Saskatoon will soon be building bridges in the business world.
A new $50-million office tower will rise downtown as a World Trade Center.
Canwest Commercial and Land Corporation is behind the project, expected to open for tenants in 2019.
“What it’s all about, really, is to simplify and stimulate commerce by bringing together offices of government and industry – and to help facilitate foreign trade,” said former Saskatoon mayor Don Atchison, now a consultant with Canwest’s sister company North Prairie Developments.
Atchison told 650 CKOM the project is in line with the province’s vision of “transformational change,” adding one of the end goals is creating more jobs in Saskatchewan.
“We are the largest traders on a per capita basis in all of Canada – and this is just to help encourage more of that on the export side,” he said.
Atchison said there are World Trade Centers in around 325 other cities across 100 countries.
Canwest was recently granted the opportunity to seek membership in the World Trade Centers Association (WTCA), which works to stimulate international trade and investment opportunities.
Site selection and building design are expected to be complete in the next four to six weeks, with construction to begin this summer.