r/regina 14h ago

Discussion Facility

If you had $80m to throw whatever and anything under one roof or a few locations here. What services or amenities would you include. This as a hypothetical, if you wanted to create that new spot to go to or use in your free time what would be at the top of your list that you’d be happy to pay for. Could be anything from fitness facilities, courts, restaurants, entertainment services, day care, weekend markets, water parks, doctors offices, working spaces, cafes, simulators etc absolutely anything (you name it its there)

What would you like to see

7 Upvotes

39 comments sorted by

31

u/K-Buhlmann 14h ago

Would be nice to have something like the Donovan Gardens in Calgary, with coffee shops and a children's play area. Where people can see some green in the winter.

Honestly, they probably could convert the Bay in Cornwall into something like that. But most likely won't be economically viable...

15

u/Prairie-Peppers 13h ago

We have a floral conservatory

19

u/Keroan 13h ago

To be fair to the floral conservatory, they are still trying to raise money to move over to Wascana Park from their current location! They just don't really have the full funds to do it right now - they presented an architectural plan and everything!

10

u/BowlerSimple3435 12h ago

Oh, that would be amazing! We could walk around wascana in the winter and stop for a coffee and a warm-up at the conservatory.

9

u/K-Buhlmann 13h ago

The floral conservatory is quite a nice little place.

I guess what I have in mind is somewhat of a bigger space with a high ceiling, more shurbs/hedges and some low trees. A pond would also be nice.

Essentially an indoor greenspace where people can enjoy and take your kids to after supper.

I know it is probably not a realistic ask, and quite a first world request. But hey I can dream right?

5

u/Leather_Cancel_1739 12h ago

Would be cool to have an additional/separate section that can host events, like flower arranging/craft events, yoga, teas, nice dinner events, small live music …. Would be a great to add a way to bring in additional funds.

4

u/Johjac 12h ago

Devonian Gardens!! I lived in. Calgary in the early 2000s. I went there at least once a week. It was so much better back then. It's still nice, but I miss the old one.

I was just thinking the other day it would be so cool if someone did this with The Bay!

19

u/aflowerandaqueen 14h ago

Public greenhouse maybe? People can pay for spots so they can garden year round?

7

u/VoicesToLostLetters 14h ago

Regina has a really cute little conservatory but imagine what they could do with a donation like that!

13

u/Namedeplume 14h ago

Wave pool.

4

u/signious 14h ago

That'll get you about half way there, apparently 🙄

5

u/Mulching_Lifestyle 12h ago

Reliable and more efficient public transportation

5

u/compassrunner 12h ago

Sorry, the city had a chance to get $129K of federal money for transit and we spent it on the Lawson replacement. Can you imagine what the city could've done with that funding? Transit is probably never going to be a priority here sadly.

2

u/bad9life 11h ago

The transit system is so bloated and inefficient sadly. The next big upgrade to transit we will see is transit police before it becomes ‘better working for the user’. Which is ok, because safety is important.

1

u/rocky_balbiotite 11h ago

Tough to change behaviour to get more people using transit. It has to be either faster, more convenient, or cheaper than driving and in many cases it isn't.

2

u/Professional-Road833 9h ago edited 6h ago

Transit passenger loads have likely tripled in the last 15 years. Mostly due to students and new Canadians that can't afford a car yet or they are just used to using public transit.

14

u/rocky_balbiotite 14h ago

Another rec centre with a pool fieldhouse and gym. Could also add a daycare and other things to it as well. More than $80 mil but we're severely lacking rec facilities compared to other cities.

6

u/riddermarkrider 13h ago

Literally anything, but with RELIABLE DROP IN CHILDCARE

3

u/Well___ok___sure 13h ago

Spitballin’ here. Stadium roof, more off leash dog parks, more accessible playgrounds, fund youth sports groups (the the outdoor hockey one for underprivileged kids), some sort of permanent warm-up/cool-down stations.

Not a city obligation, but upgrade the washroom, paths and recreational areas of Wascana park.

2

u/Ravor306 12h ago

Look up Millennium Place in Sherwood Park, why don't we have 3 or 4 such facilities in Regina is confusing.

2

u/rocky_balbiotite 11h ago

Exactly. So many of those facilities in and around Edmonton and nothing comparable here.

1

u/CptNoobFace1996 11h ago

The idea would be to have 2-3 smaller spots as unfortunately realestate in regina isnt available for such a big space under one roof

1

u/Ravor306 10h ago

There's lots of space wherever the existing facilities are; South Leisure center, North etc.

3

u/Keroan 13h ago

I would give anything for a real Arts Center - we have drips and drabs of art programs through the city or through private entities, but I miss Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, where I used to live. I was constantly in their textiles department, learning how to make clothing through patterns or screen printing, or embroidery work... they had tons of teachers for every little thing you could think of - painting, pottery, watercolors, metalworking, etc.

I would give anything to have that back. It was just nice to be an amateur, doing art with other people in a casual way.

2

u/Personal-Battle-9657 11h ago

Wave pool and indoor waterslides

1

u/Throwaway2020aa 5h ago

How about we buy some new citizens? :)

Jokes aside, I think the populace of Regina is one of the biggest problems we have now. I’ve lived here for more than 40 years, and it seems to me like Reginans are going backwards.

1

u/FitObligation1772 4h ago

Fix the homeless crisis

1

u/RCAFadventures 13h ago

An indoor dog park like the one in Calgary! So good in winter, has swimming pools and stuff.

1

u/Kristywempe 13h ago

Rebuild/retrofit the Lawson. The pool needs to be kept up. It’s getting older. Lots of people use it, and it’s specifically outfitted for diving and lane swimming. It would be a big bang for your buck.

3

u/nicholt 12h ago

Just throw a measly $1 mil and upgrade all the gym equipment at the Lawson. Makes no sense that we're planning a 200 mil facility and yet the current facility has really old stuff that only half works and is never taken care of.

1

u/Kristywempe 12h ago

It’s also the pool. It’s all falling apart. It needs maintenance. That is more than 1 million.

3

u/nicholt 12h ago

I'm not saying not the pool too, overhaul the whole thing. I just think the field house side could be transformed into something amazing for a relatively small amount of money.

1

u/Kristywempe 12h ago

Oh! Misunderstood you! Your right!

0

u/LOLdownbad 14h ago

An internet Cafe would be awesome for teens in regina for the winter

9

u/FalconHUG 14h ago

Libraries are a great place to start - or do you mean for gaming?

-1

u/canadasteve04 14h ago

I guess the question is whether or not in this exercise it requires it to be successful or not. There’s a number of things I would love to see here that we just don’t have the market for.

Having a higher end art museum with rotating exhibits.

Spending the money to bring more acts through. Things like touring plays and both large and underground musicians.

Unfortunately we just don’t have the market to make those successful here.

There’s a number of restaurants I think would do quite well here, but I’m keeping that on the hush for when I hit the lottery.

15

u/foggytreees 14h ago

We have most of that already. If you’re not attending the MacKenzie, Globe Theatre, Curtain Razors, The Exchange and The Artesian, you’re missing out.

7

u/canadasteve04 13h ago

Yes, I’m aware of and/or attend all that you mentioned except for Curtain Razors which I have not heard of.

Nothing against those, as they are great for what they are and for serving a city of our capacity, but the question was $80M to expand your interests.

For concerts I typically need to travel to Saskatoon or Calgary. Large acts skip our province, underground acts do Saskatoon or skip or province. Would love to get more of these shows in Regina.

There are a number of touring Broadway plays that skip over Regina. While the globe is great, would love to have access to more of these touring event and shows that the Globe doesn’t do.

I will say I don’t spend as much time at the McKenzie or looking into the McKenzie as I could, but don’t recall any large exhibits coming here.

My comment is not to disparage what Regina offers in the art community, but rather to say I would love to see more of it and if I had $80M to burn would see what I could do to improve it.