Regina Construction

[ReginaGirl]

That new condo project is not technically in the downtown, or even in the study area covered by Office for Urbanism so i dont think it is necessary to follow the same sort of ideas that they present for the immediate core of downtown. It is not necessarily always best to put retail on the main floor, i will definetly settle for parking!

I do really like the alterations that yeeg made. I agree that having a better sky profile but maybe they are putting a roof top garden on top????

[freedom45]

In the City of Regina, the official bylaws, amendments, development standards, etc. are available from the City Clerks Office, 777-7262 (i think).

It encompasses everything from land use zones, general development regulations and specifics for every zoning.

As of a few years ago it was offically titled Zoning Bylaw No. 9250. You can ask to have CD either emailed or mailed to you. Or pop in and ask for a copy (that's what I did).

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by freedom45

As far as parking, the consultant's have stated all surface parking must go.

That is not quite what she said:

New off-street parking must
not be visible: i.e. no new
parking structures, no new
surface parking lots on these
priority streets (permissible if
wrapped with active uses or
underground)
New visible parking
elsewhere in downtown:
must incorporate retail at grade
with appropriate façade
design, or significant public art
treatments on facade
Encourage rehabilitation of
existing parking with retail and
art treatments

[someguy]

http://www.regina.ca/content/info_services/urban_planning/zoning.shtml

Its on their website too....chapter 9 has some good ideas with the archdiocese site...architectural controls included.

I dont think that office for urbanism is suggesting getting rid of all parking, I think that these sites need to be slowly redeveloped. They are more suggesting that we restrict new parking lot development. We also need to work on our transit system which will make downtown more viable...question is though..which comes first, less parking, or better transit.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by freedom45

In the City of Regina, the official bylaws, amendments, development standards, etc. are available from the City Clerks Office, 777-7262 (i think).

It encompasses everything from land use zones, general development regulations and specifics for every zoning.

As of a few years ago it was offically titled Zoning Bylaw No. 9250. You can ask to have CD either emailed or mailed to you. Or pop in and ask for a copy (that's what I did).

It is mostly all online now including a great interactive zoning map that shows the zoning of every property in the city - Chapter 19.

http://regina.ca/content/info_services/urban_planning/zoning.shtml

[youngregina]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

For those of you who want to know what the price of properties are going for in Regina, I stumbled about an interesting project Web site done by a University of Regina student. I don't know what kind of server he has his Web site on, so I urge people to use it sparingly so it doesn't get shut down, because it is quite amazing.

http://67.225.32.10/

there is a house in westhill going for 829 000 dollars. I was like OMG, in regina?!?! This is crazy considering the location. I can maybe see housing in wascana veiw be around this price range but i would have never guessed westhill. 226 HUTCHISON PLACE N is the address.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by youngregina

there is a house in westhill going for 829 000 dollars. I was like OMG, in regina?!?! This is crazy considering the location. I can maybe see housing in wascana veiw be around this price range but i would have never guessed westhill. 226 HUTCHISON PLACE N is the address.

There's a walkout bungalow in Emerald Park for $1.35 million. I know the house, it is nice but there are literally dozens in the City that are more valuable. The one right next door would be worth 50-75% more.

A 25 year old walk out bungalow in Richmond Place sold for $937,000 last fall. Welcome to Vancouver!

[darthrider]

I was wondering if any one else new about the sad state of the SGI building. I heard that it needs 60 million dollars to basically stabilize it.... new piles etc. It was also mentioned that there was talk of tearing it down and rebuilding. That good old Regina gumbo really takes it's toll on things, the SGI building isn't even that old, built in 1979 I believe. With rumoured work that is needed to keep it standing, I wonder if we will ever see buildings in Regina any higher than 20 stories. I think the costs of putting all the needed piles in for buildings any higher would be just to much. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Regina Boi]

Originally Posted by darthrider

I was wondering if any one else new about the sad state of the SGI building. I heard that it needs 60 million dollars to basically stabilize it.... new piles etc. It was also mentioned that there was talk of tearing it down and rebuilding. That good old Regina gumbo really takes it's toll on things, the SGI building isn't even that old, built in 1979 I believe. With rumoured work that is needed to keep it standing, I wonder if we will ever see buildings in Regina any higher than 20 stories. I think the costs of putting all the needed piles in for buildings any higher would be just to much. It will be interesting to see what happens.

The problem with the building isn't just related to the Regina soil. I've been told by someone who works for SGI that there was an error when the plans were drawn up. The building was actually larger than the land available to build on. By the time they figured that out, they were already well into construction. So in order to keep the same amount of floor space, structural elements were deleted. Apparently the problem can be rectified, but in order to repair the building, the entire staff needs to be relocated. SGI still doesn't know how to deal with the situation. As everyone here is aware, there is very little office space available to house all their employees. There is talk of a new building, however the preference is to save the current one.

[ReginaGirl]

Originally Posted by Stormer

There's a walkout bungalow in Emerald Park for $1.35 million. I know the house, it is nice but there are literally dozens in the City that are more valuable. The one right next door would be worth 50-75% more.

A 25 year old walk out bungalow in Richmond Place sold for $937,000 last fall. Welcome to Vancouver!

It really becomes a sad situation when sellers control a marketplace, rather than the buyers. I can't imagine why anyone in Regina would by a house at that price point when they can build for half the price...or even a quarter. Sure, there are construction delays but i would wait a year or two to save $500 000 dollars! But, someone will probably buy it.

If banks/brokers would stop giving out ridicously high mortgages, and people would buy within their means, housing could remain at reasonable price points. Where do you think our ecomony will be in 30 years, when people are retiring and still owe $100 000 on their homes?

I can hardly wait to buy a foreclosure though! haha.

[darthrider]

Originally Posted by Regina Boi

The problem with the building isn't just related to the Regina soil. I've been told by someone who works for SGI that there was an error when the plans were drawn up. The building was actually larger than the land available to build on. By the time they figured that out, they were already well into construction. So in order to keep the same amount of floor space, structural elements were deleted. Apparently the problem can be rectified, but in order to repair the building, the entire staff needs to be relocated. SGI still doesn't know how to deal with the situation. As everyone here is aware, there is very little office space available to house all their employees. There is talk of a new building, however the preference is to save the current one.

Thanks for that info, I find that very interesting regarding the space problem when built. I hope they can get that building fixed, as I believe it was Regina's first real tall buildings... by Regina standards that is.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by ReginaGirl

It really becomes a sad situation when sellers control a marketplace, rather than the buyers. I can't imagine why anyone in Regina would by a house at that price point when they can build for half the price...or even a quarter. Sure, there are construction delays but i would wait a year or two to save $500 000 dollars! But, someone will probably buy it.

If banks/brokers would stop giving out ridicously high mortgages, and people would buy within their means, housing could remain at reasonable price points. Where do you think our ecomony will be in 30 years, when people are retiring and still owe $100 000 on their homes?

I can hardly wait to buy a foreclosure though! haha.

Canada's lending policies don't really provide for the amount of forclosures that we are seeing in the US. Banks in Canada lend based on GDS/TDS. So your debt serviceing is automatically less than 40% of your gross income, and therefore the house is affordable to the people that bought it. Banks are also in the business of making money, so if they forclose on a property, they are going to sell it for fair value.

In the US, they would loan huge percentages of income because they could, and now their economy is in the shit tank because of it. When the property is forclosed on, the banks only interest is to collect the remaining amount oweing.

[ReginaGuy]

Originally Posted by darthrider

I was wondering if any one else new about the sad state of the SGI building. I heard that it needs 60 million dollars to basically stabilize it.... new piles etc. It was also mentioned that there was talk of tearing it down and rebuilding. That good old Regina gumbo really takes it's toll on things, the SGI building isn't even that old, built in 1979 I believe. With rumoured work that is needed to keep it standing, I wonder if we will ever see buildings in Regina any higher than 20 stories. I think the costs of putting all the needed piles in for buildings any higher would be just to much. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Luckly, the layer of clay and silt in Regina is only 5-10 meters thick, below that is a much stronger layer of glacial till, which does a better job of supporting heavy structures. Taller buildings will typically require very large excavations anyways (>10m), so the Regina soil should definately be able to support taller towers.

To illustrate my point, here is soil profile going along Albert Street, from This Page on EarthNet

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Thanks for the info. Are there any special foundation considerations for taller buildings due to any extra gumbo forces in that 5 to 10 area?

[yeeg]

Originally Posted by Stormer

There's a walkout bungalow in Emerald Park for $1.35 million. I know the house, it is nice but there are literally dozens in the City that are more valuable. The one right next door would be worth 50-75% more.

A 25 year old walk out bungalow in Richmond Place sold for $937,000 last fall. Welcome to Vancouver!

Its not so bad, just have to wait for the incomes to go up and income taxes to go down...When that happens, its all good...

[someguy]

Originally Posted by ReginaGuy

Luckly, the layer of clay and silt in Regina is only 5-10 meters thick, below that is a much stronger layer of glacial till, which does a better job of supporting heavy structures. Taller buildings will typically require very large excavations anyways (>10m), so the Regina soil should definately be able to support taller towers.

Sgi's building has 3 stories of underground parking, so they should be at least 12m down before the piles even start.

[aberrant]

Maybe it was already discussed, but I heard last week that Applebee's is coming. Can't wait to be Eaten' Good in the Neighbourhood! Not...

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by aberrant

Maybe it was already discussed, but I heard last week that Applebee's is coming. Can't wait to be Eaten' Good in the Neighbourhood! Not...

Yeah some local folks have wrapped up the franchise for the province. Here is their story from their consultants website where they talk about "building out the province" starting in Regina in 2008: http://www.mcnairbd.com/news/display/display.cgi?displayAction=showArticle&articleId=67&status=C

[Migs]

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=66854b4f-f356-4240-bb75-d137ae83aa63

[CCF]

What I read was that there are two 'Applebees' planned for Regina, with one of them going downtown.