On Wednesday an application will be going to the Regina Planning Commission regarding Harvard Development’s proposed construction of a companion tower to the Farm Credit Canada building located at Hamilton St. and 11th Ave.
The building will be 11 storeys high, plus a penthouse, and be 15,000 sq. m in size. It will be located directly south of the existing FCC Tower, and thus will require the demolition of several one storey buildings where a coffee shop, dress store and other retailers are currently located. The planning documents can be accessed from the Planning Commission’s agenda here.
One point of note is that to comply with Downtown Neighbourhood Plan requirements to have active street-level pedestrian environments Harvard is proposing to allocate about 85 per cent of the building frontage to commercial space with a cafe/restaurant type tenant to the north of the main entrance and retail space to the south of the entrance. It’s also proposing to rework 26 m of the existing FCC building to create more pedestrian level interaction.
The city is also negotiating with Harvard to provide $517,626 in public amenity contributions which the city will then use to enhance the public realm around the building including landscaping, street furniture and a mini-park which I believe would be located south of the new building between it and Hill Tower III. Any money left over after the improvements are made is supposed to go to a dedicated city fund for projects that provide public benefit to the downtown.
Assuming the report is approved by the Planning Commission it’s supposed to go to City Council at its March 18 meeting.
