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Suggestions are being made that both SaskTel Centre and TCU Place have reached the end of their usable lives (SP, March 19). SaskTel Centre opened as SaskPlace in 1988. TCU Place opened in 1968 as Centennial Auditorium. Quoting the article “The message from the consultants’ report was clear; new facilities are needed for Saskatoon to hold onto the concerts and convention business it’s attracting.”

There are other public buildings that predate both facilities. Saskatchewan Polytechnic occupies those buildings in Saskatoon. The main Saskatoon Campus of Sask Polytechnic was built in 1963 as the Central Saskatchewan Institute for Applied Science and Technology.

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There have been many name changes over the years, but little in the way of changes to the building. The original facility housed 400 students. Additional phases of the campuses were completed in the 1960s; however, with the exception of an extension of two shops, the building occupies the same 1967 footprint. The world and the province have changed a great deal in the last 52 years. The building has not.