The future of the Hillcrest Sports Centre will once again be up in the air. 

City council was notified on Monday night that Gymtastiks has given notice to terminate the lease on the building effective Jan. 1, 2021. 

The city entered into the lease agreement with Gymtastiks in 2011. The agreement included an annual rental rate of $1. Gymtastiks would bear the cost of operating the building but could sublet portions to third parties to generate revenue to recoup those costs. 

Other organizations that sublet the building include the Hillcrest Golf Club, Moose Jaw Tennis and Sowden Flanagan Baseball Training. Prior to the pandemic, a dance studio also used the second floor. 

“It seems to be if it's an asset that is not to the point of having to be knocked down, that there may be some potential for usage of the facility. And again, we're getting requests fairly regular on that,” said city manager Jim Puffalt. 

A building assessment is being done and final recommendations will be coming back to city council in December. 

“We've received at least eight serious inquiries from different organizations looking to take over this lease. In order to do our due diligence, we looked at some of the history of the building. Some of the previous reports. The last real assessment on it was done in 2002,” said director of parks and recreation Derek Blais. 

Some of the options for city council could include a long-term lease similar to the lease with Gymtastiks. The lease would be an “as is” deal at no cost and there would be no operating costs to the city. 

The city could also look at a short-term lease is the building assessment shows there are safety concerns within the next few years. This option would allow the city time to plan for the demolition. 

The city could assume control of the operations, but it would come at a cost. Gymtastiks operating costs were about $60,000 per year that would need to be offset but subletting other parts of the building. 

Demolition could be an option if the building assessment does not come back favourable. The city would have to take into consideration the displacement of the Hillcrest Golf Club’s maintenance and storage building as well as the fact the clubhouse’s natural gas and electricity runs through the sports centre. 

Selling the property would be an option that would not rely on the building assessment, but the city would have to consider the fact the property line runs right through the golf course’s maintenance building and clubhouse. 

The city could also decide to use the building as a storage facility. It would reduce the number of storage buildings for the city and the police and fire departments have expressed a need for more storage.