Regina city council has approved REAL’s sale to Brandt: now what?

Regina city council approved terms to sell parts of REAL District to Brandt, moving forward on a long-running deal. Donovan Maess has more on what’s next.

After receiving council approval, the next steps in the REAL-Brandt proposal have been set in motion.

Regina city council voted in favour of the Brandt Group’s proposal to buy several REAL properties during Wednesday’s meeting.

Brandt is owned by Shaun Semple.

The $6.5 million deal will see the purchase of the Ag-Ex Building, Canada Centre Building, Commercial Cattle Barn, Queensbury Convention Centre, Stockman’s Building, the Brandt Centre, the Agribition Building, the land lease for the McDonald’s located at 1810 Exhibition Parkway and the parking lot west of Mosaic Stadium.

• Brandt’s purchase of REAL properties approved by city council

As part of the deal, Brandt assumes existing leases, sponsorship, food and beverage and service agreements related to the buildings, as well as all event bookings or contracts. Brandt will also be assuming all REAL employment contracts.

Brandt will also be exempt from property taxes for five years under the agreement, among other allowances.

“You have to look at any deal holistically,” Mayor Chad Bachynski told reporters following Wednesday’s approval.

“As soon as we pick one thing and say ‘We don’t like the property tax element,’ or ‘We don’t like the a dispute resolution not being in the term sheet,’ the other side of the deal [will] say, ‘Well, if you take that away, then I want to take this back.’

“That’s the kind of thing I would expect, because we can’t say we like one thing or don’t like one thing and expect the other party to stay status quo.”

Next steps

Now that the terms of the proposal have been approved by council, administration may begin the next phase of negotiations with the Brandt.

“[Council] is directing administration to negotiate binding definitive agreements with Brandt based on the terms in this non-binding term sheet,” Chad Jedlic, the city’s director of real estate, land and development explained to councillors.

“That’s going to involve a massive amount of work and engagement of external counsel. The 25-page term sheet will turn into somewhere between 500 and 1,000 pages of legal agreements.”

Those negotiations will serve as the final agreements necessary for the transition of ownership for the portion of the property.

“Would this come back to council again?” asked Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak.

“The only time this will come back to council is if, through the negotiations of the definitive agreements, we reached an impasse on something,” Jedlic responded.

• Brandt purchase of REAL District clears first hurdle with executive committee approval

Council will have to approve bylaws related to the property tax exemptions later.

“There is sort of fairly broad discretion given to the city manager to approve the commercial terms as provided they’re not materially inconsistent with what’s in the term sheet,” added Cheryl Willoughby, senior legal counsel for the city.

Jedlic said there are likely going to be unknowns.

“This is a large campus with a lot of buildings of varying age. There’s going to be lots of things we uncover as we move through this, within this agreement and within the term sheet,” he added.

Brandt targets July 1, 2026 as its closing date for phase one of the deal and aims to have full possession of its buildings by Sept. 1, 2026, as long as negotiations go smoothly.

The city still has some subdividing work to do with the property before the Brandt takes over ownership of the land. That is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

“There’s enough good opportunity in this deal for both Brandt and for the city,” Jedlic said.

REAL leadership

While Brandt is taking over the collective agreements of the employees, the future of REAL’s leadership remains a bit murkier.

REAL also has 50 out-of-scope employees which Brandt required to either offer employment to or be paid a severance should they be terminated.

REAL also has a seven-member board of directors.

“The board itself is a board,” Semple told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting. “The [Brandt] board will first of all consult with the [REAL] board in this process. That will be the first people we meet with, and we have been all the way along here.”

• What will happen to REAL’s employees if Brandt takes over the organization?

Semple said he’ll be working further with REAL to figure out what the organization needs and where gaps lie.

“We’ll meet with the individuals to see what they want to do, there are always good ideas,” he said.

Semple added that most of the companies bought by Brandt end up retaining their staff.

“Yes, there’s always changes that happen. But a lot of times when the business isn’t going well, it’s because ownership quite often is either invested or isn’t listening,” he said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Bachynski said he very appreciative of the work of REAL’s board, some of whom were in attendance.

“Thank you for your work,” he told them.

“I don’t think we would be in this position without the work you’ve done over the last year. And I think we’re going to look back and be really proud of what we’ve left, and I’m going to be proud of what I’ve contributed to in my small decision making.”

A new branch

The takeover of REAL will bring the properties under the Brandt umbrella and a new sports and entertainment branch, aptly known as Brandt Sports and Entertainment.

When asked how the investments will be financed, Semple said it is coming out of his own pocket.

“I’m not taking on debt because this business can’t afford any debt,” he said.

“That’s the reality of it and this money will be coming from the severance. The company will be using the levers of [Brandt], marketing, building, ect. ... but this needs a new investment, needs new money, and that’s what it’s going to get.”

The soon-to-be owner of the properties hinted at possible future changes coming to the district.

“[There’ll] probably a rebranding that’ll happen on the whole site,” Semple stated.

“We’ll go through that, at some point, but that’s not for today.”

-With files from Jacob Carr and Caitlin Brezinski