Regina Construction III

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I took some pics the other day of the scaffolding going up on the old "Sherwood Department Store" portion of the Glencore/Viterra building (I think that's what the plaque on the corner of the building at Vic and Albert says).

Long overdue but wonderful and exciting that they are doing this. I wish they would open up some ground floor retail chunks on the Albert Street side to add some life to that portion of the building and street. Or some more trees or planters. Also cool LED lighting at night would be neat to accentuate the architecture.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by Dan0myte

I just stumbled upon this. Plans and 3D Walkthrough from Number10 Architectural Group for the new CNIB building on Wascana Parkway.

https://vimeo.com/92966037
http://www.numberten.com/about/our-news/185-regina-cnib
http://www.granite-group.ca/

must be a true viking design has simlarities to the humians society here in winnipeg

[jigglysquishy]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

Long overdue but wonderful and exciting that they are doing this. I wish they would open up some ground floor retail chunks on the Albert Street side to add some life to that portion of the building and street. Or some more trees or planters. Also cool LED lighting at night would be neat to accentuate the architecture.

Totally agree. Albert Street has so much potential to be a lively street that connects 13th Avenue and downtown, but it's so dead right now.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Festivus

They're going to need lights at the 4-way stop of Dairy Queen and RBC inside grasslands as well. It already gets backed up huge, and vehicles stop in the middle of the intersection because the Gordon lights are red. They made a huge design error only placing a single left exit for the Walmart complex, and then also placing it with a 4-way stop so close to the main street.

It's a mess, but there will never, ever be another light there. There are standards and it's too close to the other light.

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

The whole area is a mess. I don't know why we keep building these suburban centres, but they always out turn out terribly.

You can blame Stantec for that one and the city for not enforcing good, workable designs.

[Robag]

Originally Posted by Udon'tknow

Not sure if anyone has noticed the budwieser commercial running during the NHL playoffs, but looks like it was filmed on the plaza in downtown Regina:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FToGSkFptAo

credit: youtube

Apparently, Budweiser is going across the country and filming commercials in a few different cities, and Regina was one of them. There was one done in Quebec and the commercial there is being played regionally. I assume this one is region only as well.

[StealthGirl]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

Long overdue but wonderful and exciting that they are doing this. I wish they would open up some ground floor retail chunks on the Albert Street side to add some life to that portion of the building and street. Or some more trees or planters. Also cool LED lighting at night would be neat to accentuate the architecture.

Last time I was in Viterra, they were using all that space. I don't think they could open it up that way.

This restoration is a major project. http://www.leaderpost.com/Historic+Sask+Wheat+Pool+building+getting+facelift/10703677/story.html

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

Last time I was in Viterra, they were using all that space. I don't think they could open it up that way.

This restoration is a major project. http://www.leaderpost.com/Historic+Sask+Wheat+Pool+building+getting+facelift/10703677/story.html

I have heard that staffing levels are dropping a bit... I wouldn't be surprised if they can reorganise the tower and have most of the staff there (plus maybe an upper level or two of the older Sherwood Dept Store.

When I've walked by, the main floor area of the heritage building seemed to have cubicles, but didn't appear to have a sense of permanence (i.e. nothing on the desks, cubicle walls, shelves, etc). They do have a lab/testing centre further along Vic though... I doubt that'd be moved.

[Treesplease]

At the time Viterra's application for the city's Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program was going to council it was the same night council decided on the strip club application. Some on here were concerned that Viterra's application would be invisible to the media given the strip club decision on the same night.

Turned out to be correct - I heard everything about the strip club decision and nothing about whether the city accepted Viterra's application for the Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program. Does anyone know if the city is picking up some of the tab for this restoration?

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by Nathan

I have heard that staffing levels are dropping a bit... I wouldn't be surprised if they can reorganise the tower and have most of the staff there (plus maybe an upper level or two of the older Sherwood Dept Store.

When I've walked by, the main floor area of the heritage building seemed to have cubicles, but didn't appear to have a sense of permanence (i.e. nothing on the desks, cubicle walls, shelves, etc). They do have a lab/testing centre further along Vic though... I doubt that'd be moved.

Viterra has vacated space in Regina in the last year according to the last Office Market Report.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by StealthGirl

Last time I was in Viterra, they were using all that space. I don't think they could open it up that way.

This restoration is a major project. http://www.leaderpost.com/Historic+Sask+Wheat+Pool+building+getting+facelift/10703677/story.html

Half of the tower is empty so they could move people around. But ultimately, I doubt they want to be retail landlords.

[Drofmab]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

Half of the tower is empty so they could move people around. But ultimately, I doubt they want to be retail landlords.

I spoke with a couple Viterra employees right after the sale... sounded as though the footprint in Regina will (has) undoubtedly shrink. One of the folks' take on it was that the heritage portion is a pain from an upkeep/IT infrastructure/HVAC/etc point of view. He figured they'd consolidate in the tower. I agree the lab seem unlikely to move, though.

So, either the heritage restoration is a recognition that work was needed to make that portion of their footprint a workable space for Viterra and/or the work was needed to make the building more desirable when put on the market.

Even if they sold the building, I suspect they could negotiate a lease-back for the lab space (assuming it is going to remain open, and isn't easily moved).

[SkydivePilot]

Hey guys, I'm going to float this one here: how many of you would believe that the new NDP juggernaut in Alberta will help improve Saskatchewan's economy?

I believe it will.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by SkydivePilot

Hey guys, I'm going to float this one here: how many of you would believe that the new NDP juggernaut in Alberta will help improve Saskatchewan's economy?

I believe it will.

It may. Certainly oil companies only have so much each year in their capital budgets. If AB becomes less attractive, more might be invested in SK. Also if you were planning to set up a new franchise restauraunt, you might prefer SK where you don't have to pay $15/hr to teenagers and servers who already get tons of tips. I am sure there are other examples.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Stormer

It may. Certainly oil companies only have so much each year in their capital budgets. If AB becomes less attractive, more might be invested in SK. Also if you were planning to set up a new franchise restauraunt, you might prefer SK where you don't have to pay $15/hr to teenagers and servers who already get tons of tips. I am sure there are other examples.

Places were already having to pay high wages though... You have to up the salary to attract workers in a tight labour market. TFW threw off this equilibrium though. Instead of increasing salaries to attract workers in a normal system, they kept wages low and brought in temporary workers from outside of the immediate system.

It's a funny thing really. Conservatives were largely supportive of the program because it let business profit from an artificially low labour rate, but if they actually followed their ideology, which is to not intervene with the market and let market forces reign (at least they pull out that line when it suits them), they wouldn't bring in workers for those low skilled jobs... If wages have to rise to attract workers, so be it; the market has spoken.


Whether Sask will benefit, it's too hard to tell at this point. If we were still pumping out jobs like no one's business, we'd likely be able to attract some people scared about the sky falling... but if there aren't jobs for them, there'd be no point in them coming in droves to help expand the economy. It will take a while for anything to get going (if there is an impact that is).

[Rodo Regina Lover]

What Stormer ," tons of tips " verse tons of benefits one gets working for any form of government, this of course includes federal, provincial and municipal governments. All of these benefits are pay for from ALL the people of Saskatchewan!

[Dan0myte]

I think people are making too big of a deal out of this. There are too many companies entrenched in Alberta where moving or redistributing the workforce just simply doesn't make sense. They may downsize the workforce to offset the new royalties and taxes they'll be faced with.... but in terms of pulling up stakes and moving to SK I don't think so. Adaptation and Survival are the two words I can see floating around Alberta oil companies boardrooms right now, not "Let's pick up our multi-billion dollar operation and move it next door".

In terms of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan I can't see that happening much either. Lots of hot air about that right now from those pissed off that their party lost the election but in reality if their families are in Alberta and they have a good job in Alberta the political atmosphere isn't going to change that. Now if someone were to get laid off because their company can't survive in this new Alberta, I can see them giving SK a try. Look for a fresh start somewhere else. This will be a very small number of people though - not enough to make a big impact on our economy.

[OOO AHH OGEMA]

Originally Posted by Dan0myte

I think people are making too big of a deal out of this. There are too many companies entrenched in Alberta where moving or redistributing the workforce just simply doesn't make sense. They may downsize the workforce to offset the new royalties and taxes they'll be faced with.... but in terms of pulling up stakes and moving to SK I don't think so. Adaptation and Survival are the two words I can see floating around Alberta oil companies boardrooms right now, not "Let's pick up our multi-billion dollar operation and move it next door".

In terms of people moving from Alberta to Saskatchewan I can't see that happening much either. Lots of hot air about that right now from those pissed off that their party lost the election but in reality if their families are in Alberta and they have a good job in Alberta the political atmosphere isn't going to change that. Now if someone were to get laid off because their company can't survive in this new Alberta, I can see them giving SK a try. Look for a fresh start somewhere else. This will be a very small number of people though - not enough to make a big impact on our economy.

I think alot of those saying there may be an influx of migration are referring to the thousands of expats who left Sask 10-20 years ago and still have family and deep roots back here.

They may be intrigued to give Saskatchewan a shot again considering the "promises" that the Alberta NDP have proposed will likely do nothing to aid in the economic recovery.(and i would wager that they will undermine any recovery)

[jigglysquishy]

I doubt any businesses will relocate to Saskatchewan. Our corporate tax rate is 12%. Manitoba's is 12%. Alberta's will soon be 12%.

That seems to be the major issue for companies, but they have zero financial incentive to move.

[Festivus]

Originally Posted by OOO AHH OGEMA

I think alot of those saying there may be an influx of migration are referring to the thousands of expats who left Sask 10-20 years ago and still have family and deep roots back here.

They may be intrigued to give Saskatchewan a shot again considering the "promises" that the Alberta NDP have proposed will likely do nothing to aid in the economic recovery.(and i would wager that they will undermine any recovery)

I think people are being a bit hyperbolic here (not you), in terms of the effect of the NDP government. They are likely going to introduce a progressive tax system (which the PCs were going to do anyway) which involves taxing the rich a bit more, and the middle-class and poor a bit less. Historically this would boost the economy, though, as tax-cuts to the poor and middle-class spur investment and spending, whereas it doesn't among the rich (who already have enough money to spend and are already choosing not to). For business, the 2% proposed increase in corporate tax rates will likely not make a huge difference either.

The largest change would be any change to the oil royalty rates, which is likely overdue anyway considering how little government collects from oil revenue compared to other western nations. Look at how rich Norway has become from oil - they keep 80% of oil profits as royalty payments, and yet companies still keep pumping there. However, I wouldn't expect anything as drastic as that, and it's likely the NDP won't even increase rates, rather simply make them more transparent to the public.

Honestly the NDP are not going to make any drastic changes to Alberta culture with the exception of transferring some wealth from the top to schools and health funding. And with the exception of Rae's NDP government in Ontario, there haven't really been any horrible NDP governments in Canada. You can say that maybe Romanow and Calvert in SK didn't do as much as they could have to boost the economic situation, but they also did a pretty good job of preventing SK from going bankrupt in a bad time, and did a reasonable job at fiscal management. Honestly, the NDP have generally been elected historically when the Liberals or Conservatives have run a province into the ground, and then the NDP have to act fiscally conservative to save the province and are then booted out once things start to get better. I'm not sure where all the fear comes from. They campaign on the left but generally govern as Liberals.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by jigglysquishy

I doubt any businesses will relocate to Saskatchewan. Our corporate tax rate is 12%. Manitoba's is 12%. Alberta's will soon be 12%.

That seems to be the major issue for companies, but they have zero financial incentive to move.

I don't think that is the issue. Corps do not pay tax where they reside but rather where they earn the income. For example Crescent Point and Agrium are HQ'd in Calgary but pay a larger proportion of their corporate taxes in SK because their operations are here. Moving their HQ would not make much difference. Having said that, tax planners always had an incentive to stretch the rules in an effort to allocate as much income as possible to AB operations. That incentive will be gone and we should see less tax "leakage".

To me the big issue will be investment, rather than companies moving. If royalties and taxes increase in AB and there is considerable uncertainty about the future (i.e. perceived risk) then SK can look more attractive. Increased regulation can also affect investment decisions.

I do not believe their will be a huge noticeable shift, but there should be some investment advantage accruing to SK.