REAL seeks additional funding from city for renovations, upgrades

The group that operates Evraz Place is seeking an increase in funding from the City of Regina.

The Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) currently receives $400,000 per year from community investment funding and has been doing so since 2001. REAL CEO Mark Allan and Board Chair Jeff MacPherson met with the Executive Committee at city hall Wednesday and asked for an additional $400,000, bringing the total to $800,000, in the upcoming budget.

REAL has a capital budget of about $4.5 million for the upcoming year, which includes upgrades to the Brandt Centre and phase three of the Queensbury Convention Centre renovation.

“Certainly something will come off the table in terms of the $4.5 million we’d like to spend”, MacPherson said.

Renovations to the Queensbury Centre will take place in the East wing and will modernize it with new paint, fixtures and carpet.

And that’s not the only thing REAL wants to upgrade this upcoming year.

“Our sign on the Lewvan is over a decade old so technology, anybody that has a TV knows things have changed a lot in the last 10 years so it’s just a modernization of the big digital screen on the Lewvan,” Allan said.

A renovation to the Tim Hortons is also being planned for.

One of the new things REAL is excited about is the opening of new Mosaic Stadium in 2017. Currently, Allan says there are no plans for a new entrance to be made.

“The story about the new stadium is really about public transit and different ways of getting to the property and parking near the property,” Allan said.

The increase in funding needs to be approved at city council.