Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[delts145]

SALT LAKE CITY FASTEST-GROWING FLEXIBLE OFFICE SPACE MARKET IN US

Utah Buisness - https://www.utahbusiness.com/flexibl...-space-market/

Salt Lake City—Salt Lake City is the fastest-growing flexible office space market in the U.S., according to a new report from CBRE.

The market’s flexible-space inventory grew to 772,000 sq. ft. by the end of Q2 2019, an increase of 350,000 sq. ft., or 82.9 percent, from a year earlier. Flexible space now accounts for approximately 1.6 percent of Salt Lake’s total office inventory, up from 1.1 percent a year ago. Still, that ratio comes in slightly below the US average of 1.8 percent, indicating that there is still some room for the sector to grow in the Salt Lake area. For purposes of this report, “Salt Lake City” includes Salt Lake and Utah counties.

“A year-over-year inventory increase of nearly 83 percent is substantial, even with the understanding that flexible office space is a growing market segment that is just beginning to gain real traction in our Salt Lake,” noted Lloyd Allen, Managing Director and Principal Broker of CBRE’s Salt Lake City office. “This report makes it clear that in the greater Salt Lake market, the tech and startup industries are closely tied to the flexible office space growth. This type of office space allows companies the greatest amount of agility as they grow and adjust their business strategies.”...

[Utah_Dave]

Check out this YouTube video about a new proposed super tall in NYC. After that there is a video by B1M about the new towers that will redefine the NY skyline. Pretty cool to watch and think about the amount of money flowing through that city.

Pretty unbelievable

https://youtu.be/Wp_EbTC87Vw

[delts145]

FCC names Salt Lake City one of two US cities to test 5G

2 KUTV - https://kutv.com/news/local/fcc-name...ies-to-test-5g


Salt Lake City is now at the center of helping develop one of the world's newest technologies. Wednesday,
the Federal Communications Commission announced Salt Lake as one of two test beds to develop 5G. (Photo: KUTV)

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Salt Lake City is now at the center of helping develop one of the world's newest technologies. Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced Salt Lake as one of two test beds to develop 5G.

Salt Lake and New York City are the only two cities in the country the FCC has designated innovation zones to test 5G.

“I think it's going to be pretty cool, it's going to make some big changes in the world,” said Dan Young, a technology expert and owner of PC Laptops.

Salt Lake's innovation zone is about four square miles over three connected areas, including the University of Utah and part of downtown.

Telecom companies will test the technology here and study the data collected to tweak 5G.

“Normally, you could have like 100,000 within one kilometer, right. Now, with 5G, you can have a million users within that same kilometer,” Young said.

5G will be used by governments, businesses and individuals.

In Utah, “there are more computers per household and technology items than almost any other state in all of the country, so what a perfect test place for this new technology,” Young said.

A team at the University of Utah is running the project. They installed towered nodes on buildings all over the testing area that will eventually connect everything from toothbrushes to smart cars.

“But the cool thing here in Utah is we'll be able to test a lot of that early and see what kind of cool things we can create with it,” Young said.

Experts are not entirely sure when 5G will be rolled out to the masses, but the innovation zone starts Wednesday and will be in place for five years.

5G stands for Fifth Generation. First Generation gave us the technology to text, Second Generation introduced the web on phones, 3G allowed us to go on social media, and 4G introduced the ability to stream.


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[delts145]

Salt Lake City asking public to weigh in on 300 West revamp

By Deseret News Sep 21, 2019, 9:00pm MDT - https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/9/...00-west-revamp

SALT LAKE CITY — In 2021 and 2022, city crews are set to reconstruct 300 West from 500 South to 2100 South.

The city is asking residents for their help in reimagining the roadway providing input in the form of a survey
that will be used to identify and select improvements that achieve the following goals:

__________________________________________________• A safer and more accessible roadway for bicycle, pedestrian and alternative modes of transportation.

_____________________________________________• Reduced barriers to access and promote accessibility and active transportation.

_____________________________________________• A welcoming and attractive corridor that provides infrastructure to support future growth and economic development.

_____________________________________________• Add improvements that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Improvements to the roadway will align with the city’s Complete Streets ordinance and Bicycle-Pedestrian Master Plan.
The project is in the early stages and is not anticipated to be under construction until 2021.

The survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, can be found online at https://www.slc.gov/mystreet/2019/04/25/300west.


Salt Lake City is asking the public for their help in reimagining 300 West between 500 South to 2100 South by providing input in the form of a survey. The road is set to be reconstructed in 2021 and 2022. Adobe Stock

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[airhero]

Cool I took it. Thanks for posting delts. But why no S Temple-500 S?

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by airhero

Cool I took it. Thanks for posting delts. But why no S Temple-500 S?

That portion is U.S. 89 and therefore owned by UDOT. And as we know, UDOT doesn't care about anything but getting cars from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

[ajiuO]

I have a bad feeling gateway is going to loose probably it’s last original store... GameStop. They announced they are going to close 200 stores... and there are several inside leaks saying that they are going to close 2400 stores in the next 12 months.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I have a bad feeling gateway is going to loose probably it’s last original store... GameStop. They announced they are going to close 200 stores... and there are several inside leaks saying that they are going to close 2400 stores in the next 12 months.

Wasn't it an EB Games before it was a Gamestop?

[ucsbgaucho]

Speaking of the Gateway, went to the grand opening event for Punch Bowl Social on Saturday night. It's a pretty cool venue and a much-needed new 21+ option. It was very crowded, so I'm not sure how to judge it on a more normal night. The layout is very cool, a couple different bars inside and the drinks were good. Food was surprisingly exceptional, not sure if that's their normal menu or just specific for this GO event. Only problem is the lack of actual games, which seems to be the reason you'd go there. They have darts and mini bowling, but only 6 bowling lanes and maybe 4 "private rooms" for darts, these alcoves with couches and stuff. Never came close to getting a chance to play either one, I was expecting a wall of just dart board after dart board, but they've made it more like indoor "cabanas" that seem like will be occupied all night. Only one shuffleboard table. They have private karaoke rooms you pay to use, and then a few scattered ping pong and foosball tables.

The concept is good, but I think they needed to make it much more about the games themselves, vs a glorified bar that happens to have games also. Good vibe though! Overall I'd say a good addition to the Gateway's entertainment offerings. Just go on a slower night if you want to actually play games.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Wasn't it an EB Games before it was a Gamestop?

I don’t think that location ever was. That location was originally located at crossroads mall and called software ect. I believe they changed the name to GameStop at the same time the moved to gateway... I’m not 100% though.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by ucsbgaucho

Speaking of the Gateway, went to the grand opening event for Punch Bowl Social on Saturday night. It's a pretty cool venue and a much-needed new 21+ option. It was very crowded, so I'm not sure how to judge it on a more normal night. The layout is very cool, a couple different bars inside and the drinks were good. Food was surprisingly exceptional, not sure if that's their normal menu or just specific for this GO event. Only problem is the lack of actual games, which seems to be the reason you'd go there. They have darts and mini bowling, but only 6 bowling lanes and maybe 4 "private rooms" for darts, these alcoves with couches and stuff. Never came close to getting a chance to play either one, I was expecting a wall of just dart board after dart board, but they've made it more like indoor "cabanas" that seem like will be occupied all night. Only one shuffleboard table. They have private karaoke rooms you pay to use, and then a few scattered ping pong and foosball tables.

The concept is good, but I think they needed to make it much more about the games themselves, vs a glorified bar that happens to have games also. Good vibe though! Overall I'd say a good addition to the Gateway's entertainment offerings. Just go on a slower night if you want to actually play games.

I doubt punch bowl will be as cool as quarters. Quarters doesn’t serve food. But they have a lot of cool retro games and pinballs. You can also play board games in there. I went to Dave and busters once... it really sucks because of Utah’s laws. You can’t actually take drinks out to the games with you... I kind of doubt they will last.

Also I really hope gateway kicks Megaplex out of there and gets Cinemark or regal... it needs to be updated big time.

[bob rulz]

I kind of wish the Miller group would sell Megaplex to one of the giants. Megaplex is a good example of local not necessarily being better - I like Regal, AMC, and Cinemark theater experiences a lot more than Megaplex.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I kind of wish the Miller group would sell Megaplex to one of the giants. Megaplex is a good example of local not necessarily being better - I like Regal, AMC, and Cinemark theater experiences a lot more than Megaplex.

I agree. Just 3-4 years ago I would have said Megaplex had the edge, but it seems like they didn’t have the capital to update their theaters to the new standard like Cinemark rapidly did.

[Atlas]

I still prefer Megaplex theaters in some ways. I don't actually like the big lazyboy chairs in Cinemark theaters, for one. Megaplex was ahead of its time with the seat reservations but the other chains have caught up with that by now.

The Gateway Megaplex is easily the worst one I've been to though. It needs some serious renovations.

[FullCircle]

Originally Posted by Utah_Dave

Check out this YouTube video about a new proposed super tall in NYC. After that there is a video by B1M about the new towers that will redefine the NY skyline. Pretty cool to watch and think about the amount of money flowing through that city.

Pretty unbelievable

https://youtu.be/Wp_EbTC87Vw

Thanks for wasting a bunch of my time, Utah Dave! That youtube channel, the B1M, is an amazing time sink. Pretty incredible though, the engineering advances that are allowing the explosion of supertall building construction. I did find it interesting that by their definitions, SLC doesn't have a single skyscraper. They define skyscrapers as being at least 150 M tall, supertall as 300 M, and megatall as 600 M (roughly works out to 500 feet, 1000 feet, and 2000 feet).

[Utah_Dave]

^^^

Lol, you can definitely get sucked into those videos and lose track of time. The NYC skyline is so futuristic looking now with the super tall and thin buildings. Sci-fi for sure

[Hatman]

I'm going to bring up the whole 'Save the Pantages Theater' again.

After reading the most recent Building Salt Lake article...

https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/sal...ater-district/

... I feel more strongly than ever that the Theater should be saved. Or at least should not be torn down.

I would be perfectly happy if the RDA sold the land fronting Main Street, including the entrance to the theater. The theater part is located pretty far back from Main Street - in fact, it is farther back than both the Kearns building and the US Bank building. Why does the new tower need to be so deep? Why can't it go just as far back as the other two buildings that will be beside it, and preserve the theater in the middle of the block?

A new entrace to the theater can come later. Perhaps when the parking garage on 2nd south is redone (or removed) a new entrance can be placed there.

I realize that the theater will need a lot of work - but that money doesn't need to be paid right now. We can just let it continue to sit like it has been for years, and then once the money is ready we won't regret having knocked it down earlier.

The article states it will probably take around $100 million to fully restore the Utah theater. The new Eccles theater across the street cost over $125 million, so spending that much on a theater is not unprecedented. It only seems high now because we are currently paying off the newest theater. If Salt Lake City continues to grow it becomes easier to finance these sorts of projects. Bigger cities have more events, such as a larger Sundance film festival, and more events need more event space.

One of the reasons listed against the theater is a lack of parking, which just makes me angry. At a time when autonomous taxis are just around the corner, people are going to knock down a historic building because there is not enough parking?

I want to see the theater saved from demolition. I don't care about the entrance to main street, I want to see a tower there. I just don't see why we can't have both.

[SLCLvr]

Originally Posted by Hatman

I'm going to bring up the whole 'Save the Pantages Theater' again.

After reading the most recent Building Salt Lake article...

https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/sal...ater-district/

... I feel more strongly than ever that the Theater should be saved. Or at least should not be torn down.

.

If there was a theater there to save I'd be all for it. I look at the pictures of the Minneapolis Pantages theater and I feel sick at what has transpired and embarrassed at what has happened to the theater in SLC. At the same time I took the Preservation Utah tour maybe 5 years ago and there were many cool historic elements. But it was clear that when someone turned it into two movie theaters they destroyed a good deal of what was there. So what the RDA would be doing is re-creating a theater rather than restoring one. My opinion, a housing tower on that site with a public plaza and 30 units of affordable housing would be better than waiting for the theater market to grow enough that we need another theater and then expecting that philanthropists and taxpayers would fund what by then would be a $100M+ project to recreate a vision of the past.

[Always Sunny in SLC]

Originally Posted by SLCLvr

If there was a theater there to save I'd be all for it. I look at the pictures of the Chicago Pantages theater and I feel sick at what has transpired and embarrassed at what has happened to the theater in SLC. At the same time I took the Preservation Utah tour maybe 5 years ago and there were many cool historic elements. But it was clear that when someone turned it into two movie theaters they destroyed a good deal of what was there. So what the RDA would be doing is re-creating a theater rather than restoring one. My opinion, a housing tower on that site with a public plaza and 30 units of affordable housing would be better than waiting for the theater market to grow enough that we need another theater and then expecting that philanthropists and taxpayers would fund what by then would be a $100M+ project to recreate a vision of the past.

Agreed. The theatre of the black and white photos doesn’t exist anymore. The RDA could do a lot of good for the city and affordable housing stock with $100 million. It is a shame the theatre was ruined, but it was and is and what they are proposing is a pretty good replacement. In a city with blocks like ours, mid-block connections are priceless.

[Orlando]

To follow up with that, here is a new article from the trib:

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/09/...gonizing-over/

They said that if they added more affordable housing, they would allow it go taller. And, Charlie Luke asked that this be a striking highrise.

Luke said the city would seek to increase the number of affordable units in the project and increase how deeply rents might be subsidized, possibly by making the proposed tower even higher.

He also urged developers to design a striking and iconic skyscraper. “I want this building to be viewed as art,” Luke said. “I challenged you do do something that really stands out.”

If the theater was restored, there would not be enough demand for Capitol and Eccles and it to stay in business. We've got Hines ready to make a deal to build a stunning new tower. I mean, Hines! National developer Hines. Let's make sure that there is some decent homage to the theater, but build a great new addition to the city!