Midtown Plaza (Saskatoon)

Midtown Plaza
Midtown Plaza main entrance showing the tower
Location 201 1st Avenue South
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7K 1J9
Coordinates 52°07′39″N 106°40′03″W / 52.127500°N 106.667500°W / 52.127500; -106.667500Coordinates: 52°07′39″N 106°40′03″W / 52.127500°N 106.667500°W / 52.127500; -106.667500
Opening date 1968 (Simpson-Sears only); July 30, 1970 (full mall); renovated 1990
Management Terry Napper
No. of stores and services 154[1]
No. of anchor tenants 2
Total retail floor area 616,282 sq ft (57,254.5 m2) / 96,883 sq ft (9,000.7 m2) retail
No. of floors 2 (mall)
11 (tower)
Parking 1,000 surface north, south and Sears lot and 800 underground
Website midtownplaza.ca

Midtown Plaza is a shopping mall in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, located in the Central Business District neighbourhood. The main anchor store is Hudson's Bay, with one vacant anchor last occupied by Sears and the shopping centre has a total store count of 154 stores.[1] The mall was built on the former site of the city's main railway station as part of a major inner city redevelopment project in the 1960s that also saw construction of a freeway, the Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge, and TCU Place (formerly Centennial Auditorium) an arts-convention complex.

The mall officially opened with 51 stores and services on July 30, 1970; however, one of its anchor tenants, Simpsons-Sears (which Sears Canada) opened for business in 1968; it closed in January, 2018.[2] Eatons was the mall's second anchor until the chain went out of business in the late 1990s; The Bay (later branded Hudson's Bay) subsequently relocated to the mall from its 2nd Avenue standalone location.

The mall was originally one storey. By 1990, a second storey was added and the façade was altered to mimic the original 1900s railway station.[3] This reconstruction cost $24M.[1] Soon after, Saskatoon's first (and, to date) only Toys "R" Us store opened on a standalone "big-box" location on the mall's southern parking lot; although not physically connected to the mall, it is considered part of the shopping centre.

In Spring 2015, both Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret opened stores in the mall.

Also part of the Midtown Plaza complex is CN Towers – renamed in 2006 "The Tower at Midtown" – an office block that was for most of the 1970s the tallest office building in Saskatoon. The 12-story tower is 57 m (187 ft) in height.[4] From the early 1970s until the early 2000s, the fifth floor of the office block housed the studios of the local CBC affiliate CBKST.

From 1993 to 2005, the mall owned and displayed Gordie Howe statue at the southwest corner of 1st Avenue South and 20th Street East. It was relocated to the SaskTel Centre in 2005.

In 2017, a major interior renovation of the mall began; and in June 2018 it announced a renovation of the former Sears location into a new wing of the mall to open in early 2021.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Midtown Plaza Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Midtown Plaza grand opening supplement, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, July 29, 1970
  3. ↑ "Midtown Plaza Shopping Centre Expansion". CANA Construction. Retrieved 2014-11-17.
  4. ↑ "Canada Building". emporis.com. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
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