REGINA – Brandt Properties Ltd. will be buying most of the buildings at the Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. (REAL District) and will operate portions of the REAL campus, according to the non-binding term sheet of a proposed sale of the properties.
The proposed deal, which will need council approval, has been posted on the agenda for the city’s Executive Committee meeting for April 29. It will mark a major change for the REAL District and its operations.
Details were shared by city administration at an embargoed news conference Friday at City Hall. Terms of the deal are as follows:
City administration, REAL administration and Brandt have negotiated a non-binding term sheet by which Brandt is prepared to purchase facilities at full market price and operate portions of the REAL campus.
According to the deal Brandt would pay the city $6.5 million for nine properties: the Brandt Centre, Commercial Cattle Barn, Stockman’s Building, Canada Centre Building (Avana), Queensbury Centre, the Ag-EX building, Queen City Distillery, the McDonald’s (land lease), and portions of the parking lot.
The city would retain Co-operators Centre, AffinityPlex, Mosaic Stadium and portions of the parking lot. The city also will continue to own Bunge International Trade Centre and fabric storage facilities, both of which will be leased to Brandt.
The sale would be in stages with Canada Centre targeted for July 1, remaining buildings on Sept. 1 and subdivision and transfer of the land by Dec. 31, 2027.
As for staffing, REAL’s unionized staff of close to 700 will be transferred to Brandt who will assume the existing collective agreements. Employment will be offered to designated out of scope staff, and any out of scope staff who are terminated will be offered severance.
The main issue for the city is the age of the buildings and the mounting cost of upkeep. According to administration, the assets being sold have an average age of over 45 years and have deteriorated and require extensive costly repairs.
“It would take a very large investment to bring them up to standard and some of the buildings are functionally obsolete as their design no longer meets current market demands,” said Daren Anderson, Chief Financial Officer and Deputy City Manager.
Anderson said determining the purchase price was very complex but said the City engaged expert accredited professionals to determine a range of market values for these facilities. He said Brandt had agreed to purchase at the top of that range getting full market value and maximizing taxpayer return. I’ll leave this up right there.
According to the figures provided, the purchase price of the Brandt Centre and the Agribition Building are negative. The Brandt Centre appraised value was roughly $5.5 million compared to $18.9 million in deferred maintenance. The Agribition Building is appraised at nearly $1.59 million with deferred maintainance of over $4.4 million.
“This means the amount of repairs required on the buildings is greater than the appraised value,” Anderson said. “The Brandt Centre was built in the late 70s and is coming to the point where major work is required to keep the facility operating. This is a large risk for the taxpayer.”
Anderson said the transaction will also reduce taxpayer subsidies currently paid for operation of the campus, by $115,000 per week or $6 million per year. He called those significant savings that can be used for other priorities.
Together, Anderson said, the operating and capital cash flow savings are $79 million over the next five years, or $300,000 per week over that time frame.
He said this will hold beyond five years, and is equivalent to a reduction in the mill rate of eight per cent. “As administration, we believe that that $300,000 a week can create tremendous community good,” said Anderson.
In total, the city estimates the value to taxpayers from the deal will be $84.8 million.
Anderson said the investment into the facilities will be welcome to everyone who uses and visits the site. He adds that majority of activity programmed by local sporting organizations occurs in those buildings retained by the City in the deal, and will remain unaffected.
For Queensbury Centre, the City and Brandt will have a lease agreement to ensure the main floor for soccer remains unaffected. The city says that under the deal Brandt will also ensure the campus continues to host recreational, cultural, sporting, entertainment, convention, agribusiness and other special events such as Canadian Western Agribusiness.
As for the future of the Queen City Ex, Anderson said Brandt will continue to operate it “as long as it is commercially viable and there is demand for the event in the community.”
City administration says the proposal will provide for an orderly transition of operations from REAL to ensure stability for staff, facility users and organizers of upcoming events. “We ensured during negotiations to take into account the best way forward for employees at Real and believe that meets this hurdle,” said Anderson.
He reiterated why the City is recommending the deal to go through,
“We believe this is an exceptional opportunity because it maintains a connected campus for hosting rec, culture, sports, entertainment, convention and other special events. It provides an orderly transition of the purchased assets and operations of REAL and protects employees and existing event bookings with Brandt assuming contractual obligations for hosting events, existing leases, collective bargaining agreements and service providers such as Levin. This eliminates City liability for deferred maintenance and capital investment on the assets with an average age of 45 years and by extension, which the City has no current funding plan or funding source. Brandt is uniquely positioned and motivated to execute on this.”
Anderson adds that this deal is “about priorities.”
“The City’s official debt plan has $13 million of capacity. Our capital reserves are forecasted to be near zero in four years and every day we add to our large deferred maintenance liability. This unique opportunity will lessen the burden on taxpayers and attract millions of dollars of private investment.”
According to the city, Brandt had approached the REAL Board with an offer to buy buildings in November 2025. Because the City of Regina owned the facilities, the city was brought in to negotiate to see if there was an opportunity.
Anderson describes Brandt as “highly motivated to make that space even better than it is today.”
“So they’re the major, they’re one of the major tenants of that space right now through ownership of the Regina Pats and the 99-year lease they have on the Agribition Building. And, you know, they see the challenges that the City has with that property and have, you know, saw an opportunity for them to invest in the properties and bring the level of service up to something that they and their employees and customers that they bring into the city would appreciate.”
This proposed sale of assets is the latest chapter in the REAL saga, with the organization having faced numerous financial struggles and management and board turmoil over the past number of years. On Feb. 2025, council passed a motion to consider options for the organization’s future, and there has been speculation over the past number of years that the organization could face dissolution.
When officials were asked Friday if this deal meant the end of REAL, Anderson emphasized it was not.
“So, you know, obviously a lot of steps to go through here. This is a non-binding term sheet at this point,” said Anderson.
Anderson said through the agreement all the employees will be offered employment and switch over to Brandt this year, but the “organization of REAL will still exist until the city decides what to do with it.”
Anderson said that as part of this deal, the agreement the city has with REAL to operate the facilities that they are retaining will go to Brandt, and Brandt will have all the employees that do that work.
“This is not something that Brandt does currently so they’ll be relying on all the current employees to continue that work for them. But we will be transitioning the agreements from REAL to Brandt if this deal is approved. What we will do though is shorten the time frame. So right now I think REAL’s agreement with the city is for 40 years and we would shorten that to 30 months. And it just allows the city time to think about what it wants to do with its own city-run facilities at that time.”
As for what this might mean for a new arena project down the road, Anderson said this “doesn’t impact anything around a new arena.”
“I would say there’s nothing going on about a new arena right now, but this would not impact that. There is a clause in here where if the city decided to do a new arena that would directly compete with the Brandt Centre and Brandt wasn’t involved, we would then have to purchase the Brandt Centre back. Obviously it’s a unique asset that cities don’t have two arenas so they need to protect that. If they’re going to put significant investment into this building, they want to make sure that the city doesn’t swoop in and create a new spot but it doesn’t impact the new stuff at all.”
The next steps are FOR the report on the proposed deal to go to Executive Committee on Wednesday, April 29 and then to City Council on May 6. The city says this will allow two opportunities for the public to provide comment prior to council making its decision.
