Company appealing Capital Pointe land sale

A group is appealing a judge’s decision regarding the sale of the former Capital Pointe site.

Lawyer Tony Merchant is representing Smith Street Lands, a company that bid $2.8 million for the land at 1971 Albert St., as it seeks to get its offer approved for the land.

“The lower offer that was approved by the court wasn’t enough money to pay the city so only the Smith Street offer is enough to pay the city and get the taxpayers off the hook for this disaster,” Merchant said.

In December, the courts approved the sale of the land to Royalty Developments Ltd. for $2.2 million. Merchant said Smith Street Lands filed an appeal two weeks ago and the approved deal had actually fallen through.

“(Smith Street’s offer) was $600,000 more than the other two offers and the offer that was accepted has now been pulled because there isn’t enough money to pay the city,” Merchant said. “We believe the Queen’s Bench judge was in error so we hope that the appeal judges will remedy that error.”

Merchant said the original judge felt Smith Street’s offer wasn’t made in time but Merchant feels it should have been considered.

“The original judge took the view that the Smith Street offer came too late which is putting technicalities ahead of practicality,” Merchant said. “What counts is getting the most money for the City of Regina and solving the problem of property that has been an eyesore for now 11 years and getting on with paying the money back that’s due to the taxpayers.”

Merchant said the Court of Appeal will need to decide if there was anything in the prior order that indicated there was a deadline for an offer.

There is also a concern over how long the process could take if the sale is forced to go back to the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Currently, the price tag of the sale includes $2,435,000 that the city is owed in taxes and that number rises by $40,000 every month. Merchant said it would take three months for the city to approve a rezoning application for a parking lot. The realtor in charge of the site would also be owed $135,000,

“If the Court of Appeal does not approve this, at a minimum it will be 10 months before the problem is solved and into 2021 and another $400,000 and way more than anyone’s going to want to pay for that property,” Merchant said.

Merchant said this could be an occasion where legalities might get in the way of making a practical decision, saying the Smith Street offer is the best one for the City of Regina.

“We hope that the Court of Appeal will approve that sale because if they don’t do that and it goes back to the Court of Queen’s Bench, another $500,000 will be owing to the city 10 or 12 months from now and this problem will just get worse and worse and not be solved,” Merchant said.