Rebranding underway after Regina's Evraz Place renamed REAL District

After more than a decade, Evraz Place has been renamed the REAL District,with the name drawn from the Regina Exhibition Association Limited (REAL), which operates the buildings on the property on behalf of the city.

Tim Reid, REAL's president and CEO, said the name change was originally set to be announced at the end of the month,two weeks after COVID-19public health restrictions were lifted. But now, with Russia invading Ukraine, he said it felt timely to separate the exhibition grounds from Evraz Steel, which is largely owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, to avoid any "brand confusion."

"We very often get packages that are destined for Evraz Steel or we have people phone us looking for the human resources office at Evraz Steel, and I'm sure they get people calling them looking for tickets," Reid said.

"The reason for the shift was recognizing the humanitarian crisis that's happening in Ukraine. And the fact that our business was opening, we wanted to be able to transition to the REAL District now."

Abramovich is Evraz's largest single shareholder with a 28 per cent stake. Though he and Evraz have not been sanctioned so far, federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday that nothing has been ruled out.

"If we are truly determined to stand with Ukraine, if the stakes in this fight are as high as I believe them to be, we have to be honest with ourselves. I have to be honest with Canadians that there could be some collateral damage in Canada," Freeland said.

CBC News has reached out to Evraz Steel for comment both on the name change and possible sanctions but hadn't received a reply by the time of publication.

REAL to focus on building sponsorships instead

Evraz's 15-year name agreement ended last May and the company decided not to renew it, Reid said.

Despite interest from other corporations looking to become the title sponsor,REAL decided in December to go another route, Reid said.

He said this will allow the association tofocus on each building's corporate partnership, which altogether is expected to draw in roughly $400,000 annually.

"The original investment that was made by [Evraz] was $2.5 million front-end loaded over a period of 15 years. That wouldn't get you one of our smaller buildings today," he explained.

"Just with the growth that we've seen, the title naming partner was such a big number that we felt it was better to have corporate partners invest in the buildings."

The Brandt Group of Companies, which committed to a 10-year partnership with REAL for the Brandt Centre in 2017, said it's glad to bea "key part" of the new REAL District.

"Giving this important area of our city a new identity is beneficial to all of us who have a shared interest in seeing the organization and our city succeed," Marnel Jones, Brandt's director of public relations and community engagement, wrote to Radio-Canada in an emailed statement Wednesday.

Reid said the REAL District rebranding which is set tocost roughly $100,000 this year is now underway, with its website and social media handles already switched over. Signage and other elements are expected to be changed in the coming months.