Gateway Mall has asked the City of P.A. for a break after their taxes almost doubled. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Hefty tax increase

Gateway Mall asks city for break after taxes nearly double

Sep 23, 2025 | 1:50 PM

The owners of Gateway Mall in Prince Albert have asked city council for some consideration after their property taxes almost doubled in 2025.

In 2024, the company that owns the mall paid $520,000 but that jumped to $930,000 this year. The increase in cost is threatening the mall’s ability to do business, said a letter submitted to council.

“The current financial impact is creating substantial hardship for the owner. A request for abatement until the appeal process is finalized is being requested to improve the current situation before an irreversible course of action needs to be pursued,” read the letter sent to council as part of their September 22 meeting.

The company, 1540709 Ontario Ltd., is represented by Avison Young, which wrote a letter to council to dispute the assessment and has filed an appeal.

“The initial 2025 assessment notice mailed in January 27, 2025 showed an increase in value over the previous year, so our regular tax consulting firm was engaged to review our property tax notice and advise,” read the letter.

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An assessment notice sent out in May showed a value of just under $35.5 million, more than double the previous assessment of $17 million issued just months earlier in January.

Not only are the owners questioning the increased assessment, but they also said it doesn’t match the commercial value of the building.

“Real estate brokerage firms have been engaged to list this property for sale,” said the letter. “None of these firm’s findings align with the extreme increase shown on the reassessment notice and the property remains listed for sale at $5.8 million, a drastically lower price than the assessments note.”

The mall said it can’t withstand the huge increase as business remains down for multiple reasons. Those include retail sales remaining lower than pre-pandemic levels, retail bankruptcies and companies downsizing plus a change in the city’s general business landscape.

“Competition increasing with the new retail development at the south end of the city and the current state of addictions and homelessness in the community have all contributed to the financial situation currently faced by the property.”

Their appeal hearing is in front of the Board of Revisions on Oct. 1 but they asked council for an abatement until the process is finalized as it can take some time.

The full length of the appeal process can take three years and has the potential to go before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.

Rather than giving the abatement, the finance department suggested council waive penalties on outstanding taxes starting on September 1 and continuing until December 31, 2026 and pending any decision on the appeal.

Giving the mall an abatement would pave the way for other businesses to also ask for abatements, said the department. The Board of Revision has six commercial property requests on their Oct. 1 agenda.

Council voted unanimously to move forward with waived penalties for the suggested time.

The property taxes for 1403 Central Avenue in 2024 were $521,118.36 and in 2025 were increased to $931,789.54, resulting in a $410,671.18 increase.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky @susanmcneil.bsky.social