Regina Construction III

[Festivus]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

That's the originally linked story. Honestly, there's very little to the story.

You have to admit that something smells funny when land changes hands a few times and people connected to government officials make a bunch of money...when the entire time the exercise was pointless as government could have just bought the land for cheap from the get-go. Sure it might be the usual way of doing things, and corruption we've all grown accustomed to...but if someone can be caught and punished for it, then all the better.

[House]

BHP Billiton pledges $20M toward carbon capture research in Regina

BHP Billiton says it will spend the money over five years to help create a research centre at Innovation Place Research Park, next to the University of Regina campus.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchew...bon-capture-research-in-regina-1.3436112

[SkydivePilot]

Hey guys, just one silly interrogative here: What's the purpose of having those small, spinning, silver, reflective prisms atop of small poles atop of small businesses. (Aside as being an eye irritation.)

Thanks.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Festivus

You have to admit that something smells funny when land changes hands a few times and people connected to government officials make a bunch of money...when the entire time the exercise was pointless as government could have just bought the land for cheap from the get-go. Sure it might be the usual way of doing things, and corruption we've all grown accustomed to...but if someone can be caught and punished for it, then all the better.

I think it's a sign of government incompetence rather than government conspiracy.

[UPP]

Originally Posted by SkydivePilot

Hey guys, just one silly interrogative here: What's the purpose of having those small, spinning, silver, reflective prisms atop of small poles atop of small businesses. (Aside as being an eye irritation.)

Thanks.

Scare away birds, specifically pigeons.

[SkydivePilot]

Originally Posted by UPP

Scare away birds, specifically pigeons.

Oh, thank you!

[SkydivePilot]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

I think it's a sign of government incompetence rather than government conspiracy.

I would second that.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Would someone be able to do some photo updates of the golden mile, Fairfield inn hotel, residence inn at dewdney and Pasqua, Sheraton on Albert and Dewdney, the airport new buildings and ag place and retail?

[OOO AHH OGEMA]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

I think it's a sign of government incompetence rather than government conspiracy.

I wonder if I'm not getting the whole story here. The only aspect having anything directly to do with government is the portion of the property in question that was sold back to highways for the bypass. The GTH sold it for much less that what they paid. But the ministry of highways has the power of expropriation. Therefore selling it for what it was appraised for. The GTH appeared to need the other 150+ acres of land anyways so they were at the whim of what the owners were asking. My understsnding is that the cannot just expropriate. Everything before that was just speculation. You can try to draw connections but I'm sure anyone with a map and a newspaper could have figured out that land near the GTH and the long talked about bypass would be in demand at some point. The fact the original owners were offered low ball prices from highways for a completely separate peice of land just means they paniced and were poor speculators. In my mind atleast.

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by OOO AHH OGEMA

I wonder if I'm not getting the whole story here. The only aspect having anything directly to do with government is the portion of the property in question that was sold back to highways for the bypass. The GTH sold it for much less that what they paid. But the ministry of highways has the power of expropriation. Therefore selling it for what it was appraised for. The GTH appeared to need the other 150+ acres of land anyways so they were at the whim of what the owners were asking. My understsnding is that the cannot just expropriate. Everything before that was just speculation. You can try to draw connections but I'm sure anyone with a map and a newspaper could have figured out that land near the GTH and the long talked about bypass would be in demand at some point. The fact the original owners were offered low ball prices from highways for a completely separate peice of land just means they paniced and were poor speculators. In my mind atleast.

Property comes up for sale and people buy it and resell it - nothing wrong there. Even the gov selling to GTH at a fraction of what they paid looks funny but its all gov money so aside from some accounting issues I don't see the problem. What I find unusual is the willingness of successive buyers to buy the land at values far exceeding values previously offered by government expropriation for very similar properties. Either the buyers took one hell of a chance that they could sell it for more later ......or there was information being shared that mitigated that risk. Information that was not available to everyone. Land appraisals are very subjective and typcially rely on comparable sales as opposed to what the land might be worth if they built a theoretical disney theme park on it. There is something on the other end of the loose threads.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

Property comes up for sale and people buy it and resell it - nothing wrong there. Even the gov selling to GTH at a fraction of what they paid looks funny but its all gov money so aside from some accounting issues I don't see the problem. What I find unusual is the willingness of successive buyers to buy the land at values far exceeding values previously offered by government expropriation for very similar properties. Either the buyers took one hell of a chance that they could sell it for more later ......or there was information being shared that mitigated that risk. Information that was not available to everyone. Land appraisals are very subjective and typcially rely on comparable sales as opposed to what the land might be worth if they built a theoretical disney theme park on it. There is something on the other end of the loose threads.

It's simply a matter of hedging your bets that the land you buy will go up in value.

Here's how Tappauf and Marquart looked at it: hey there's the GTH and a future road. Damn right I'm going to buy it because the government is going to need it. The west bypass was known since like 2009 and though the design wasn't finalized I think it's a relatively intelligent hedge.

It's is simply incompetence that the GTH and Highways didn't secure their land needs before they let the speculators at it. If the government had their appraisal (which is only an opinion) then they should have started the the process earlier. Instead they waited. And in the mean time two experienced business people took increasingly risky bets that the government would want it. And they were right.

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

It's simply a matter of hedging your bets that the land you buy will go up in value.

Here's how Tappauf and Marquart looked at it: hey there's the GTH and a future road. Damn right I'm going to buy it because the government is going to need it. The west bypass was known since like 2009 and though the design wasn't finalized I think it's a relatively intelligent hedge.

It's is simply incompetence that the GTH and Highways didn't secure their land needs before they let the speculators at it. If the government had their appraisal (which is only an opinion) then they should have started the the process earlier. Instead they waited. And in the mean time two experienced business people took increasingly risky bets that the government would want it. And they were right.

Yeah, that must be it. Lucky bets on their part. And lucky for Tappauf that Marquart didn't realize earlier in the day that the property was publicly for sale.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

Yeah, that must be it. Lucky bets on their part. And lucky for Tappauf that Marquart didn't realize earlier in the day that the property was publicly for sale.

Do you even know what land speculation is?

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

Do you even know what land speculation is?

Do you?

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

Do you?

Yes. But I'm not sure this conversation is productive when your sole goal is to find a boogeyman.

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

Yes. But I'm not sure this conversation is productive when your sole goal is to find a boogeyman.

I'm agreeing with you. Nothing untoward in this whole issue.

btw...what's a boogeyman?

[Arts]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

Property comes up for sale and people buy it and resell it - nothing wrong there. Even the gov selling to GTH at a fraction of what they paid looks funny but its all gov money so aside from some accounting issues I don't see the problem. What I find unusual is the willingness of successive buyers to buy the land at values far exceeding values previously offered by government expropriation for very similar properties. Either the buyers took one hell of a chance that they could sell it for more later ......or there was information being shared that mitigated that risk. Information that was not available to everyone. Land appraisals are very subjective and typcially rely on comparable sales as opposed to what the land might be worth if they built a theoretical disney theme park on it. There is something on the other end of the loose threads.

Exactly this. Which is probably why the auditor is considering looking into the matter.

[BrutallyDishonest2]

Originally Posted by Arts

Exactly this. Which is probably why the auditor is considering looking into the matter.

You can see other examples of land speculation on private land in the east end. It was sold from one group to another for $50,000/acre then, it sold for nearly $120,000 a few years later. It's not really absurd for annexed developable land.

[Arts]

Originally Posted by BrutallyDishonest2

You can see other examples of land speculation on private land in the east end. It was sold from one group to another for $50,000/acre then, it sold for nearly $120,000 a few years later. It's not really absurd for annexed developable land.

As you said - a few years later. It would be understandable if Tappauf decided to take the risk and purchase this land knowing there was a good chance at negotiating a profitable deal with the province, in which case it was a benefit to McNally and the sisters to not have to face the risk of expropriation (assuming a current market value of the $45k and $55k per acre, respectively). So why then did Marquart up the ante so much, clearly paying WAY more than the current market value or even the ultimate value sold to the highways dept? Why did the taxpayers bear the brunt of this loss instead of Marquart (and handing over millions more on top of the losses which he avoided)? If Marquart did not know something he made a very stupid decision that day, and successful businessmen don't make reckless decisions like that.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by Arts

As you said - a few years later. It would be understandable if Tappauf decided to take the risk and purchase this land knowing there was a good chance at negotiating a profitable deal with the province, in which case it was a benefit to McNally and the sisters to not have to face the risk of expropriation (assuming a current market value of the $45k and $55k per acre, respectively). So why then did Marquart up the ante so much, clearly paying WAY more than the current market value or even the ultimate value sold to the highways dept? Why did the taxpayers bear the brunt of this loss instead of Marquart (and handing over millions more on top of the losses which he avoided)? If Marquart did not know something he made a very stupid decision that day, and successful businessmen don't make reckless decisions like that.

From the press stories it is pretty clear that the first guy made his deal (and set the price) a year before Marquardt. Land prices around Regina were going crazy at that time. Doubling in a year was not uncommon.