Farewell, Capital Pointe Hole
author: jacob nelson | staff writer
Jeremy Davis
Regina is no stranger to holes. in fact, Regina’s every day over the summer is spent filling in one of the hundreds of potholes this city has to offer its drivers, and most of us, I think, have learned to live with that. Having extreme temperatures in both our summer and winter seasons means that potholes are to be expected.
But a pothole isn’t the kind of hole in our city that I want to talk about. No, I want to talk about the giant man-made disaster sitting in the heart of downtown at the corner of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue…the Capital Pointe project.
Nine years ago, our city had its eyes set on a prize: an $80 million, twenty-seven story condo complex, to be specific. It was going to be the tallest and most beautiful tower in all of Regina. I think it’s a bit ironic that, in reality, it became the deepest hole in all of Regina instead.
Over the years Fortress Real Development has promised to start development on this thing over and over again. The latest was an interview in 2016, when the President/CEO Jawad Rathore said that the development would be at ground level within a year. Well, Jawad, I drove by yesterday…still looks like a hole to me.
This would have really been something to see if it had succeeded. Our city does not compare well to most other major downtowns in the West. To be fair, we are the smallest out of all our neighbors. But that shouldn’t necessarily mean we can’t develop large buildings to spice up our downtown. I mean, since 2010 we have seen Mosaic Tower, Agriculture Place, and new Mosaic Stadium all built. So it’s not fair that one of the most prime places in all of Regina can’t get that same satisfaction of having a memorable piece of architecture towering over the city. The project itself has damaged our city’s population and reputation.
It was also rumored a year ago that the hole was actually causing structural problems for the buildings beside it. But hey, at least the city gets big tax revenue from this development, estimated at around $43,000 according to CTV. It’s even looking like now we could finally be seeing some closure. The city said it is going to fill the hole by March 31 of this year if developers do not do it themselves. While some may see this as the government interfering with an organization’s right to its property, it’s been over a decade with minimal progress.
Finally, this hole that my parents and grandparents have been talking about for years will come to its end and we can go back to focusing on more important issues this city faces – the timeline for the completion of the new bypass, the next million-dollar renovation to the roof of the legislative building, or maybe even the three-year-old pothole right in front of my house.
