Tentative deal on Capital Pointe property falls through, but another bid may have a shot

Regina's Tony Merchant says he's hopeful an upcoming court case will give his group another shot at developing the Capital Pointe property, now that a previous deal has apparently fallen through.

According to a reportby the Regina Leader-Post, Royalty Development Ltd.'s conditional bid to purchase the land at 1971 Albert St. won't proceedalthough it's not clear what happened.

Another company interested in the property, Smith Street Lands represented byMerchant and owned in part by his family is set to appear in the Court of Appeal later this month, in an effort to take over the property.

When contacted on Saturday, Merchant said he felt his deal was the best offer for the city which is owed more than $2 million in property taxes and other expenses.

"I think the city would like Smith Street Lands to be able to get this property because that gets the city out whole," Merchant said. "It's also good for the City of Regina, we start to use that land and get it to development."

Royalty Developmentshad put forward a $2.2 million bid to take over the property, in a deal that would settle up the back-taxes.

CBCasked Royalty Developmentsto comment, butthe requestwas not returned by deadline.

Merchant has argued that should his appeal be rejected, additional delays created by the court process might just price out the property.

Merchant said there's a 1.5 per cent interest rate that's applied to the property. Over the span of 10 months, the period of time he estimated the court process could take, an additional $400,000 to $500,000 could be added to the price tag due to interest increases.

Smith Street Lands' application for the property was previously dealt with bythe Court of Queen's Bench.

That court ruled Smith Streethad come in too late. However, Merchant is set to bring the matter before the Court of Appeal on March 20.

The land in question is at a key intersection in the downtown the corner of Albert Street and Victoria Avenue.

When developers unveiled the Capital Pointe project in 2009, it was envisioned as a multi-million-dollar, 27-storey condo and hotel complex.

However, it never got past the stage of being a hole in the ground. Critics said it was an eyesore.

The city eventually moved to have the hole filled in for safety reasons, with the costs added to the property tax bill.