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Prince Albert
Prince Albert is the third largest and most northerly city in Saskatchewan, with a population of around 40,000. According to the City of Prince Albert it has a direct marketplace of approximately 60,000 people and a regional marketplace of approximately 160,000 people. While the city is still in the southern half of the province, it is a main service and distribution centre for the north. It is situated on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River between the agricultural southern area of the province and the forested lake land and mineral belt in the north.
Real Estate Market
The general outlook for real estate in the city was under concern but it seems the market has remained very strongly active.
In April 2006 the Weyerhaeuser pulp and paper mill closed indefinitely, affecting some 690 jobs. A task force was organized with the intention of getting the mill back in operation. In August 2006, Weyerhaeuser merged with Domtar Inc, creating North America's largest producer of uncoated business and copying papers according to the StarPhoenix. The new company visited the mill and met with the task force but no announcements have be made yet as to plans for the mill. The high Canadian Dollar has been cited as the leading cause of the closure.
The PAREB MLS service, one indicator of the real estate sales market, had a 2005 total MLS sales volume that was a record $69.0 million. The year 2006 nearly doubled that to $121 million and the year to date (August 2007) is over double the same time last year at $115 million.
Previously, residential sales accounted for around 90% of the gross sales volume. In 2006 this dropped to 75% and year to date (August 2007) is 71%. This suggests that there has been an upswing in commercial sales. There have been 6 sales of apartment blocks in 2007 with a total of 266 suites and total sale price of $10.2 million or an average of $38,200 per suite.
September 2005 saw the grand opening of the $9-million 74,725 sq.ft. Sask Forestry Centre, located across Central Avenue from City Hall.
In 2003 the City released a Downtown Strategic Plan to determine a vision of downtown Prince Albert to the year 2020 “that capitalized on its role as the social, economic and cultural hub and gateway to northern Saskatchewan and that reflects it stature as the province’s oldest city.” The Plan states
"The focus should be primarily on smaller-scale development and incremental projects that emphasize the rehabilitation and renovation of existing space and building upon downtown’s strengths and assets."
In the fall of 1999 the City completed a large scale purchase of downtown land and buildings between First and Second Avenue West from River Street to 12th Street. The long term plan is to have a convention facility built in this area however this is some time away yet. Part of the planned redevelopment for this area is also a new Court House on River Street that was occupied in Feb. 2001. As well, the $9.5-million, 25,000-square foot visual and performing arts centre on the corner of Second Avenue and 12th Street West was opened in April 2003. The new Forestry Centre is an extension of this urban renewal project.
Retail construction flourished in the early 2000's. The downtown Gateway Mall added a new Staples and Sport Chek and the downtown Co-op store did a $4-million expansion and upgrade.
Springwood Developments Phase 1 of Cornerstone Centre opened stores for Wal-Mart, IGA Garden Market, Dollar Store Plus, Payless Shoe Store, FutureShop, and JYSK Linen 'n Furniture. Phase 2 included Shoppers Drug Mart, a medical clinic, M & M meats, Subway restaurant and Ultracuts. Further additions to the area included a new Kelsey's restaurant and a McDonald's restaurant.
The last phase includes two more retail buildings totalling over 36,000 sq.ft including a Rona Home Centre opened in Sept 2004.
The mall has also purchased land on the south side of 15th Street East, immediately across the street from their existing development for further phases.
The relocation of Wal-Mart and Payless into larger spaces enabled the South Hill Mall to do a $5 million renovation to accommodate Winners as well as a 6 screen movie theatre as well as a new free standing restaurant.
Two new hotels are nearing completion on the South Hill.
On 2nd Avenue West the Canadian Tire store expanded, a new 60 room Super 8 motel was opened by the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, and a new free standing McDonalds was opened.
Construction activity in 2005, according to City building permits, totalled $21,861,000 with the largest component (59%) being in the commercial permits. In 1998 Weyerhaeuser made a $25-million expansion and the City built a $10-million sewage plant causing the spike in the 1998 figures.
In 2005, residential (single and multi-family) made up 41% of the total value of permits and there was no government/institutional construction permits issued.
According to CMHC, the first half of 2007 saw 57 single family housing starts. There were 60 housing starts in 2006 in the PA area, 38 single family and 22 multi-family. This is down from 104 in 2005.
| City of Prince Albert Construction Stats | |||||||||||
| Year | June 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | |||
| Housing Starts | 57 | 60 | 104 | 69 | 90 | 79 | 90 | 121 | |||
| Building Permits in Millions | n.a. | $22.2 | $21.9 | $32.7 | $37.4 | $25.4 | $42.2 | $21.7 | |||
CMHC have now started to do their snapshot of the number of vacant suites at a specific date in both October and April. In April 2007 they found 156 vacant suites out of 2,192 (7.1% vacancy) and they indicate that there was a 4% increase in the average rent to $525/month over the past six months.
| CMHC Vacancy Rates
Apartment Structures Of Three Units Or More |
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| Survey Date |
Apr 07 | Oct 06 | Oct 05 | Oct 04 | Oct 03 | Oct 02 | Oct 01 | Oct 00 | ||
| Vacancy | 7.1% | 2.9% | 7.8% | 7.7% | 5.4% | 7.0% | 8.0% | 3.2% | ||
Economic Background
Prince Albert is the junction and main river crossing of four major highways including #2 which runs north / south between Regina and La Ronge, #3 running east / west between the Manitoba and Alberta borders, #11 going south to Saskatoon and Regina, and #55 leading both to the north westerly quarter of the province and to the north easterly quarter.
Additional transportation facilities include two rail lines, STC Bus Lines, and over 25 trucking firms. Communication services include two radio stations, two TV stations, cable TV service and daily newspaper service. Transwest Air (formerly Athabasca Airlines) provides regular north/south flights into the north of the province and south to Air Canada connections at Saskatoon and Regina and there are a number of air charter companies based in the city that provide services to the resource and recreational developments to the north.
The economic base for the city is a mixture of government, forestry, tourism, agriculture, and mining. The largest employer in the city is government. Prince Albert is a provincial administration centre for the north. The P.A. District Health Board has nearly 2,000 employees and the provincial government has some 1,200. There are two provincial correctional centres plus related youth camps. There is also a federal prison that employs 250-300 full time staff.
As well, there are a number of post secondary educational institutions. The largest is the SIAST Woodland Campus . Others include the Sask. Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) and the Gabriel Dumont Institute (SUNTEP) and the National Aviation College. The First Nations University of Canada now occupies the first and second floor of the old Eaton's building on Central Avenue and also run the National School of Dental Therapy.
The tourism sector has always played a part of the economy due to the proximity of the parkland and lakes such as the Prince Albert National Park, Emma Lake, and Candle Lake. As well, it is the jump station to the northern outfitting business. In 1998, the Indian Gaming Commission built a new casino that was attached to a hotel owned by the Prince Albert Development Corp. PADC is a First Nations corporation that has now become the major employer in the hotel industry by purchasing several other large hotels within in the city.
In the diamond sector, the Fort a la Corne field, 65 km east of Prince Albert is one of the worlds largest known diamond bearing kimberlite deposits with over 70 pipes now identified and the kimberlite field is estimated to contain over 9 billion tonnes.
The Saskatoon based Shore Gold announced in September 2006 that it had bought out the interests of De Beers as well as the minority interest held by Cameco Corp. Shore then resold 40 per cent of the joint venture to Newmont Gold of Denver, which has held nine per cent of Shore's shares for several years. - Click here for further details
In November 2006 they announced that the budget for the balance of this year and for 2007 will be $66.5 million.
In their first 25,000 tonne sample collected in 2004, Shore Gold announced recovery of two 19.7 carat diamonds and five others that are 10 carat or more totalling just over 4,000 carats of which many are commercial sized diamonds. Phase 2 extracted another 18,000 tonnes preparing a prefeasibility study and according to news releases have recovered over 2,000 carats, including one 19 carat and three others larger than 10 carats to the end of January 2006. In Phase 3, they continue to announce recoveries of diamonds ranging from 5 to 15 carats plus the 2 largest diamonds recovered in Saskatchewan at 49.5 and 22.56 carats.
According to the CEO of Shore Gold, it is now in a position now to push the Star Diamond project to pre-feasibility with a mine that could be producing gem quality stones as soon as 2011. Current testing is finding a larger ore body than first thought plus a higher number of carats per tonne. - Click here for further details
Other drilling exploration is being done in the area by Forest Gate Resources, who have reported diamond recovery from their test drilling, and Great Western Diamonds Corp. is also doing test drilling in the area near Candle Lake.
The City of Prince Albert is the largest developer of residential and industrial land. They have a good selection of residential lots in various neighbourhoods. (Click here to view) Their prices range from $224/front foot to $599/front foot depending upon the subdivision, park proximity, and level of servicing. They also have some industrial land at the southern edge of the city where the price is $87,500/acre or $92,500/acre with highway frontage. The other industrial land is in the North subdivision where there is no sewer or water servicing and the price is $47,000/acre. The City has purchase incentive programs for both types of land.
Brunsdon Junor Johnson Appraisals is a real estate appraisal firm providing a wide range of appraisal and consulting services, including property tax assessment appeals and condominium reserve fund studies. The primary market area is north and central half of Saskatchewan. We are licenced to appraise in Alberta.