Capital Pointe will be done in 2018, developer says

Right now, it looks like a giant hole in the heart of downtown Regina, but the Capital Pointe hotel and condominium project is progressing, the company behind it says.

The plan is for the massive development at Albert Street and Victoria Avenue to be open two years from now, Fortress Real Developments officialssaid Tuesday.

The project has been years in the works under various ownership butJawadRathore, Fortress' CEO, said the company's 1,000-day plan is more or less on schedule.

"We've broken ground. We've almost completed our excavation. We're almost at the bottom of our hole right now," Rathore said.

We've gotten more work done in the first 18 months than the previous owners had gotten done in about a decade.- JawadRathore,Fortress Real Developments CEO

The building will reach ground level by July 2017, he said.

The 27-storey condominium building will house 186 units and be the tallest residential tower in the province. The project includes a 12-storey hotel with 140 suites.

The project is built on the site of the former Plains Hotel, which was demolished in 2011.

Units still available

Rathorereassured potential buyers the project would be done.

"We've gotten more work done in the first 18 months than the previous owners had gotten done in about a decade," he said.

About half of the units have been sold, including pre-sales,Rathoresaid. Suites in the 800 to 1,300 square feet range are still available, he added.

Rathorewarned once the construction reached ground level, prices would begin to rise.

"Anyone who buys between now and the next, sort of, like,three to four months is going to basically lock themselves in pretty muchto a pretty healthy discount to where prices will be by the summer,"Rathoresaid.

The starting prices for the 800 square feet units are around $500,000, he said. The largest penthouse, at 4,400 square feet,will cost roughly $3 million.

Rathoresaid there are smaller options for less than the half-million price point, but did not elaborate on their size.