would come roaring back?
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River Landing is quite separate from the rest of Downtown. For example, it is an 11-minute walk from River Landing to Una on Broadway compared to a 13-minute walk from River Landing to the Capitol on 1st. The blocks between 19th and 20th are completely dead, so those almost act like a moat between River Landing and the rest of Downtown.
Also, a lot of the tenants at River Landing (e.g., EY and MLT Aikens) were already tenants elsewhere in Downtown. So all their relocation did was remove tenants from Saskatoon Square, and I don't believe Vendasta moving in has compensated for that loss.
River Landing may have created some momentum for other construction projects like Baydo on Broadway and Downtown and the building on Main, but I don't think it did a lot to animate the downtown streets.
Saskatoon's Downtown is far too large for the city's overall density and downtown population. It will take a lot more projects like Baydo on 25th and River Landing to fix that issue.