Here's how much Regina Catalyst Committee's proposed projects could cost

Regina’s Catalyst Committee is proposing five projects to be built in the city in the coming years, ranging in price from about $20 million to $172 million.

The committee focused on four pillars to determine which projects were worth pursuing: economic generation, activation or visitation generation, operational sustainability and social and well-being support.

• Report recommends new aquatic centre, central library and event centre for Regina

The proposed aquatic centre is estimated to cost about $172.7 million. A new multi-purpose arena is estimated to cost $156 million. A new central library would cost $125 million. A multi-purpose outdoor baseball and soccer stadium is estimated to cost $22.5 million.

Another project which was not initially proposed to residents is a non-vehicular trail system joining various districts of the downtown core. The Catalyst Committee has identified this as the first priority on its list. It is estimated to cost about $20 million - $10 million for the trail and another $10 million for points of interest along the path. Points of interest could include a bike wash station, solar warming huts, shaded shelters and water fountains.

A graph shows the proposed costs of the recommended projects. (Source: City of Regina)

Those estimations consider what it could cost to build right now, but Catalyst Committee co-chair Tim Reid said the prices will go up the longer it takes to start building.

“I think it’s important to recognize that all of these are big and all of these are expensive. They’re only going to become more expensive as we move forward,” Reid said during a media briefing on Tuesday.

“We should anticipate the average cost of the facilities being considered will have an escalation of somewhere between 32 and 38 per cent.”

If the projects don’t enter construction until 2030 or beyond, Reid said escalation would bring the current projected costs up by 62 per cent. If it takes 10 years, the price would go up by 80 per cent.

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In order to happen, Reid said all projects will need significant funding from outside sources. That funding could come from federal and provincial government or private sources.

“None of these projects at this current date have funding in place in any of the categories that are shown,” Reid said. “However the aquatic centre is in the process of an application for federal funding that would be consistent with provincial funding.”

The Catalyst Committee said implementing the four major projects (aquatic centre, library, indoor events centre and outdoor stadium) would create hundreds of construction jobs in the city while they’re being built and more than 200 full time jobs once the centres are operating.

LOCATIONS

The Catalyst Committee is recommending the new aquatic centre, which is second on the priority list, be built at the site of the current Lawson Aquatic Centre. Reid said if that location doesn’t work out, The Yards could be a potential second option.

The new library is recommended to replace the current downtown branch in its existing location. The new library is third on the committee’s priority list.

The multi-purpose event centre, which is the fourth priority of the committee, is recommended to be built downtown. Public consultation showed the majority of residents would prefer to keep it on the Regina Exhibition Association Limited Campus, but the committee does not agree.

“If the arena is going to have a catalyzing effect, its best chance of doing that – maybe its only real chance of doing that – is if it’s downtown,” committee co-chair Bob Hawkins said.

“If you put the arena downtown, that’s going to attract commercial activity around the arena.”

In numerous Canadian cities like, Hawkins noted that arenas have been moved downtown.

The Catalyst Committee did not recommend a specific site downtown for the arena.

“There’s a whole variety of possible sites. We need to understand where the arena should best be located for catalyst reasons. Are there financial implications? Are there land assembly implications? We didn’t want to trigger by naming a site,” Hawkins said.

The outdoor soccer and baseball stadium is recommended to be built on the former Taylor Field site, once the ground infrastructure is approved. It is fifth on the committee’s priority list.

Potential locations of Catalyst Committee projects are highlighted in this map. (Source: City of Regina)

These proposals will go before Regina’s Executive Committee on Wednesday for further discussion and voting. Next week, city council is expected to vote on decisions that come out of executive committee.

A timeline on the builds remains unclear, but Reid said it’s likely they will happen over a span of several years depending on the priority of each project.

“If you think about the approval process to the construction process, any of these projects we believe need a minimum of one year to go from a plan to approval. We believe they all need a minimum of one year for design and engineering, before you get into construction,” Reid said.

“Assuming most of these projects won’t be ready, even if you move as fast as you could, until 2024 or 2025.”

The timeline for the builds will depend on decisions made by city council.