Open house tonight for redevelopment of vacant Cathedral lot

A Cathedral area business owner says it's about time a vacant lot at 2067 Retallack St. is redeveloped into retail and residential space.

"It's been my pet peeve for over a decade. It's a prime piece of land. Kitty corner from a Safeway on 13th Avenue that's been sitting empty for 23 years," said David Loblaw, owner of Chocolates by Bernard Callebaut on Robinson Street.

Tonight between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., the City of Regina is hosting an open house at the Westminster United Church on 13th Avenue to get community feedback on the proposed development.

Besides retail space, the four-storey building is expected to have 16 underground parking spaces, about a dozen residential units and a garden on the roof top.

Diana Hawryluk, the city's director of planning, said the feedback at the open house will be evaluated and used to inform a report to the Regina Planning Commission in May or June for a decision. Before construction begins, the building would require the city to rezone two of the five lots from residential infill housing to local commercial. "It's a mixed-use building, which is something we promote within our new official community plan," she explained.

Loblaw remembers when that lot became vacant after a store and two homes burned to the ground 23 years ago.

He is planning to attend the open house to find out more details about the retail component. One reason is Loblaw might be interested in expanding his business into the development's retail space.

"We need so much more retail space in this area it's just amazing," he said.

"I'm sure (the developers) are going to have a lineup of hundreds of people wanting to get in there. So, I don't think they're going to have any problem filling that retail space."

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Open house tonight for redevelopment of vacant Cathedral lot