The expected completion date for the setback-plagued Capital Pointe high-rise hotel and condominium project in Regina has been pushed back another year.

Fortress Real Developments, the Ontario-based company putting up the capital for the $100 million project, says construction is now scheduled to wrap up in the summer of 2016.

“We’re being very realistic now,” Nick Circosta, Fortress’ director of stakeholder management and construction and development performance, said in a phone interview Monday.

Circosta said this latest delay is in large part related to design changes. The 26-storey building will now include five floors of underground parking, up from four.

“We’re going to build the furthest-down project and the furthest up in Regina,” Circosta said.

“It’s going to change the character of the building having underground parking. All of the present (condo) sales will be honoured but as we get up higher into the building, we’re hoping that prices will be increasing in increments.”

Shoring and excavation work is scheduled to begin in early July, and the underground parkade and foundation is expected to be completed by May 2015.

“We’re committed to these dates,” Circosta said. “We have contracts in place; the consultants are in place, they’ve all been retained and instructed to meet these deadlines with contractual obligations.”

The downtown tower will include a 12-floor hotel with 140 suites and a pool on the top level, along with 180 condo units.

Just under a third of the condo units have been sold so far, Circosta said. He added that no one who put down a deposit on a condo has pulled out of the project.

“We haven’t been aggressive in selling more units until we are 100 per cent sure that these next target dates will be met,” Circosta said. “We’re going to be starting a marketing campaign as soon as our permit is submitted at the beginning of (May).”

Ontario-based Augustine Group took over as the project developer in May 2013. At that time, the building was expected to be completed in the summer of 2015.

The former project developer, BrightStar Corp., had received approval to begin construction in May 2010, but the development permit expired after a series of delays.

“The project needs confidence rebuilt, re-established, on that particular site and one of the best ways to marketing is going to be for people to see that it’s actually happening now,” Circosta said.

“That’s about as frank as I can be, and we’re sure that’s going to happen. We’ve got a big investment in that project. We’ve got to make it happen.”