Capital Pointe Hole of Regina
In 2009, amidst the boom our city was experiencing, the dream of Capital Pointe was first announced, at the time it was named “Westgate Plaza.” Then in 2010, the construction project was unveiled to be built at the corner of Albert and Victoria Avenue in Queen City. In 2011 the Plains Motel and Good Time Charlie’s was torn down to make room for that dream. Today it is shamefully known as Capital Pointe Hole of Regina. The project experienced numerous delays and the developers faced many changes internally. After Fortress Real Developments took over the majority of the project in 2014 excavation finally began in 2015 setting the completion date for 2018. Due to unforeseen complications such as ground conditions and debris removal more delays occurred and in addition to a gutted housing market they were unable to sell the number of units they required to fund the project and then the building permit expired in 2017.
The tower was supposed to be a 27-storey condo and hotel complex, complete with balconies that held lawns and I think it’s fair to say Regina was excited. The Capital Pointe was going to mark the Regina skyline as the tallest building in Regina and could have set the precedence for more inner-city development of this magnitude. This project truly captured our city’s collective imagination. I mean downtown apartment living along with room service? One can dream.
Unfortunately, that’s all this was, a dream. Last year in April 2018 Regina residents mocked the hole by saying “wow” like Owen Wilson, and this year held an event named “That time when we all said kthxbye to the Capital Pointe Hole” Now the site is for sale at $8.5 million by the Regina branch of Cushman & Wakefield on behalf of Westgate Properties, the developer of the 0.71 acres high-profile prime commercial space. Westgate Properties represented by Sahil Shoor and Neil Abbott of Gowling WLG and the City of Regina represented by Christine Clifford have been fighting a legal battle over the property. On September 30th, 2018 the Saskatchewan Building and Accessibility Standards Appeal Board gave the developer 3 options: finish the project according to a strict schedule, or eliminate all safety concerns or backfill the hole. Westgate Properties opted to finish the project however, the City of Regina won an appeal and in February of 2019, the board ruled the capital point hole was “effectively abandoned” and ultimately the hole was ordered to be backfilled March 31st, 2019. Since then the City of Regina has taken control of the 1971 Albert Street property to fill the hole and charge Westgate’s property taxes, a total cost of $2,992,091. The call for the contractor closed on April 11th.
The City of Regina has hired CBS Contracting on May 27th, 2019 to complete the task of backfilling the hole but also remove the shoring, facilities and other debris, repair the storm main on Victoria Avenue along with the repairing roads and sidewalks, installing a fence and covering the lot with asphalt. The company will have workers executing the final backfill up to 24/hours a day until this hole is gone. Mayor Michael Fougere has expressed that he wants to see it developed and I think many of us who call Regina home would have to agree. We can’t help but think if Westgate had hired contractors of a superior variety that this dream may have been built. Presently North Canadian Construction does not take on commercial projects of this magnitude, but we have realistic dreams. What would you like to see built in place of Capital Pointe?
Building Communities Together. North Canadian Construction.