Queen City Distillers project in Regina balloons to $70M

This project is ultimately not about buildings. It's about creating experiences and memories. Sean Semple and the Brandt Group of Companies have big plans for Queen City Distillers. The group will bring in an Italian restaurant, three bars with very different styles, and a concert venue with a capacity of over 1,500, called The Jack after Sean's Juno award-winning uncle. Semple says people here have money to spend, and he wants them to spend it here. We've resided ourselves to having to go to other places is to go see things. Go to Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton. Why? Why can't we do it here? So what it means to me is that this is the first phase of that journey. There are plans for a wine and spirits bar, a sports bar, and a speakeasy. It won't come cheap. The Semple Group is spending $70 million. Sean says that investment will deliver a premium experience. We're going to try and make everything from scratch. We brought in, as I mentioned, we got a Gordon Ramsay chef. We brought in a sommelier that's worked in every wine region in the world. The market's hungry for something new and something exciting. Sean Semple's son, Matt Semple, is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Brandt. He says they are marketing it to other provinces, but the unique array of different venues should sell itself. If you come to the sports bar for the first time, you should be going to work on Monday telling six people about something you've never seen before. That, to me, is what's going to market this thing for the long term. We could buy all the billboards in the city. We could do more press conferences like we're sitting at now. The previous footprint of the expansion was to be 52,000 square feet, and it's now increased to 87,000. We want to bring a little Las Vegas to Regina, we want to bring a little Nashville to Regina, we want to bring a little bit of the high-end restaurants to Regina, and I want to bring a little Disney magic to Regina. The company said the combined projects will create more than 200 jobs. The first venue should be completed by spring. Alex Kozrowski, CBC News, Regina.