Building dispute leaves Regina’s first microbrewery caught in the middle

REGINA – It was a dispute over a building that incorporated a gymnastics group, a microbrewery and the city.

On Monday night Regina city council voted unanimously to take back the building from the gymnastics club, saying a deal to lease out the facility went against agreements put in place two decades ago.

The building, located on the edge of the city’s warehouse district, was sold to the Optimist Gymnastics Association of Regina (OGAR) for a dollar back in the 90s.

The sale came with several conditions, one of which was that if OGAR didn’t need the property anymore, they’d return it to the city.

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OGAR said they had no idea that clause existed, and since moving out of the building almost a decade ago have been leasing it out for about $60-thousand a year — money that goes towards its programming. Most recently OGAR has been leasing the building to the District Brewing Company.

The city said that’s against the agreement and voted to take back the property, and has instead recommended looking at gymnastics grants, which will help with some of the lost income.

“Over the last little while we’ve had some people who were passionate about the building, but I think at the end of the day they’ve been passionate about the building because it was allowing us to generate revenue for gymnastics,” said Brian Nestman with the Optimist Gymnastics Association of Regina. “So we’re happy.”

Caught in the middle of this dispute is District Brewing Company which is currently leasing the facility. The city is now its landlord.

“I’m pretty optimistic about what’s going to happen from here,” said Byron Wiebe, one of the company’s founders. “I guess it’s not our ideal situation but it sounded like (the city) is willing to work with us, keep us in that building and figure out a solution to get us into business as soon as possible.”

District Brewing Company hopes now that there’s some resolution so they can finally get their business off the ground and supply beer by June or July as Regina’s first microbrewery.

with files from Global News Reporter Sarah Richter