Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by Ironweed

Thanks for your insight Makid.

There has been something systematically wrong with the Planning Commission, Redevelopment Agency, and Council for many years now. They do not have any cohesion and are not on the same page. They each operate their own little fiefdoms and do not work together.

The new mayor said she would clean house. I would start with making sure that all departments work together so they know what each are doing.

This type of breakdown is costing SLC millions of dollars in potential revenue.

I've always said that you can't fix stupid, but here's to hope?

This is why I am hopeful about a former SLC Council member becoming mayor. Mendenhall has seen how the city operates and hopefully sees the bigger picture in play here.

[Makid]

Here is a BSL article regarding the Central Station zoning.

https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/how...nOSpHKR5OqFp5U

Salt Lake City could have landed it: One of the elusive technology company headquarters that are congregating in the sprawl of Lehi’s Silicon Slopes.

All the developer needed was permission to build high enough to suit the company’s desires, and a tech company would have come to the area near the Gateway.

That’s according to Stack Real Estate, whose founder told the City Council this week he had a fintech brand willing to place its headquarters in the city’s Depot District, if only the building could exceed the existing 90-foot height limit the city placed on the three-acre parcel and surrounding land.

[Utah_Dave]

Thanks Makid for sharing.

It’s definitely time to update the zoning height in downtown SLC so developers have more options and less hoops to jump through. This article concerns me in that SLC will be perceived as a much more difficult place to build a project as opposed to Lehi and the soon to be developed prison land. Once the prison land comes online we can kiss many more potential projects goodbye. I hope to see some progress on this issue with the Mendenhall administration.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Utah_Dave

This article concerns me in that SLC will be perceived as a much more difficult place to build a project as opposed to Lehi and the soon to be developed prison land. Once the prison land comes online we can kiss many more potential projects goodbye. I hope to see some progress on this issue with the Mendenhall administration.

This is my concern as well. If SLC has a reputation as being difficult to develop in, it makes it easier for the State to just direct companies to the Prison redevelopment area.

This becomes especially concerning with the State and Draper both having ideas of 12+ story buildings in the area.

However, if SLC is able to change the stigma and become a place that becomes more friendly for development, it makes it harder for the State to get companies to overlook SLC on the way to the Prison redevelopment area.

[Always Sunny in SLC]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Man, if you guys think SLC is slow and too rigorous, you should understand what other more prominent cities are like. Seattle would be much, much longer to get a zoning height change request like that. I mean, Seattle requires that almost all buildings go through a Design Review process, but SLC only requires it if you exceed the height in a zone. You don't have to go through a Design Review process in SLC's CBD if the proposed building is under 375'. These tech companies need to place higher value on the value of building in an urban place over quick expediency of building out way out in stand-alone office park land Lehi/Draper.

I largely don't care what other "more prominent" cities are doing or not doing unless it is something we could do to improve our process so SLC is more urban in all the right ways. If Seattle can run their process in that way and it doesn't hurt their goals related to urbanism, then great. That doesn't mean it will work in other places like SLC. Further, there is no way we can control how these tech companies value an urban place over building quickly. What we can control is if the cities process is a barrier to urban development to these high priority industries.

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by Always Sunny in SLC

I largely don't care what other "more prominent" cities are doing or not doing unless it is something we could do to improve our process so SLC is more urban in all the right ways. If Seattle can run their process in that way and it doesn't hurt their goals related to urbanism, then great. That doesn't mean it will work in other places like SLC. Further, there is no way we can control how these tech companies value an urban place over building quickly. What we can control is if the cities process is a barrier to urban development to these high priority industries.

Like I said, these tech companies just don't understand the value of an urban setting. They are too quick to do the quickest & cheapest land development without thinking of larger issues of access, connectivity, placemaking, sustainable development, etc. And,if they understood how much easier it is to build in Salt Lake City vs. Seattle or San Francisco, where it is incredibly popular to live and work in, that would help also. Because those out of town people, who these tech companies are trying to attract, are wanting a more urban and connected place and are choosing to reverse commute from Salt Lake City to Lehi. So, if they really want to attract more talent and workforce, then build in a place where they want to be!

[Marvland]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Like I said, these tech companies just don't understand the value of an urban setting. They are too quick to do the quickest & cheapest land development without thinking of larger issues of access, connectivity, placemaking, sustainable development, etc. And,if they understood how much easier it is to build in Salt Lake City vs. Seattle or San Francisco, where it is incredibly popular to live and work in, that would help also. Because those out of town people, who these tech companies are trying to attract, are wanting a more urban and connected place and are choosing to reverse commute from Salt Lake City to Lehi. So, if they really want to attract more talent and workforce, then build in a place where they want to be!

You're right. And they are making this mistake a lot. They all have issues recruiting to Lehi. People want to be close in. Im just waiting for some mega corporation to swoop up and take a bunch of excess land in Draper and Lehi to force their hand. Alas, as long as there is garbage infill in Lehi, a city whose entire zoning ordinance is on a PDF document, there will be that temptation. Patience is a virtue. It's coming and the lease up numbers show it.

[Orlando]

I've been holding off for years on showing this stuff, but here is just a glimpse of some of the stuff we've envisioned for the Granary, where a true mix of tech office/research/retail & other urban amenities/ and a variety of housing exist all together to create a very pedestrian friendly and inviting urban experience.

[Rileybo]

^^^

Neato, can you offer more info on this? Are you involved. There are a lot of old structures in that area, would they be preserved?

Thanks in advance.

[bob rulz]

I heard the Pickle Company Building was supposed to be developed years ago. What ever happened to that?

[stayinginformed]

Here is an image of the building they were planning across the street from central station.

[Blah_Amazing]

Wait, so just to be clear. Is that project entirely dead then?

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

Wait, so just to be clear. Is that project entirely dead then?

The Galileo portion is as they decided on a site near the Point of the Mountain. The Developer however would like the zoning updated so they could build the same or similar building for another Tech Company though.

Remember that the 190' height won't be out of place for the area as the UTA HQ building will be around 190' or higher and will be practically across 6th West from this location.


Orlando, thank you for sharing the concepts for the Granary District. This would be great for the area.

[Orlando]

How do we know the UTA building would be around 190'? Are we basing this off of the concept rendering of the Depot District?

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by Rileybo

^^^

Neato, can you offer more info on this? Are you involved. There are a lot of old structures in that area, would they be preserved?

Thanks in advance.

Me and a couple others at my firm developed a masterplan and design/vision for a large area of the Granary district to help a developer sell the vision of developing in the area to potential stake holders, such as the UofU research, tech firms, IHC, and the City. We tried to develop a sense of place by using the history of the place by re-using structures, etc. as much as possible.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Orlando

How do we know the UTA building would be around 190'? Are we basing this off of the concept rendering of the Depot District?

It is off the Depot District rendering and it has been mentioned by the Cities planning group that as part of the Depot District zoning heights, considerations were made to allow UTA to build a 10 to 15 story HQ building that could also be subleased.

The 190' height is mostly an estimate until an actual design is presented.

[Always Sunny in SLC]

Originally Posted by Makid

It is off the Depot District rendering and it has been mentioned by the Cities planning group that as part of the Depot District zoning heights, considerations were made to allow UTA to build a 10 to 15 story HQ building that could also be subleased.

The 190' height is mostly an estimate until an actual design is presented.

Does UTA have a timeline on construction or is it still not known?

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Always Sunny in SLC

Does UTA have a timeline on construction or is it still not known?

I have heard that the current goal is to begin work soon after the new bus center is complete. UTA would use some of the proceeds from the current bus storage location to help fund the tower. This would put it in around 5 years out for an approximate start time.

UTA would like to have the whole Intermodal Station updated in the next 15 years if they have the funding.

[Ironweed]

[QUOTE=Orlando;8802257]I've been holding off for years on showing this stuff, but here is just a glimpse of some of the stuff we've envisioned for the Granary, where a true mix of tech office/research/retail & other urban amenities/ and a variety of housing exist all together to create a very pedestrian friendly and inviting urban experience.

Orlando, if you were to help make this a reality, I would build you a shrine.

I just had dinner tonight with a friend who works in the city office. Our conversation turned to the different departments who handle development proposals. She was unaware of the snafu which occurred the other night which Makid spoke about. She expressed frustration after reading the article by Taylor Anderson and said she was not surprised by what had transpired.

As suspected, there is a bunch of incompetency, lack of communication, and apathy that exists within the city departments that are "in charge" of development. I have heard this from several sources now.

I am not sold on the current leadership making any changes either.

[delts145]

Photo Bump: Looks like 2020 is shaping up as a great water year!

https://www.realestateinparkcity.com...%20Sale.15.jpg


https://www.subcorticalsurgery.com/w...-Park-City.jpg


https://www.parkcityinvestor.com/ima...2020%20(2).jpg

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