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Despite the objections of heritage advocates, a downtown Regina building damaged during the 2023 fire that destroyed the Gordon Block will itself be demolished.
City council overturned the recommendation of the Regina Planning Commission and gave its approval for the demolition of the Credit Foncier building at 2184 12th Ave.
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The permit will require the tyndall stones used in the facade to be “carefully dismantled where feasible and stored for use in future development where practical.”
That terminology worries Jackie Schmidt of Heritage Regina.
“‘Feasible’ and ‘practical’ are loopholes large enough to ensure that the facade is never reconstructed, never integrated, and never returned to the district,” Schmidt told Wednesday’s meeting.
“This would effectively erase the heritage value the bylaw was created to protect.”
Heritage Regina took the position that the south- and west-facing tyndall stone walls should be preserved and shored up in place. But the building’s owners said this wasn’t feasible.
(l-r) Shelley Bahr, office manager; Adrian Burns, president; and Greg Kane, director of Western Ltd. told council about the financial hardships incurred by the fire that damaged the Credit Foncier building in 2023. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)
Fire caused ‘nightmare’ for building’s owners
The Credit Foncier building, at the corner of 12th Avenue and Cornwall Street, was constructed in 1912 and since 1988 has been owned by Western Ltd.
Company president Adrian Burns explained it was her parents who bought the building, and the family’s intent was to continue to own it as a legacy. She described the family-owned company as in a “winding down” mode.
The offices of Western were on the second floor, law offices on the third floor, and the main floor was vacant.
Burns said everything changed Sept. 24, 2023 when “our business world was turned upside down.”
She explained fire crews working over the course of two days to douse the Gordon Block fire immediately to the east ran hoses through the Credit Foncier building, utilizing the fire escapes.
“Our building suffered significant smoke and water damage and our business life has been a nightmare ever since,” Burns told councillors.
“In more than 26 months since the fire alarm, there has not been a day go by that we have not had something we had to deal with” at the property, she added.
Estimates to rehabilitate the building and bring it up to the current building code are around $3 million, a number well above what insurance will cover.
Visions for the site in the short and longer term
The fire led to the demolition of the Gordon Block. The previous year, the Burns Hanley building, on the north side of Credit Foncier, was also demolished.
The Regina Downtown Business Improvement District is now developing a temporary event space called the “Skuare” on those properties. The BID has an agreement with Western to extend the space onto the Credit Foncier site.
Mayor Chad Bachnyski called the situation a “tricky one.”
“We absolutely want to preserve the heritage of our city, but there’s a number of factors we have to balance and I think that was the big discussion today, is what’s practical, what does the future look like?
“Each situation is going to have some unique complexities, and this one is no different.”
Western said the site is for sale, and that demolition can help clear the way for a revitalized vision.
“We are not the ones to do that, others will be,” company director Greg Kane said.
