City looking for contractor to fill hole at Capital Pointe site

The City of Regina is once again seeking a contractor to fill the hole at the Capital Pointe site on the corner of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue.

Plans for the project are detailed on the SaskTenders website. The listing, posted on Monday, says proposals must be submitted by April 11, 2019.

Along with backfilling the site, the request for proposal says the contractor must provide traffic accommodations, remove temporary shoring works, site facilities and other debris, repair a water main, install concrete sidewalks around the property and patch asphalt in the area.

Westgate Properties, the company behind Capital Pointe, was ordered by Saskatchewan's Building and Accessibility Standards Appeal Board to fill the hole on the corner of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue by March 31, 2019.

In its latest decision, released last month, the board said, "back-filling is the most appropriate remedy in these circumstances."

The City says it will become authorized to take action on Westgate's behalf if the company does not comply by March 30.

Councillor Bob Hawkins saidfilling the hole will likely cost the city about $2 million to $3 million, but said the City will get that money back bytaxing the property owner.

Hawkins said the appeal board's decision was a relief.

"This has been a long fight coming. It's important to the city that the hole get filled in," he said.

"It's an embarrassment to the city and I'm very pleased we've got to this point."

Hawkins said his biggest concern was safety.

"I worried about the traffic danger that the construction site posed. I worried about the possibility that someone would go over the fence on a prank. I think it was a highly dangerous situation and I'm glad the city now has the authority to go forward and fill the hole," Hawkins said.

The site was supposed to be home to a 27-storeycondominium. The luxury condo project was first announced in 2009 and was supposed to be complete by 2015, but the corner was never developed beyond the gaping hole that replaced the iconic Plains Hotel.

The City of Regina ordered Westgate to backfill the excavation by April 30, 2018.

After an initial hearing in 2018, the appeal board instructed the company to resume construction, build a permanent protection of on-site shoring or backfill the site.

The board reversed that decision last month saying, "There is no one on site. There is no indication that building will resume any time soon and the building site appears to be effectively abandoned."

On March 19, the city will take questions from prospective contractors at City Hall.

The list of firms that submit proposals will be posted to the SaskTenders website.

Westgate Properties Ltd. has not returned requests for comment by CBC.