That's the new Bridge. I am linking from Google Pictures Cloud but it keeps disappearing on me.

I expect Starbucks will have a small patio next year.

I don't know what it is about the need to expose the original flooring in any building. I saw this floor in Starbucks and it looks horrible. Ditto for Beer Brothers, and Central Hall in Casino Regina. Please, there's nothing interesting in terrazzo flooring from decades ago.

Yay, another fake Starbucks, where I can't redeem my reward points.

This and mobile ordering are issues they're working on. I think it's a technical issue that they need to work out.

Doesn't seem like they're working very hard on it... been like this for years.
I'm not aware of any licensed Starbucks that allows reward redemption, or mobile ordering. Then again, licensed/franchised stores are by far the exception, not the rule worldwide... so the bang for their buck probably doesn't make it worth their while.

I was curious because I had heard that they were working on it from an employee, but I didn't know anything about it other than that. I looked it up in the FAQ on the Starbucks rewards page and t says some licensed locations offer these services. Their Facebook page says they're working on it as apparently it's an issue with their tills. I don't know if that makes sense, but in any case, they said they're hoping to have it working by the new year...which is still a little ways away, so I don't know if they're just saying that so people quit asking, if they're working on a fix, or if they just plan on getting tills that are capable by the new year.

Well, if it happens, it'll be a welcome change in Regina, at the very least :)

Here's a pic of the beautiful floors for all of you:

https://i.imgur.com/PryFqyb.jpg

They should have skim-coated the whole thing in concrete. It would if the aesthetic better anyway.

It's a really great little historical building, from the outside at least. I love the Tyndall stone detail around the far left and right window rows and how it changes on each floor. Great to see businesses breath new life into these types of buildings. I wish the renovated Sask Wheat Pool building put retail on the main floor instead of offices.

I agree. Such a wasted renovation (other than restoration) not putting retail on the main floor of the Viterra older portion.

Especially since there's empty space in the godawful tower they could have moved into.

It really is nice. I hadn't noticed those specific details before, thanks for pointing them out! The Yoga studio is pretty cool on the inside (the parts that I've seen at least), but it would make a great downtown condo space as well. I think my caffeine addiction would be well served living above Starbucks.

:cheers:

There were condos on at least the top couple of floors before Yoga Mala took over. I don't remember if there was anything else there between when it was condos and when the yoga studio moved in, but I remember them being quite large...like a unit per floor type of deal. This was quite awhile ago, though, so I could be wrong on the details.

It seems like they're renovating the tower too. If you walk by later in the evening, you can see inside a bit better, and it looks like at least 3 of the floors are gutted.

I remember them. It was when I was starting to look at places... The top floor was on the market for something like $500-600k. A little out of my price range, bit it definitely looked nice.

I didn't like the backhanded complaint about the changes to impaired driving laws. Seriously? They would've been better not to mention that than to blame that as a reason business is down.

Yup, that one has sounded terrible since the first time I heard it. If they want to use that as a jumping off point, they should really push for better access to cabs/ride-hailing entities rather than a straight attack on stricter BAC laws.

Yes, I said exactly that in the story I linked, and I have been advocating for such things long before .04 was implemented.

We need more people living downtown. That means a real policy and a real plan to reach the city's infill targets, instead of continuing to approve sprawl.

We also need a less car-centric culture. Again, the city has a master transportation plan, but no actual implementation plan to get there.

Continuing to do nothing on these fronts is not good for the health of downtown.

I thought it was a fair point. It is a fact that the new law .04 impacts their business. He appears to be saying that the government is piling on them with the PST at a time when they already are facing the impact of .04

And that comment should be ignored while reminding everyone that other provinces charge full tax on restaurant meals - as it should be.

There's is nothing particularly unique about difficulty some restaurants are finding themselves in. There will always be a revolving door of restaurants.

I am not asking for any of these things to be retracted. They are what they are. I am saying we need more people downtown and less reliance on cars to build a sustainable vibrant city.

I will give you that.

But at the same your compatriots *cough* Niall *cough* are going around criticizing when the city does make an effort to work on downtown. Your industry needs a kick in the ass.

Sure restaurant meals should be taxed Probably groceries should be too as at least 80% of groceries costs are not necessities. It is just the unfortunate timing with .04, economic downturn, PST and now Trudeau's small business tax grab all happening a the same time.

Well the .04 penalties have been in effect for a long time, at least since I received my driver's licence in the 90s. I guess they did increase the penalties, however, it would be hard to say that increasing the penalties for a law that has existed for years is the one thing hurting the industry.

Uh oh, you just opened my favorite talking point in the entire world.

Suffice it to say: it's not a tax grab, it's enforcing neutrality and virtually all of the talking points by the Chamber et al. are deliberate lies.

There are a few things in it that could hurt and be re-worked, but overall, I have no sympathy for "small businesses" that are using income sprinkling to family members who have no legitimate input into the business, are using their corporation to passively invest, or are using the corporation to convert income into dividends/capital gains to take advantage of their power tax rates. These things shouldn't have been done in the first place.

I have been bombarded in recent weeks by advocacy groups and whatnot, but been to busy to meet with them. I finally sat down yesterday and read through the changes. As a small business owner, they all seem reasonable to me.

My parents were concerned about it, but they went through the changes with their accountant and decided that the changes wouldn't be a big deal for them anyway.

A lot of small business owners raising a stink over this are either ones who are taking advantage of the loopholes that exist or are just ignorant of the actual changes proposed and are bashing the general principle of increased taxes. I know a few small business owners who take advantage of the loop holes and have no sympathy for them.

The tax changes are a very big deal, especially for professionals and highly successful family businesses. If you don't mind losing your doctor to the States or having far fewer great family businesses, then sure its no big deal.

Are any businesses in the downtown allowed to do the sidewalk patio addition? Would the city allow any permanent concrete patio portions built like at Ohanlons? Looking at the new Starbucks on 11th, would be nice to actually have some sizeable patio space.

That one might be unlikely as it's a main bus route. The Capitol basically has a permanent built out patio in the couple parking lanes outside the building.

I believe this is the City policy:

http://www.regina.ca/opencms/export/...d-graphics.pdf

O'Hanlon's was quite unique as the City actually sold the sidewalk to the building owner.

That's some pretty rich fear-mongering you're doing there. There are plenty of reasons to prefer Canada over America besides the ability to make use of tax loopholes. The state of their health care system is a mess right now, for instance. Many people have families and other roots here as well and changes to the tax code won't be enough for most people to move to another country to escape them. If that's all they cared about, well good riddance than. Someone else will eventually come in and take their place anyways, if demand for their product or service remains.

So if our most skilled an successful people choose to move because their after tax income will be substantially more elsewhere (especially if the U.S. cuts taxes) then we should just say "good riddance"?

Indeed, I do say good riddance to any doctors who, being told they will be taxed at the same rate as everyone else, decide to leave to the states.

It's okay though, they'll just go down south, open an S-Corp and realize it's a bloody flow through entity and they can't hold passive income or sprinkle either. Because that's not what corporations are designed for. Crazy!

Granted, I'm in my late 20s, but all the doctors in my social circle are NDPers. Engineers and financial folks? For sure right wing, but every doctor I know is in it to save people.

There are exceptions of course but most doctors in Canada have a moral objection to the for-profit system of the US.

I am not sure I understand the argument. It sounds like you are saying the most successful people are going to move because they will no longer be able to take advantage of tax loopholes, and that the country would be drained of our smartest and brightest. That argument in my opinion does not fly. Small business taxes are not overly burdensome to begin with, 12.5% I believe. The rules should be clear as to what is a valid deduction against income is and what is not valid. The proposals are making some changes to ensure abuse of that is reduced or eliminated. If people are going to move for that reason then that's a poor reason to oppose the changes.

What I am saying if we have uncompetetively high taxes, some skilled and high tax paying people will make different choices. Not all obviously. The last time the dollar was low and taxes on high income earners were above 50% my personal family doctor moved to Louisiana and never returned. I have talked to other people who pay tax at the highest rates and some are looking at moving or retiring or investing elsewhere.

Many potential entrepreneurs, farmers and professionals may just choose to seek cushy government jobs rather than take risks. We can't all work for the government.

Imposing $3 Billion in tax changes will have consequences. I disagree that this is just leveling the playing field. I actually support closing true loopholes, but not punitive changes.

Then you actually have to identify any part of the proposals that do that.

I don't think it will result in a significant amount of brain drain. Just like a rising minimum wage results in a small amount of job losses, the long term benefits to society as a whole with these kind of changes will more than outweigh the short term costs. Its about time government thinks this way instead of only thinking short-term.

As an aside, I'm an engineer/software developer and am quite progressive. I've actually started to lean more left as I get older, which I hear isn't typical of men. The more I learn about history and current events, the more I fear capitalism (and economic inequality) is reaching a point of unsustainability, which necessitates these kind of rational discussions to try and reign it back a bit before it collapses on its own.

There are several examples. This editorial form a left wing newspaper addresses some.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/comm...-tax-plan.html

That's not a left wing argument. That's the standard, outrage machine Chamber of Commerce, low-level argument.

His argument is primarily: income sprinkling is good and passive income is good.

The only useful contribution is some comments on clarification of rules.

The problem I have with these articles is they are based on speculation of what the impact will be. Yes some businesses will have to pay more tax due to the closed loopholes but well run businesses will adapt and survive and I suspect very few will close up shop and move to another jurisdiction because of these kinds of change. I think it is just greed in a lot of cases that is driving the reaction, my business makes this much today but because it will make less in the future I'm outraged, kind of thing.

And I am not saying these things because I am a raving left wing socialist. I'm a small business owner myself and had some concern when this first came up, but when I researched the potential impact it wasn't that big of a deal. Mainly because I am not using the loopholes. Most of the other small business owners who take the time to understand the impact on them have come to the same conclusion. The ones who are vehemently opposed to any kind of tax increase are the ones raving about it.

Whoo Hooo!

The rumours are true! We are thrilled to announce that Grassroots Restaurant Group will be opening a new restaurant in Regina early summer of 2018. We are excited to open the restaurant in the historical Canada Life Assurance Building located on 11th Avenue. We look forward to providing the city of Regina a great dining experience and being a part of the already growing culture and food scene of Regina.
You don’t have to wait to experience our Grassroots Restaurant Group con...cepts as we’ll be hosting 3 pop up dinners in our new location featuring Ayden Kitchen and Bar, Little Grouse on the Prairie, and our newest venture Sticks and Stones.
Please see links below for ticketing details and information. We look forward to servicing you Regina!
https://www.picatic.com/AydenInRegina
https://www.picatic.com/LittleGrouseInRegina
https://www.picatic.com/SticksAndStonesInRegina

See More

https://external.fyxe1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...CJe0il41EUsmwd

https://www.facebook.com/aydenkitchenbar/

I’ve mentioned before that I’d love to see a model where downtown property owners can buy (long term lease) the sidewalk adjacent to their buildings from the City (with condition that public access be maintained, obviously). Many other cities either sell/lease sidewalks to property owners & leave it to the private owners to maintain the sidewalks (including replacement when it comes to that...) often, it seems owners view this as a branding opportunity... especially when building new towers/structures.

The sidewalks downtown are in brutal shape... I can’t believe the City’s made no effort (other than SW corner of 12th & Hamilton a few year back) to address any downtown sidewalks in 7-8years. They are uniformly an obstacle course of tripping hazards - loose paving stones, large chunks of concrete, random large holes, bolts sticking out, metal edging protruding at tire-slashing angles, metal plates with curled edges, etc. Since the City seems to have given up, why not offer them up to DT businesses... they have a vested interest in seeing these surfaces maintained. Restaurants might be more willing to invest in patio like Ohans & Cap, if they had more control/ownership over the sidewalk.

Robins on Broad St near 1st Ave is closed. Heard they didn’t want to renew the lease. Any ideas of what will replace it? Timmies or even McDonalds is my guess.

I thought I heard that Taylor's was just going to take it over.