As well, 30 per cent of the employees at an existing potash mine located 50 kilometres from Humboldt live in the city.
"There is not one industry that is driving growth," said DonnaLyn Thorsteinson, executive director of the Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce.
"Our diversity has contributed to our success."
Despite the diversity, Humboldt is feeling some growing pains related to the province-wide boom.
"Two years ago, when people discovered Saskatchewan, we had so many people from Alberta and B.C. unloading their property there and coming here," said Al Gaetz, associate broker at the Re/Max Humboldt office. "They came in and would buy a $150,000 home here similar to the one they sold in Alberta or B.C. for $300,000. That just drove our prices up unbelievably within a year or so."
And residential real estate prices have remained hung up at inflated levels, said Gaetz, although he expects things will level out in the coming years.
"I do believe that a lot of people have purchased houses that are way over their heads."
Although the volume of new housing starts in the city declined in 2010 after reaching record highs in the three previous years, the total value of residential building permits peaked in 2010.
Notable residential developments in the city include a 100-unit assisted living complex for seniors that opened this year and a 22-condominium, eight-unit townhouse development that was completed in 2010.
The developer of the latter has plans for another residential development similar in size.
Big brands
Thorsteinson is welcoming of new businesses that are opening in a new retail district on the western outskirts of the city.
Canadian Tire, Mark's Work Wearhouse, Tim Horton's and a new hotel have recently opened there, with additional businesses expected to follow.
But Thorsteinson noted that with the big-box stores arriving on the outskirts of the city, the chamber is now exploring ways to ensure that downtown Humboldt remains vibrant.
Downtown has also been hollowed out somewhat by the relocation of health-related government services to the city's new hospital, and by the recent closure of a True-Value Hardware.
And the town's main shopping mall has been plagued by high vacancy rates for some time.
The chamber is working with a graduate student from the University of Saskatchewan's business school to identify ways that existing businesses can expand and ways to attract new businesses to the city.
from Western Investor June 2011
