:previous:
Agreed. That's why I like the "proscenium project" is because Sandy is trying to become different then most suburban type cities. :tup:

Now everybody remember, I love DT Salt Lake City and I would never suggest anything to hurt its economic future, and the following suggestion is due to the fact that dt slc has become such a huge and thriving economic, residential, commercial, retail and cultural hub that there is need for an additional node of such activity in the valley, with that said, picture this.

Sandy City alters their height restrictions to allow for The Proscenium or some other development to occur in the City Center. Maybe the Proscenium with 3 15-25 story towers, (we all know current demand won't call for anything larger than that) as the population in the valley continue to grow, maybe Sandy city center truly does become not "The other downtown" but "Another downtown" office demand near I-15 and transit increases in demand as does Urban style living, suburban style malls fall even more out of favor than they currently are and all of a sudden South Towne is 40-50 years old and there is no demand for space like that. The mall is demolished and the property is redeveloped over a period of time to become an additional urban core in the Salt Lake Valley, with a skyline of it's own, possibly with towers up to 40 stories. You must understand that by this point SLC will have easly breached the 50 story barrier and while Sandy will have a nice little skyline of it's own, it is still little brother to Salt Lake City and it's success is still dependant on the success of SLC. The Mall property bounded by State, 15 and 106th could easly convert to a grid system to transform into a nice urban setting.

While I would like to see other more traditional urban cores develop, like Provo. It seems as if Sandy is more progressive towards breaking some barriers and transforming itself. Ideally I would love to have three nice skylines along the Wasatch, one at each end (Ogden and Provo) and the most impressive one at the heart in SLC, but if that isn't the case four wouldn't be bad either. Provo needs to be agreessive in pursuing large tenants that demand presitigous space, otherwise Sandy or Lehi are going to lure them away and Provo will remain around 10 stories tall.

I like and agree with a lot of what your saying Future Mayor. Here's a couple of snapshots of L.A.'s three skylines within a close proximity to each other. Of course, L.A. has other skylines, such as Long Beach and also inumerable village core's that resemble Sugarhouse. These many skyline and urban village buildups/renovations started slowly in the 70's, took on more steam in the 80's, and continued in ernest in the 90's, until today. Los Angeles metro, in and around the Hollywood Hills merits considerable study from urban planners such as yourself, who plan on setting up shop along the Wasatch. The geographical barriers and attractive topography is amazingly similar. Understanding both Metro's intimately, for me the similarities become too numerous and burdensome to list on this forum. In certain ways, such as mass-transit, the Wasatch is ahead of the game over L.A. If L.A. had approached it's transit 40 years ago, as the Wasatch is doing now during this current build-up, "L.A. would be in much better condition as far as gridlock." Also, the local Wasatch metro governments,for all of their foibles, are far more fiscally responsible than much of L.A.

Just a little caution to those who would make the snap judgement that downtown Salt Lake will suffer the same plight as downtown L.A. suffered in the 70's-80's, if we have more than one skyline in the metro. If you fall in to that convenient assumption, then you donot have a thorough understanding of Los Angeles at all. There are many things that The Wasatch is doing right at this time, that unfortunately were not the fashion in L.A. at that time, or that local corruption and greed prohibited from happening.

Downtown Glendale, which is just minutes east, up the 5 from downtown L.A. This would be the same approximate distance as say downtown Sandy from Downtown Salt Lake. Note, in the second pic you can see the Downtown L.A. towers at the left, peaking over the Hollywood Hills.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/81/26...985348.jpg?v=0
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1103/...01e9e8.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3067/...a9bffa.jpg?v=0

Downtown Los Angeles as it will appear when current projects are completed
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ureSkyline.jpg
by MBenzLover

About fifteen to 20 minutes, (non peak traffic) further west at the I-10 and 405 junction you have the Century City skyline.
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...31/CCandDT.jpg

Looking toward the Wilshire Corridor. This is Wilshire Blvd., which is similar in nature to what State Street is to the Salt Lake Valley. Wilshire Blvd. connects Downtown Century City to Downtown L.A. Over the past twenty five years, it has developed into a corridor of residential and office towers. This is probably an excellent example of what will transpire for Salt Lake's State Street, between Lehi, Sandy and Downtown Salt Lake. We are now seeing evidence of this with Market Station and Murray.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/90/24...4a4c9057_b.jpg

.

There's also the Long Beach skyline just south of L.A.

Long Beach would be comparable in location to downtown Salt Lake and Provo. Not nearly as close as Glendale, Downtown L.A., Century City/ Downtown Salt Lake, Sandy, Lehi. Downtown, Provo would be an anchor for the Southern Metro, as Downtown Long Beach is for the Los Angeles, (referred to as South Bay area). As Southern Utah Valley and Northern Juab grow, Provo will take on more of a skyline. In the meantime, I think a lot of the bulk of towers and visual skyline will go to Sandy and even Lehi's, Traverse Ridge. Several factors will dictate how fast and furious the 'Gehry + tag alongs' skyline will develop. The Gehry skyline has the potential to generate a huge following of national developers. We'll just have to see how the economy evolves for the Wasatch. That will deternine the speed of the Gehry skyline evolution.

There has been a lot of discussion about the final height of the Sandy Towers. Indicator's of the Sandy City and developer psyches, would point to building one taller tower, of between 32 and 40 plus stories to begin with. Unlike others, I believe that Sandy will be cautious, but prefer to build one taller, instead of two shorter, so to speak.

There is more to density than building up. Sandy and other suburban communities can develop impressive, functional densities without going up. Horizontal densities at less than 10 stories is certainly doable and is found all over in major cities and their surrounding suburbs. Someone mentioned this earlier, but in the case of Sandy, the toughest battle will be getting over the public perception of what this kind of height brings.

Yes we all realize that there is a density between 1/2 acre lots/4 story commercial buildings and 40 story high rises. I was simply stating that saying Sandy should remain at 5 story limits is unreasonable, and 3 40 story towers is also unreasonable (at this point) in the mean time they do need to focus on allowing something higher than 5 stories. Whether that is initially 8 or 15 stories I think that is the natural flow that Sandy will take.

I think the most interesting comment that was in the article regarding the Proscenium the other day was one resident said that they don't want 40 story buildings because they aren't interested in living in or near a concrete jungle. I guess they prefer the asphalt jungle version that is just to the south aka, South Town Mall. I may be biased but I would rather walk around the streets in the CBD as opposed to wander around the parking lot of South Town, but then I'm a city kind of guy, maybe I can't appreciate the beauty of acres upon acres of stripped asphalt, compared to landscaped streets, interesting plazas and nice architecture. :sly:

It almost appears as though some would like to punish Sandy for finally doing something right? A dense, mixed use project that, to me, fits well with its surroundings. (I realize that is simply my own opinion.) This is a step in the right direction, though the moral and right destination may be far down the road.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to find funding for transit in an area without the density. Taxpayers and government officials want to see full trains on Day 1. (Though they want to see lane upon lane of empty freeway. I don't get that.) With the density will come the transit portion of a project or a section of the city. It is unfortunate but if there was no traffic on I-15 in the morning, FrontRunner wouldn't have 25% of the ridership it has now. As Sandy fills in I think that it will continue to improve upon itself. I think we ought to applaud baby steps in the right direction.

I will now prepare myself for a verbal whipping!

I welcome traffic. It is one of the symptoms of a good economy. It also helps to reduce sprawl and promote mass transit. :tup:

Hi guys!

I've been lurking around this site for some time now, and have enjoyed reading what you guys have to say about all these new projects. It is very exciting to see how much the Salt Lake area is progressing, and I truly hope each and every one of these buildings get built!

I find this a great oppurtunity to ask you guys a couple of questions that are on my mind right now...

I understand that the Traverse Mountain development in Lehi is going through some hard times right now due to the housing market, but does anyone know if that HUGE retail center is to ever get built? I see they still the renderings up on their website, but they date back to 2005?http://www.traversemountain.com/full...ncept_drawings

Maybe the Frank Gehry project is going in its place??

Thanks!

Welcome aspiringArchitect! :cheers:

I'm not sure what is happening with this project. As far as I know the Gehry Project is still a go. We should see some new renderings in the near future.

Welcome aspiringArchitecht!

First, there is a thread called "Utah Valley development" where discussion about Lehi projects would take place. Since you are new, we will forgive you. :)

The big mall that was to be built is now slated to be an outlet mall. The signs are still up in the area, but I have seen nothing happen. The Gehry project is a mile or so to the north, so that could be what's stopping the traverse mountain project. There is also a commercial mall type development supposedly going in down in PG, but who knows...

Juxtaposition
 

UTPlanner: If I were convinced the Proscenium was anything more than an ego trip for local officials and small-time developers, I'd agree with you.

That said, I've been wondering why there is such a tidal wave of dislike for most-things Sandy. I lived there for a few years, not very good years I might add. I keep trying to figure out a way to improve my view of Sandy, and I think I might have hit upon an idea.

It's the law of juxtaposition. Simply stated, if you want something to look very good, you put it next to something awful. Tall people look taller standing next to short people. So my plan to change my attitude toward Sandy is to finally realize for SLC and other cities to achieve their potential, they must have something ridiculous to be compared against...that is the purpose of Sandy...it offers us a constant reminder of what shouldn't be done!

This may be another one of my dumb ideas, but I think it is better than my previous plan for Sandy...which was to donate it to Idaho.

I like that idea! Idaho can have Sandy! :banana:

Welcome aspiringArchitect we look forward to your comments and opinions

A Bridge to Nowhere

I was out and about at clients today and thought I would take a picture of the bridges that they are building on the sides of the freeway and then they roll them into place. Pretty cool process. This is the new bridge for 3900 S and I-215 on the east belt.

I think the thing that bothers me personally about Sandy is their complete disregard for the plight of downtown SLC to revitalize itself. They are willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill their ignorant ambitions even if it means stunting our capital city's growth. What really throws salt on the wound though, is their shitty planning and pseudo-urban aesthetic...if they're going to insist on building a second downtown, they should at least do it on a grid with the buildings against the street.

Welcome aspiringArchitect. As to the Gehry Project we are hoping to get an update in August. ( That's right around the corner. ) I hope they don't push it back again. lol

Thanks everyone!

It is good to hear that the Gehry project is still a go, but it stinks that they aren't going to build that mall at Traverse. It sounded cool.:(

I know they mention both the outlet center and the mall on their website, but hey, you guys would know more than me. lol

:uhh: :uhh:
OK, I guess I should admit that I don't actually live in the Salt Lake area, let alone Utah even. I'm actually from Chicago. However, ever since I took my first trip there to Park City a few years ago, I have become very interested in you're state. It's so beautiful, and Illinois is sooo, well, flat.:yuck:

I hope to move there someday, and that's why this particular thread interests me.

Sorry, I can't offer much when it comes to new projects and updates and stuff, just maybe my opinion.:(

Opinions are always welcomed and it is nice to hear opinions from those not directly in the area. It helps us to all understand eachother more. :)