Regina is in the early stages of the largest urban redevelopment project in the city’s history, a job that includes an ambitious plan to revitalize the Canadian Pacific Intermodal lands and transform the downtown core.
"It’s a major project and a major undertaking for the city," said Corey Hunchak, Saskatchewan Construction Association (SCA) board chair.
"Obviously, with the slowdown in the economy and the uncertainty in government spending, there needs to be a clear pipeline to know what is coming out with this 10 to 15 year plan."
Canadian Pacific Railway’s intermodal facility in the centre of Regina relocated to the new Global Transportation Hub west of the city in July 2014, which freed up 17.5 acres of brownfield land for redevelopment.
The City of Regina acquired the railyard site from CP for $7.5 million in 2012, providing an opportunity to connect the downtown core with the Warehouse Districts over the next 10 to 15 years.
The railyard renewal project has taken on extra significance, since expectations for Saskatchewan’s economic growth have been lowered significantly this year, due to the decline in oil prices.
For example, in March 2016, RBC lowered its growth forecast for the Saskatchewan economy this year to 1.2 per cent from 2.5 per cent. The previous forecast was made last December.
Despite this revision, this would still represent an improvement from the 0.8 per cent decline in economic growth that RBC now estimates for 2015.
The redevelopment will cost about $500 million, with most of the funding coming from the private sector. The City of Regina is contributing about $47 million.
"The 17.5 acres that this whole railway yard development is on has unlimited potential," said Hunchak. "The city is going about it in a very positive way, by trying to get as much feedback as possible from the people of Regina with these open houses. There will probably be some multi-tenant housing, commercial space and theatres. Hopefully, there will also be some park space. The sky is the limit."
The City of Regina and the team of consultants hosted a public open house on Dec. 2, 2015 for residents and stakeholders to learn more about the project and share their ideas for the future of the site.
"There is an opportunity to make that area a huge attraction, not just for football games, but for the whole city," said Hunchak.
"It will make a significant contribution to the downtown core and potentially spur on more development in the warehouse district just north of that. Having a theatre district or entertainment district are all great ideas, but we would like to see it multi-use commercial use to create more opportunities for employment."
The revitalization began with the construction of a new football stadium at Evraz Place, which has a construction cost of $278 million. The long-term maintenance of the facility is estimated at about $230 million over 30 years. The stadium is scheduled for completion in 2017.
The site of the existing stadium will be redeveloped as a complete neighbourhood with a mix of housing, green spaces and retail and commercial opportunities.
The Railyard Renewal Project began in August 2015, when the city awarded two contracts for consulting services.
The first contract for urban planning and design consulting services was awarded to Toronto-based Urban Strategies Inc. in collaboration with Urbanics Consultants Ltd. (Vancouver) and P3A Architecture (Regina).
The second contract for engineering services was awarded to Montreal-based WSP Group in collaboration with Ground Engineering Consultants Ltd (Regina).
The two contracts will go to establishing secondary and concept plans, which will guide the redevelopment of existing neighbourhoods and employment areas.
These plans will deal with land-use or zoning and the provision of community, utility and transportation.
Hunchak said the city is not going to develop one solution for the 17 acre site or take on the revitalization as one huge development.
"The project will be broken down into more manageable pieces to get better value," he said.
"If you lump it all together and have only one or two potential large contractors, who are able to take on a large project of this nature, you ultimately don’t utilize all the resources that are out there. The redevelopment is going to be multiple projects with investment from both the public and private sector."
The design team is preparing three preliminary redevelopment scenarios for the railyard site based on the opportunities identified and discussed during public consultation.
The public will be invited to provide feedback on the scenarios. A preferred redevelopment scenario will be prepared based on the strongest elements of each preliminary scenario. This will become the basis for a policy-based secondary plan and a more detailed concept plan.
The plans will be supported by technical studies.
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