Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[DMTower]

Anyone know what these wooden boxes they are building on the hotels site could be?

[ctobsl]

Originally Posted by DMTower

Anyone know what these wooden boxes they are building on the hotels site could be?

I think those are the pedestrian walk ways...

[DMTower]

Ah, you could be right. I don't know why they would need them yet... supposedly they are building the parking structure in the middle of the block before anything else.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

Go back and read what he said, Old Navy was in there "for what seemed like about two months." Before it was a jewelry store, there was an Old Navy there at one time, this being over a decade ago. I always associated the building with Old Navy as well.

I did read it... He talks about demolishing a different building and then says it houses Bennion... It also says nothing about a short time... That is an old quote from des news.



Rose Park:

According to a Deseret News article from Dec. 29, 2000, the history of the building is as follows:

"Montgomery Ward once operated a store in Salt Lake City on the southeast corner of 100 South and Main that closed in 1960. The building later became offices for the Genealogical Society of the LDS Church, then the headquarters of Tracy-Collins Bank & Trust, which later became West One Bank, then U.S. Bank. The building now is home to the Old Navy clothing store."

I am not sure how often the building has been refurbished. I think it's gorgeous and I wish the building to the East of it on 100 South across Regent Street was being demolished instead. It currently houses Bennion Jewelers. I wonder what will become of them.

[UTPlanner]

There definitely was an Old Navy in that building. I helped to open the store. It occupied the first and second floors of the building.

With regard to the ESA hotels, the Hyatt planned is taller than the photograph that has been circulating on here though not by much.

[RosePark]

What I said was poorly written so I can see the confusion.

I intermixed two separate thoughts:

-The building on the southeast corner of 100 South and Main (currently 107 South Main Street) where I presume the 111 South tower will be built currently houses Bennion Jewelers. It used to have an Old Navy and was originally built as a Montgomery Ward.

-I wish they were not tearing down this building. I think it's gorgeous. I wish the white building a little further east on 100 South (across 100 south from the Cheesecake Factory) was being demolished instead...or it was being built in one of the many empty lots around or replacing a vacant building.

[ctobsl]

Originally Posted by DMTower

Ah, you could be right. I don't know why they would need them yet... supposedly they are building the parking structure in the middle of the block before anything else.

Well It looks as though they have closed off the side walks to pedestrians. So the boxes will be placed along the side of the street so pedestrians still have access around the construction site.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Makid

As I stated in an earlier post, there is work being done for the new building across from the new courthouse at approximately 375 South and West Temple.

Pictures to follow:


2013-05-09 08.01.16 by makid, on Flickr


2013-05-09 08.01.18-1 by makid, on Flickr


2013-05-09 08.01.18-2 by makid, on Flickr


2013-05-09 08.01.19-1 by makid, on Flickr


2013-05-09 08.01.19-2 by makid, on Flickr

So what's going on here?

[DCRes]

In regards to 111 S Main, my first thought when I saw it was that it looked like the Federal Courthouse. I like that it has the "wavyness" to it however. And it won't be on an "island" like the courthouse. I think with all the glass, and the the fact that 222 looks so nice, I'm optimistic that I will like this building.

In regards to the height of the building, based on the renderings it does look like the 23 floors of office space does not include the 3 floors of sharded lobby space/retail, which is awesome. How tall is 222 S Main, isn't it around 320 ft? Add one mor floor of office space and about 30 feet of lobby and I would estimate the height at 360-375 ft. That would put it right around the height of 99 West and will be among the top 5 tallest.

[delts145]

I'm very happy with the overall choices made on the UPAC theater and tower. I'm looking forward to watching another major project rise Downtown.

Now I'm moving on to the anticipation of the upcoming Convention Hotel. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Convention Center Hotel, when finally announced and revealed, will be nothing like what they built in Phoenix.


http://www.parsons.com

[scottharding]

Amen to that, Delts. And I hope that some of the detractors of the Convention Center hotel will be swayed a bit by Portland's newly approved plan. Especially since I think Portland will be in direct competition with SLC for many of those conventions, and may well beat us out based on their new hotel alone.

[delts145]

Yeah, I like the look of the Hotel that Orlando posted much more than say the Phoenix, or even the Denver CCH. I would think though that the Salt Lake Center would be a taller version of Portland, since the Salt Lake marker has been set at 1000-plus rooms. Whatever, just don't give us a giant, bland-stucco-wall-like Phoenix Center. It would be a nightmare, especially in that up-front location of the Downtown skyline

[SLC Projects]

222 South Main has 21 Floors and stands around 315FT.

111 South Main will have 23 floors of office PLUS 3 floors of lobby and retail as was said already.

Yeah, this would put it around 370-400 FT. No less then 350FT. However I think I heard once that if a tower passes 375 FT it needs special zoning or something like that. Hence why 99 West stopped at 375 and we only have two towers over 375.

[Makid]

Projects, that site is going to be an office building. Being midblock, don't expect anything over 100'.

From what I remember, the group that owns the land and is developing this building also owns the corner lot directly south of the current project. I don't know of any plans for that area though.

Regarding the convention hotel, all I know is that they are still working on it. The method that Portland is using for their hotel is 1 of the ideas that are on the table. It is also probably the easiest to implement as it would just require the County Council to vote for the redirection of TRT from the hotel to the hotel.

This method of redirecting the TRT has been brought up by some developers in the past but the County didn't want to give the impression of using money generated by other hotels to pay for it. With enough clarification though, the County could do this option easily.

Also, last summer, there were at least 2 different developers that wanted to build 1000+ room convention hotels and their only request was the redirection of TRT that they generate back to the hotel for 30 to 40 years.

So, it is possible that if the method of funding chosen to fund the Salt Lake Convention Hotel is to redirect TRT to the project, we may see 2 hotels built at or nearly at the same time.

[DCRes]

There has been much optimism that the CC Hotel could be a new tallest for SLC. Does anybody know how the height of CC hotels in other cities compare with the tallest buildings in those cities. What I'm wondering is if the CC hotel is our tallest building should that be a red flag that maybe the demand isn't there? I know that is not exactly a technical indicator, just a thought.

I suppose you would have to look at total number of rooms, not just building height since you could make a tall skinny building with the less rooms that a wide based one of the same height.

[Makid]

The height of the building will mostly depend on the lot it is built on. The smaller the lot size, the taller the hotel will need to be to have the minimum number of rooms.

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by Makid

Projects, that site is going to be an office building. Being midblock, don't expect anything over 100'.

From what I remember, the group that owns the land and is developing this building also owns the corner lot directly south of the current project. I don't know of any plans for that area though.

Regarding the convention hotel, all I know is that they are still working on it. The method that Portland is using for their hotel is 1 of the ideas that are on the table. It is also probably the easiest to implement as it would just require the County Council to vote for the redirection of TRT from the hotel to the hotel.

This method of redirecting the TRT has been brought up by some developers in the past but the County didn't want to give the impression of using money generated by other hotels to pay for it. With enough clarification though, the County could do this option easily.

Also, last summer, there were at least 2 different developers that wanted to build 1000+ room convention hotels and their only request was the redirection of TRT that they generate back to the hotel for 30 to 40 years.

So, it is possible that if the method of funding chosen to fund the Salt Lake Convention Hotel is to redirect TRT to the project, we may see 2 hotels built at or nearly at the same time.

Thanks for the info. Btw, how do you know all of this regarding the convention hotel? Are you involved in real estate financing?

[Makid]

I know some people that work with the county. I also know some of the people driving the push for the hotel and have gotten some information from them.

[delts145]

I know it has been discussed and estimated before, but I can't remember exactly. Makid, Future Mayor, etc., if Royal Wood were the chosen parcel what would you guys estimate the ballpark height to be? Also Makid, are the county people and your contacts who are big proponents of the CCH discerning in their style tastes? For example, say an iconic stylized statement vs. a Phoenix type wall of windows.

[Future Mayor]

I would have a difficult time putting an estimated height on that site. One of the issues I see is that a chosen site has to be large enough to accommodate enough convention space, and what type of space requirements the county would have. Would they simply want smaller spaces similar to convention space in other hotels, or are they going to want more exhibition space with large footprints and tall ceilings.

If the desire is to add more exhibition space then the a site like the Royal Wood would have to be the prime candidate. (IMO it is the best location either way, no matter the space requirements) Placing the hotel on the Royal Wood site with a large foot print could easily limit the height, as the developer may choose to build more of an L shaped midrise design, as opposed to a tall slender tower.

If the desire is to simply have more meeting space, similar to other hotels convention space then they could easily pick a smaller site, such as The Shilo, or the Arrow Press Square sites. This would obviously require a much taller structure to get to the 1000+ rooms.

From what I recall reading though, the county is looking for more exhibition space, that will require a substantial footprint, thus making the Royal Wood site the best location choice. That is my long answer, here is my short answer

It all depends on how the developer/owner of the hotel wants to impact the city. Do they want to simply provide a CC hotel with enough rooms or do they want to do that as well as be a fixture in the skyline? Because the site could easily accommodate either option.

This is the exact reason I would love for a W hotel to be the CC hotel, because they don't do short, stubby and ugly. Heaven help us all if our cc hotel looks anything like the Phoenix hotel, I'd rather we not have one then have that one.