Regina - Downtown Catalyst Projects Discussion

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Let’s start the discussions here…

Originally Posted by Kegger

https://prairiedogmag.com/2022-10-13...ck-drops-here/

I walked past the Dunning building twice a day for years and really have a soft spot for it. My favourite building in the city. If they even suggest touching that building, or others on that block...

That block seems to have a LOT of buildings. What about by Broad Street? It’s a complete waste land there.

Also, along Sask Drive would be a great spot (with an ALT Hotel on the corner)



And the corner views looking into that area:

[The mayor]

The whole downtown core is the embarrassment of Canada , I don’t think one major new building has been built there in the last ten years , they keep using the excuse we have to study the study that’s been studied , where do these ////// Councillors come from

[esquire]

I stayed in downtown Regina last weekend and even went to a hockey game while I was in town, so while I have an outsider's perspective, it is at least a pretty fresh one

First of all, I really like the Brandt Centre, I think it's a great venue. But at the same time I can understand the case for a new building. Brandt Centre is 45 years old now and probably becoming outdated in some ways. Also, the size is fairly small relative Regina's urban and regional population and the kinds of events that it could draw.

I think putting a new arena downtown is a great idea. But ultimately I think the real value in doing that is by filling one of the gaping holes that exists in the urban fabric. The most obvious place in that regard is Broad. Broad just cries out for the "main drag" treatment but it's kind of sad and forlorn with lots of empty lots and low-slung buildings. Putting a big arena along Broad could really define the eastern edge of downtown Regina, especially if a spinoff project or two gets built along with it (a hotel and restaurants being the most obvious things, maybe some other stuff).

The other good place to put it would be, as pointed out above, along Sask Drive which is another "main drag" that is a bit underwhelming. If you build the arena on the south side of Sask Drive, it can tie into the busy area around the casino and Cornwall Centre, and perhaps spur development on the north side of the street.

The last thing I would do is demolish a whole block of buildings to make way for an arena. At that point the arena stops helping the downtown area and becomes more analogous to a cancer on downtown.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Fully agree, Esquire.

[BrannyMuffin]

I’ve said before, my choice would be for Broad St between 11th and 12th. You have empty lots and mostly empty buildings. I feel like an anchor (I.e. arena) on the east side and one on the west side (theatre maybe?) would naturally create the type of environment they’re looking for without plopping a large arena into an already relatively busy area and destroying buildings that are currently being used. Downtown is relatively compact which is an advantage in a lot of ways. It doesn’t matter a ton where you put an arena because you never have too far to walk. Yes, people are lazy, but they will walk for things they want. I could hit a number of bars, restaurants, or hotels downtown in the time it would take me to walk across the parking lot at Sasktel Centre. Plus the potential for a lot more still exists.

Sask Dr is an interesting option. I know they have plans for that corridor (I believe from Winnipeg to McTavish). If their timeline is to be believed we should start seeing that work next year.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Sask Drive



Broad Street

[esquire]

^ Thanks for the helpful graphic. Size may be an issue on Sask Drive, I would imagine a new arena will have a substantially bigger footprint than Brandt Centre, probably closer to SaskTel Centre in size even if the seating capacity is closer to 10,000. Broad starts to look better in that respect.

Personally, I am not a fan of the railyard area north of the tracks. I'm sure the temptation will be strong to use it to kickstart development around there, but it's too detached from the rest of downtown to really make a difference IMO. It will end up being too separate and apart from downtown, compared to Broad which is perfectly tied into the existing downtown core.

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by The mayor

The whole downtown core is the embarrassment of Canada , I don’t think one major new building has been built there in the last ten years , they keep using the excuse we have to study the study that’s been studied , where do these ////// Councillors come from

Gardens on Rose - 2014...

[Newstart]

An Arena should be built at either REAL or the Railyards. No Arena should be built directly in the downtown core. Edmonton was a different equation as there was lots of space. All the sites downtown with MAYBE the exception of Rose leave no room for large semis to move around, park, unload, stage etc etc etc. It would be an unmitigated cluster fack if this preferred location on Lorne was to go forward.

If they want to kickstart the Railyards take the Rogers Arena that now has three towers surrounding it. The difference between Rogers and the Lorne St Location is the roads are wide and plenty of room.

The idea of putting this downtown is pure madness on so many levels when there has been over a decade of push for the Railyards and REAL to be moving forward...

[StealthGirl]

The Smith and 11th block will never happen. CIBC is not going to move their call centre.

I hate the idea of taking down a pile of buildings for an arena, esp not heritage buildings. I agree that the east side of downtown or the railyards would be more appropriate. Let's face it, the rink is going to be a big behemoth and it's putting a big building in the near middle of town that will be locked most of the time.

Consultation is Monday for the rink.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by Newstart

An Arena should be built at either REAL or the Railyards. No Arena should be built directly in the downtown core. Edmonton was a different equation as there was lots of space. All the sites downtown with MAYBE the exception of Rose leave no room for large semis to move around, park, unload, stage etc etc etc. It would be an unmitigated cluster fack if this preferred location on Lorne was to go forward.

If they want to kickstart the Railyards take the Rogers Arena that now has three towers surrounding it. The difference between Rogers and the Lorne St Location is the roads are wide and plenty of room.

The idea of putting this downtown is pure madness on so many levels when there has been over a decade of push for the Railyards and REAL to be moving forward...

I completely disagree simply on the fact that Regina downtown DOES have room and it does need new development.

Toronto downtown - Arena
Winnipeg Downtown - Arena
Vancouver Downtown - Arena
Saskatoon Downtown - Soon to be Arena
Montreal Downtown - Arena

Also the arena can have the UofR hockey use it, the Pats, Concerts, Shows. It would be a great venue addition for the city and draw people downtown - just like the Globe Theatre does.

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

To be fair, most events happen in the evening and have you been downtown in the evening? (Insert ghost emoji that still can’t be used here in 2022) Semis already make deliveries downtown. It wouldn’t be too difficult to put a ramp off Rose St. if it went in the Broad St location.

Downtown is where I spend most of my time

I agree in respect to the Rose & Broad location. My comments re: semi-trucks and large events is reserved to the 11th/12th Lorne location. 11th is already a shit show with buses. Semi-trucks setting up for a show are also not showing up at dinner time. They arrive during regular business hours.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Rose and Broad Street (between 12th and 11th). This is my preferred location.

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by one_brick_at_a_time

I completely disagree simply on the fact that Regina downtown DOES have room and it does need new development.

Toronto downtown - Arena
Winnipeg Downtown - Arena
Vancouver Downtown - Arena
Saskatoon Downtown - Soon to be Arena
Montreal Downtown - Arena

Also the arena can have the UofR hockey use it, the Pats, Concerts, Shows. It would be a great venue addition for the city and draw people downtown - just like the Globe Theatre does.

Ok. So lets look at this.

Rogers Arena was built in a precinct DESIGNED for Stadiums (with its neighbor BC Place) the roads and in and out around the Arena are all designed for the flow of large event traffic along with moving in large volume semi trucks for large events. When Rogers Arena was built as GM Place in the early-mid 90s it was hardly "Downtown Vancouver" it was in the midst of an area undergoing a transition from Industrial to Commercial/Residential. - Major Transit Hub

Winnipeg - While it has smaller streets around it, one of the streets offers 7+ lanes and median.

Toronto - 5 lanes + surrounding most of it Major Transit Hub

Montreal - 4 Lanes + around - Major Transit Hub

Saskatoon - The current arena is no where near downtown.

The 11th-12th "Preferred" location requires demolition of heritage buildings, has private land that would need to be acquired, tenants moved, and on roads that would be cramped at best. "major" transit hub is the 11th Ave Bus Location...Not mass Transit like most of the cities mentioned above.

REAL Lands, Ex-Taylor Field Lands, Railyards all offer the ability to NOT have to add to the cost of the project by acquiring and moving private businesses, demoing existing buildings, let alone heritage buildings. All offer further motivation to kick-start development surrounding those.

I'm new on the forum as a contributor but a long long time lurker. I am likely one of the most interested people in seeing Urban Development in Regina. I think putting an arena at Taylor Field/REAL/Railyards would be a logical way to move a project forward with ample parking and not driving the costs further than they need to be. The proximity to "Downtown" is negligible. If Council was serious about pushing Urban Density than there would not be new-subdivisions being approved that allow multi-family building other than TH/Duplexes. It would force the hand for urban development, no different than what happened in Edmonton and Calgary over the last 15 years.

Jamming an arena downtown under the guise it will spur development is silly and misguided. When the funding is a gigantic question mark and just adding costs of demolition, additional parking structures, and acquiring land is foolhardy to put it mildly. In almost ALL the major market locations you noted above development moved from the Downtown TOWARDS Arenas. Best case and example is the development around the Beltline and East Village in Calgary pushing towards the Saddledome.

[thebasketballgeek]

I get an arena is a decent catalyst for development, but there are other, arguably more effective ways to induce growth that benefit the general populace more.

First thing comes to mind is rapid transit. I actually love Regina’s grid system because of how much of the city it encompasses. As a result it would be quite simple logistically too make a North-South and East-West rapid transit corridors. The obvious candidates are Broad and Victoria as they are both 6 lane stroads that could honestly use a road diet anyways. The other option is too dedicate an entire road that’s smaller but generates lots of traffic to rapid transit similar to what Winnipeg did with Graham Ave. I think 11 Ave would be perfect for that.

Although in regards to the arena the best spot is definitely the Broad/Rose lots in between 11 and 12 ave.

[Newstart]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

I get an arena is a decent catalyst for development, but there are other, arguably more effective ways to induce growth that benefit the general populace more.

First thing comes to mind is rapid transit. I actually love Regina’s grid system because of how much of the city it encompasses. As a result it would be quite simple logistically too make a North-South and East-West rapid transit corridors. The obvious candidates are Broad and Victoria as they are both 6 lane stroads that could honestly use a road diet anyways. The other option is too dedicate an entire road that’s smaller but generates lots of traffic to rapid transit similar to what Winnipeg did with Graham Ave. I think 11 Ave would be perfect for that.

Although in regards to the arena the best spot is definitely the Broad/Rose lots in between 11 and 12 ave.

I couldn't agree more in respect to the Rapid Transit. HOWEVER that being said the amount of money that would have to be spent on Rapid Transit for a Community of 250-300k people per user would be astronomical. In BC with Surrey, with a population of 500,000 barely has rapid transit and is only just NOW getting extensions into suburban locations out to Langley to the tune of several billion dollars.

I don't really think an Arena is going to kick off some massive Development rush in the railyards and/or downtown/REAL. A concerted effort from Council and Planning to not allow further suburban apartments a la Greens/Eastbrook/Harbour Landing etc is what is going to spur the NEED for Urban Development. How many hundreds if not a couple thousand units were built between Harbour Landing and SE Regina along with the NW corners in the last 10 years...If you allow that type of land use than there is no motivation to build urban which then equates to no body heat.

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Newstart

I couldn't agree more in respect to the Rapid Transit. HOWEVER that being said the amount of money that would have to be spent on Rapid Transit for a Community of 250-300k people per user would be astronomical. In BC with Surrey, with a population of 500,000 barely has rapid transit and is only just NOW getting extensions into suburban locations out to Langley to the tune of several billion dollars.

I don't really think an Arena is going to kick off some massive Development rush in the railyards and/or downtown/REAL. A concerted effort from Council and Planning to not allow further suburban apartments a la Greens/Eastbrook/Harbour Landing etc is what is going to spur the NEED for Urban Development. How many hundreds if not a couple thousand units were built between Harbour Landing and SE Regina along with the NW corners in the last 10 years...If you allow that type of land use than there is no motivation to build urban which then equates to no body heat.

In regards too rapid transit I don’t necessarily think the cost has to be astronomical. If you build an LRT on Broad from U of Regina too the northern Ring Road sure it will be quite an astronomical price for a city of 250k. However, I think in Regina’s case public transit can start at a smaller scale focusing on the inner city. Cornwall to the Legislative Building afaik is about 3km. If you create a BRT which I think is apt for Regina at its current population it wouldn’t cost more then $150 million. Definitely not cheap but I’m sure it would pay for itself over the long run.

Definitely agree with you on your second point about sprawl. Besides what you mentioned there also needs to be a concerted effort to allow urban development in the neighborhoods adjacent to the city centre. Make it easier to replace the old-single family housing stock in the transitional, and realistically anything north of College Ave can and should be up zoned to allow for development of “missing middle” housing and apartment blocks.

[pappcam]

Well this thread will kill the construction thread so there's that.

[one_brick_at_a_time]

Originally Posted by djforsberg

I really don’t think much needs to change in regards to transportation for any of the location options. This arena is going to be 10,000 seats. There’s already a 33,000 stadium near downtown, and many other events at REAL far exceed 10k. Downtown would actually be even better since it’s literally at the crossroads of most major Regina roads, save for the Lewvan tho Sask Dr is already planned for a widening all the way to Vic Ave. As for parking, something like 2/3rds of the surface area of downtown is parking. Plus there’s always the bus.

Agreed!

[jigglysquishy]

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