REGINA – For the third time in less than five years, Regina’s Capital Pointe condo and hotel development has a new developer.
On Wednesday, Augustine Group announced it has taken over majority shares from BrightStar Developments.
“We’ve really gotten to the point we are today by needing to now bring in a new team that’s going to be able to move the project from the stage it’s at now,” said BrightStar’s Greg Black, who is still the project’s director.
Augustine Group is relatively new to the industry. Its other major project is a similar condo and hotel development in St. Catherines, Ontario, where construction is expected to start in October.
Despite frequent delays with Capital Pointe, there is affirmation that the project is back on track. Augustine Group’s vice president of sales and marketing Brian Tilley said the key sign is the work underway to move underground ducts at the site by SaskPower. For months, discussions surrounded when that work could begin.
“We wouldn’t have had this announcement and wouldn’t have started construction and paid the money if we weren’t confident this project’s going to succeed,” said Tilley.
Construction on the site cannot begin until SaskPower’s work is done. It is expected to take five months. During that time, Augustine Group hopes to have a hotel deal in place and the additional residential sales that are needed.
Investors like Kevin Wong say it is hard to know whether or not to get excited about the new developments.
“Everything has to be taken with a grain of salt, but with action on the site there’s a little bit of substance to this one,” he said. “I’m hoping with a new company being involved that this is the first page of a new chapter, because the last one was pretty uneventful.”
So far 40 per cent of the units at Capital Pointe have been sold.
Comments