The Agribition Building at Evraz Place in Regina will soon have a new look.
Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL) has announced it will be welcoming YQR Distillery and Fermentation Lab as a new tenant under a 40-year lease partnership. YQR Distillery is a new entity which recently acquired Sperling Silver Distillery, a local Regina company.
Plans for the new facility will include a state-of-the-art distillery and brewery with a restaurant, a tasting room, a distillery bar, an interior and exterior patio, event and banquet space and a teach kitchen. It will also house a liquor store, a barrel-aging facility and a section for warehousing and distribution.
YQR Distillery has signed a 40-year lease with Regina Exhibition Association Ltd. to move in to the Agribition Building at Evraz Place. There they plan to build a brewery, distillery, restaurant and retail liquor store. REAL expects construction to begin this fall. #Regina #YQR pic.twitter.com/HvYeqeBxiU
— Moises Canales (@MoisesCanalesJr) June 23, 2021
Adam Sperling, CEO of YQR Distillery, said during Wednesday’s announcement that it will be an interactive space where people can enjoy and take part in exciting events on REAL’s campus.
“We’ve been doing this for 10 years and we are so excited to repurpose this beautiful building which we have all been in,” stated Sperling. “We want to be the centre of craft and local business within REAL’s campus.”
Sperling mentioned that they will be up to a capacity of 350,000 litres of distilling and 30 to 60 hectolitres of beer once they are up and running at their new location. The new operation will employ 100 to 150 employees, according to YQR Distillery.
Adam Sperling, CEO of YQR Distillery, speaks at an announcement on June 23, 2021 inside the Agribition Building in Regina. (Photo: Moises Canales/620 CKRM)
Tim Reid, President and CEO of REAL, said bringing an opportunity that would include food, beverage, a brewery and a distillery to Evraz Place was the perfect fit to enhance their campus as an entertainment district.
He added that this deal takes an aging building that used to lose a quarter of a million dollars a year in operations and turns it into a profit centre of over half a million dollars a year.
“What we recognize is we literally have a stadium that is 100 metres away, we have the Brandt Centre 100 feet away, and in terms of a gathering place where people can come around major events, you couldn’t ask for a better location and a better partner,” suggested Reid.
Now that the lease has been signed, next steps include receiving final approval from city council and working through development bylaws. Construction on the 40,000-square-foot space is expected to begin construction this fall with completion in the spring of 2022.
