Niebergall said construction of 1,000 homes would produce 4,500 jobs, $210 million in wages and $580 million in residential construction value.
There were 2,307 building permits issued in 2009 worth a record $458.3 million, up from the previous year's record of $342.3 million, which surpassed the 2007 record of $337.6 million.
Housing starts during the first six months of 2010 were up 40.6 per cent to 516 homes from 367 in the first half of 2009.
Housing sales are also up to record levels, said Gord Archibald, executive officer of the Association of Regina Realtors Inc.
Higher prices
"The monthly average sales price in June of $274,673 set a new high for any month in the history of the association's MLS system and broke the $270,000 mark for the first time," he said.
"This was a 12 per cent increase from the former high set last year of $246,089. The average price inside the city surpassed $280,000 for the first time coming in at $281,032 and was up 14 per cent from 2009's $246,179."
During the first six months of 2010 there were 1,883 residential properties sold, an increase of 6 per cent from 2009. Sales dollar volume for the first half was $484.8 million, a new high and up 11 per cent from last year's $436.3 million. Average price for the year to date, Archibald said, was $257,463, up 5 per cent over last year's $245,658.
"Growth in the active inventory during the first half of the year is more pronounced in the satellite and outlying areas while supply is much tighter inside the city," he said.
Because of robust sales in the past few years, he added there was some doubt about how the industry would perform this year.
"Going into 2010 we had some concern that there may not be sufficient supply to satisfy expected levels of demand during the year. The growth in the number of active listings has allayed these concerns and has, by and large, provided buyers with a wider choice of homes and kept significant upward pressure on prices in check," Archibald said.
"We are anticipating that the demand side will remain strong and steady. If the supply side continues, we expect that balanced market conditions will prevail for much of the remainder of the year. " he said.
Downtown
City council, meanwhile, has approved the first Regina downtown neighbourhood plan.
"This is fundamental to have a successful downtown," said Mayor Pat Fiacco. "It now provides a comprehensive framework for decision-making related to the growth and development of the area for the next 20 years."
The Regina mayor noted developers have already embraced the new strategy, with the recent announcement of a new Hilton Garden Inn, retail and highrise condominium tower on the old Plains Hotel site.
The developer is even incorporating a landmark weather tower into the design.
The downtown plan radiates from Victoria Park, which is framed by the Twin Towers, the Canada Life Building, the Hotel Saskatchewan and the Knox Metropolitan Church, and older towers.
"Imagine if you will 12th Avenue along the park will be transformed into a festival space with new seating and lighting, a fountain that can be reconfigured to become a stage, a pavilion for the Regina Downtown ambassadors and a second pavilion for food vendors with outdoor seating," the mayor said.
Construction began in May and is expected to be complete within a year.
Literally a block away on the northwest corner of 12th Avenue and Hamilton Street, construction is to begin soon on Regina's first major class A tower since 1992.
Harvard Developments of Regina is partnering with Greystone Managed Investments, which is acting on behalf of its institutional pension fund investors, on the 20-storey building.
The lead tenant in the new tower is The Mosaic Company, the world's largest producer and marketer of concentrated potash and phosphate. Mosaic has mine operations in Saskatchewan at Belle Plaine, Esterhazy and Colonsay and offices in a smaller existing building in Regina. Mosaic would occupy the upper floors of the new building and would have the rights to the building's top signage.
"It's absolutely wonderful," said Fiacco at the announcement. "It fits in perfectly with the downtown neighbourhood plan."
He pointed out that three other towers - a 26-storey hotel and condo complex at Albert Street and Victoria Avenue, a smaller office tower for Albert Street and 11th Avenue and a residential tower in the 2000 block of Rose Street - are in all the works.
"In the last 20 years, at least, I don't think we've ever seen this type of major development all at once," Fiacco commented. "All of this is private-sector investment, which is exciting."
Grasslands blooms
In the southwest corner of the city, a beehive of activity continues in the Grasslands commercial development adjacent to the Harbour Landing subdivision.
Building permits were issued this spring for eight buildings totalling about 100,000 square feet of retail space and valued at $7.8 million.
Blair Forster, vice-president of development for Harvard Developments, which is developing the 86-acre Grasslands site, said the buildings include two strip malls, several "pad tenancies" and a stand-alone building.
Among the retail tenants are: Reitman's, Sleep Country, Addition Elle, Opa!, Urban Barn, Bulk Barn, Golf Town, RBC, Quiznos and Ricki's.
The building permits did not include the $20 million, 103,000-square-foot Lowe's home improvement store that is under construction south of the 185,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercentre.
When the project is completed, Grasslands will encompass about one million square feet of retail and commercial space and cost about $350 million to build.
Once Harbour Landing is finished, it will be home to 10,000 people served by Grassland's malls and big-box stores.
Southland Mall celebrated its 35th anniversary earlier this year and announced a $15 million facelift as well as Zellers agreeing to locate its third store in Regina within the space vacated when Wal-Mart closed its doors and opened its Supercentre last winter.
Meanwhile, construction is well underway on the first 500,000-square-foot warehouse Loblaw's is building adjacent to the Global Transportation Hub, located about five kilometres west of the city limits. The second phase, construction of an additional 500,000 square feet of space, has already started.
from Western Investor, September 2010
