Potential new hotel could help REAL hit revenue goals: CEO

The group that runs Regina’s Evraz Place is looking to bump up its yearly earnings by seeking approval from the City of Regina for commercial development on its site.

Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) wants to hit its goal of $3 million per year in earnings by 2025 or 2026; right now, it earns less than $1 million per year, CEO Tim Reid said.

“On day-to-day (operations), our business just needs to generate more cash flow than it is,” he said Thursday.

REAL predicts if it doesn’t pursue commercial development, it will reach that earnings goal later, either in 2034 or 2036.

The most immediate step in reaching the five-year goal (2025) is building a new hotel on site, Reid said.

“We’re really excited about the fact that we’ve had a number of hoteliers engage with us,” he said. “We have a number of expressions of interest in front of us today.”

He didn’t say how many or which hotel companies have put in lease applications to build there, but Reid did tease a public announcement likely coming later this year.

“Within probably the next three months, the public will get a really good sense of what hotels are interested, what they would look like on the site, how big they would be and how they would connect,” he said.

In the meantime, REAL submitted its 15-year development plan and report to the city’s priorities and planning committee on Wednesday. It’s waiting for approval on that, which will put the plan to city council at its meeting Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

The reports states that Evraz Place “faces a significant risk to long term sustainability and maintenance of assets,” and “over the next 20 years, a $44 million investment into the campus’ key elements of civic infrastructure is required.”

A part of that has to do with the Brandt Centre, which is reaching the end of its useful life cycle, Reid said.

Along with increasing earnings, Reid said REAL wants to “leverage the 102 acres of land” at the site and “grow our business into some new business lines that other marketplaces have that we don’t today.”

Examples REAL studied include Ottawa, Edmonton, Kansas City and Columbus, Ohio.

The report shows other potential new business opportunities Evraz Place could develop. Those include: Live music, e-sports and e-gaming, a grocery store, “food and beverage experiences beyond concessions,” mixed-use residential options, retail outlets and a movie theatre, among others.

Speaking on The Greg Morgan Morning Show, Mayor Michael Fougere said REAL’s strategy will have to consider the future of the Brandt Centre.

“It’s got to be fixed. It’s getting older, (so) what are we going to do with it?” Fougere said.

Fougere’s preference would be to see the Brandt Centre — or whatever replaces it — expanded.

“If we’re going to build a new facility or refurbish it, you would expand it so we could have concerts there. We’re missing several of those kind of activities,” he said.

If a new arena is built, the location would still need to be determined.

“It’s too early to say what’s going to happen,” Fougere said.