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Regina city council has given the final approval for Brandt Properties to purchase the part of REAL District.
Council passed the decision 8-3 after hearing from 13 delegates and hours of debate.
Councillors Shobna Radons, Victoria Flores, and Shanon Zachidniak voted against.
The City of Regina, REAL and Brandt – owned by Shaun Semple – reached the agreement after beginning negotiations in November of 2025.
Speaking to reporters after the decision, Semple said Brandt has put money into grounds for 20 years and hasn’t seen much progress.
“The city needs it. The Pats need it. Our fans and community need it,” he said. “If it wasn’t us who was going to do it?”
Semple said REAL District is booking entertainment for mid-2027, and not much has been bought in the first half of next year.
“This is not a get rich quick scheme at all,” he said. “We got a lot of work to do over the next couple of years.”
Semple’s next steps are wrapping up agreements and meeting the 700 employees being tranferred to Brandt.
An aerial view of REAL District. (980 CJME file photo)
Brandt will then have meetings on what different stakeholders and sponsors, like the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Canadian Western Agribition.
Semple said REAL District will likely be rebranded under a different name, but not immenently.
He said people could expect announcements to come about upgrades for the Queen City Distillery, and creating a space with Disney-level hospitality.
Semple clarified the $15 million investment Brandt’s committed to spending on REAL District is from the family.
“This money will be coming from the Semples,” he said. “This is money outside of the company.”
Read more:
- What’s in the Brandt-REAL deal? Breaking down the agreement
- Regina City Council to hold final vote on Brandt-REAL deal on Wednesday
- VIDEO: Regina mayor breaks down key committee vote on REAL/Brandt deal
According to the deal, Brandt would pay the city $6.4 million to obtain the Brandt Centre, Queensbury Centre, Canada Centre building, Ag-Ex building, Stockman’s Building, Commercial Cattle Barn, the land McDonald’s sits on and the parking lot on the south end of the grounds.
Brandt would also take on nearly $79 million dollars of deferred maintenance at the REAL District.
The area within the yellow line contains the property that would be sold to Brandt if the deal proceeds. (City of Regina/Geoff Smith/980 CJME)
The city would continue to own Mosaic Stadium, the Cooperators Centre, AffinityPlex and Bunge International Trade Centre.
Residents express mixed reactions on the deal going forward
Tathagata Das, a Regina resident, told city council he wants to see the deal clear the final hurdle.
“We should welcome this level of confidence in Regina’s future with open arms,” Das said.
Das said Brandt taking on the $79 million of deferred maintenance at the REAL District will lift the burden from taxpayers.
“This isn’t about losing a public asset, it’s about gaining a sustainable future for our public traditions,” he said.
Edward Staniowski, a former Regina Pat player and former commanding officer of the Royal Regina Riffles, said new renovations Semple is planning for the Brandt Centre would’ve attracted him as a young player.
Rendering of new entry gate for Brandt Centre and Queen City Distillery. (Brandt/City of Regina)
“Brandt equals success in my mind, and success for Regina in my mind,” he said.
However, Jim Elliot, another local resident, was against the deal going forward.
“We need to have a lot more discussion about these types of programs or projects,” he said.
Elliot did not agree with a clause in the agreement that Brandt wouldn’t pay property taxes on the buildings. The agreement includes a five-year property tax exemption for Brandt.
Once those five years are up, the agreement said the city will give an operating grant to Brandt equal to the taxes imposed on the buildings, if tax exemptions are denied by city council.
“I feel that the corporate businesses in this community should be paying their fair share of taxes,” Elliott said.
He said he’d like to see Brandt’s plan to tackle the nearly $79 million in deferred maintenance.
Kelly Miller, a resident in North Central, told council turning public property into private property sat sour with her.
“Shaun Semple has made it clear that this a take it or leave it type of deal,” she said. “It seems the decision was already made and that was before council found out the details, which was the same time that citizens did.
“I find that to be undemocratic.”
Brandt Centre renovations could help Regina host a Memorial Cup, says WHL commissioner
Dan Near, the commissioner of the Western Hockey League, appeared once again as a delegate to endorse the project.
Every three years, a city hosts the WHL Memorial Cup round-robin tournament. Near said there are 18 months before arenas begin bidding on hosting rights for the 2029 event.
“Shaun’s leadership represents the type initiatives that could position Regina and the province of Saskatchewan to make a bonafide pitch for this event,” he said.
Rendering of interior improvements to Brandt Centre. (Brandt/City of Regina)
Near reiterated the importance of facility upgrades keeping talented players from moving on to other arenas.
Regina Downtown BID wants to see economic spin-off from deal
The head of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District said there are always considerations being made for new investment outside of the downtown.
“I walk to the District from downtown,” said Judith Veresuk. “It’s not that far.
“Those spin off effects that we hope to have with this investment, I think it’s not unreasonable to to expect to see those.”
Veresuk told city council that event traffic would help more people come downtown.
Former REAL District financial analyst says city hasn’t explored all avenues
Ali Shayan Khan, a former REAL District financial analyst, said losses were a result of campus buildings not being used for profitable events.
“I always believe that there were the opportunities which we missed,” he said. “Now we’re still (making) the same mistake.
“We have the opportunity. (The) city can make a profitable business by not selling REAL.”
Khan said he wants the city to go through a request for proposals to find a company, instead of immediately approving the deal to Brandt. He agreed that he would like to see the REAL campus buildings start again as a “blank slate,” when asked by councillor Sarah Turnbull.
In his plan, there would be no Canadian Western Agribition.
Khan said there should be an emphasis on multicultural events at the campus, as Regina has the population to support it.
“REAL didn’t understand the overall audience and the market,” Khan said.
Semple makes final pitch to council to purchase part of REAL
Shaun Semple sat alongside his father and sons and told council that he plans on bringing in 110-120 events to the Brandt Centre each year.
“This agreement represents a clear shift,” he said. “A shift from the taxpayer carrying the burden to Brandt having that responsibility, a shift from uncertainty to long term stability, a shift from maintaining what we have to building what the community deserves.”
The Semple family speaks to Regina city council on May 6, 2026. (Geoff Smith/ 980 CJME)
Semple defended the decision for the agreement to include a clause for Brandt to not pay property taxes.
“There isn’t any of these kind of buildings in Canada that I know of to pay taxes,” he said. “Any additional burden of that is going to just cause more losses and more of a hole to dig out from.”
Semple said they are taking all the hard assets – like buildings that need upgrades – and events that have many risks.
“Any additional burden just kind of tips the risk scale to where it’s just not worth doing,” he said.
Motion passed to help protect REAL District buildings
Councillor David Froh brought forward an amendment to get administration to prepare a report with recommendations of an asset maintenance reserve for capital repairs to the Co-operators Centre and AffinityPlex buildings.
The amendment was carried unanimously by council.
The number given to the reserve annually would be determined by the percentage of accessed value on the buildings.
This report would be presented at the 2027-2028 budget deliberations.
Councillor Shobna Radons moved an amendment to get administration to bring back an annual report on evaluating its community commitment performance benchmarks and consider future requests for tax exemptions.
