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The Brandt Centre’s days could be numbered.
The city’s executive committee discussed the future of the 43-year-old multi-use event centre Wednesday, debating whether to renovate the current building or just build a new one.
Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) started taking a closer look at the future of the Brandt Centre in 2019, before developing an Arena Planning Strategy Committee (APSC) in 2020, comprised of community leaders and stakeholders.
The APSC presented to council three options — the building could be left as is, $40 million could be used to upgrade it, or a new arena could be built.
“The reality of it is, (the Brandt Centre) is 43 years old and like anything that’s 43 years old, it was built for 30 to 50 years,” REAL CEO Tim Reid said.
Building a new multipurpose event centre that would meet the needs of the city would cost roughly around $100 million, according to the city report.
“What we recognized in our study was in most cases, the burden does fall with the taxpayer when it talks about a midsized multi-purpose events centre. In most jurisdictions, the bulk of the cost was handled by the local government,” Reid said.
“What the committee recognized in these days and times is there are significant dollars for infrastructure investment and there may be a unique opportunity coming out of COVID to find not only federal but provincial and municipal funding that allows our economy some stimulus, allows people to get back to work and creates immediate jobs as well as long-term employment for a facility that would activate for 50 years.”
The report showcases facilities throughout Canada that are similar to what the new building would look like in Regina, as well as how the city would benefit by building a “Brandt Centre 2.0.”
Despite the positive impacts to the tourism industry in the region that a new event centre would bring, if the cost ends up being too high, the APSC would consider other options.
The APSC was instructed by council to move onto the next phase of its work and come back in a year with a plan around a new arena — what it would look like, where it would go, what it would cost and how it would be funded.
Reid said a handful of locations for the new arena included the downtown core, the Warehouse District, the REAL site and the site of the former Taylor Field.
In 1977, the Brandt Centre — formerly known as the Agridome — was built for roughly $7.7 million, which is equivalent to around $33 million today.
Reid said even though the building has aged, it is still competitive when it comes to getting events, including having more than 70 event days a year.
“It competes with buildings that are significantly more costly and significantly newer,” he said. “The challenge with it is that as it ages, it becomes less competitive.
“It does have the amenities. It doesn’t have the rigging to fly concerts, it doesn’t have the premium seating (and) it doesn’t have the things major promoters or major tourism operators or event operators are looking for in a venue.”
But because there’s still some good years left for the Brandt Centre, there’s no rush on the project.
“If the funding formula made sense and council decided they wanted to act swiftly, we could probably respond to that but if the funding formula isn’t there or there’s other priorities that council deem more important than a replacement on an arena or midsized events centre, then frankly we can wait,” Reid said.
If the city decides on building a new facility, the existing Brandt Centre is expected to be repurposed or else demolished.
— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray