Salt Lake:Official development news thread

[SLC Tortfeasor]

Hey guys, just wanted to share a good article on New Urbanism. It was recently posted to CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/16/suburb.city/index.html

[Viperlord]

I thought this was pretty good news....

NYC firm to build 930,000 square feet of industrial space


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5279/is_20080519/ai_n25499598

NYC firm to build 930,000 square feet of industrial space

Rattle, Barbara
Rockefeller Group Development Corp., a New York City-based owner, developer and manager of commercial real estate properties, has acquired 57 acres of industrial-zoned land in Salt Lake City where it plans to build and lease six industrial buildings totaling 930,000 rentable square feet. It will be the firm's first project in Utah.

The company plans to seek Foreign Trade Zone designation for the property, located between I-80 and SR201, just west of Bangerter Highway.

"The site we've purchased is across the street from Union Pacific Railroad's Salt Lake City Intermodal, which is the first point of intersection in Union Pacific's rail system for eastbound freight from the three largest West Coast ports of LA/Long Beach, Seattle/Tacoma and Oakland," said Tom McCormick, senior vice president development for Rockefeller Group Development. "There is a very real opportunity for industrial growth in Salt Lake City. Our latest research shows that there is less than 5 percent vacancy in the Salt Lake City industrial market and we believe this project is going to fill the needs of companies looking at the area."

Rockefeller plans to build four buildings of approximately 190,000 square feet. The two remaining buildings will be smaller spaces, 32,500 to 80,000 square feet. Construction is expected to begin in July 2008, with completion sometime in late 2010. Sahara will act as contractor. Architect is GSBS Architects.

One of the most compelling aspects of the project will be its Free Trade Zone (FTZ) status, if approved, McCormick said. It is his understanding the application is on file with the U.S. Department of Commerce. Foreign Trade Zones are sites within the United States where foreign and domestic goods are held until they are ready to be released into international commerce. If the final product is imported into the U.S., duties and taxes are not due until the goods are released into the U.S. market. Merchandise can enter an FTZ without a formal Customs entry or the payment of Customs duties or government excise taxes. In the zone, goods can be stored, tested, sampled, repackaged or relabeled, cleaned, combined with other products, repaired or assembled.

"We have an FTZ in New Jersey and one of our tenants is a perfume company," McCormick said. "Rose petal extract has a 10 percent duty to it, so when that comes into the United States, there's a 10 percent charge on it. Perfume has no duty on it, so when the perfume is actually mixed in an FTZ and goes out, that duty disappears. It's a savings, obviously, for the companies producing it. We have IKEA as a tenant in another FTZ in southern California and they get 8,000 containers a year. You can imagine the paperwork if they had to pay a Customs fee and Customs broker and clear each container at the port. They're bringing in furniture, which doesn't have a duty on it, but under the law of the FTZ, what basically happens is their containers come in and they go right to the FTZ so they don't have to clear customs at the port and they only have to fill out one form a week rather than 8,000."

While the Utah project does not yet have a name, McCormick said it likely will be patterned after other Rockefeller projects of its nature and be known as the Rockefeller Group Free Trade Zone. He said Rockefeller is "absolutely" looking for additional projects in Utah and already has "made submittals for other opportunities there."

Rockefeller Group has been in existence for more than 70 years. With regional offices in Mt. Olive, N.J.; Miami and Irvine, Calif., it is an operating company of The Rockefeller Group, developer of the famed Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Rockefeller Group currently has properties in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and South Carolina, with millions of square feet of space in various stages of development and approximately eight million square feet of premier office towers in New York City under management.

Greg Hunter and Nancy Edwards of Commerce CRG represented The Rockefeller Group in the land purchase transaction.

Copyright Enterprise Business Newspaper Inc. May 19, 2008





I got to wonder with Rockefeller being in the trade business if one of their other submittals may be something to do with the World Trade Plaza. Because I know that the WTC has talked to a few developers about possible sites and buildings, etc....

[Viperlord]

you guys were asking about the SLenterprise earlier today.... if you go to

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5279

you can view the articles for free... they are about a month old, but oh well...

[Viperlord]

CDC to develop 44-unit condo, retail project near downtown SLC


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5279/is_20080519/ai_n25499592

Rattle, Barbara
Community Development Corp. of Utah, an organization whose goal is to help low-income families achieve home ownership, plans to break ground this fall for Ninth Street Place, a condominium and commercial project at 153 W. 900 S. on property owned by the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City.

The project will consist of 44 units in a five-story "L" shape facing both 900 South and Jefferson Street with parking behind, said Darin Brush, executive director. In addition, three live/work units will be built on a small parcel separated from the main building by an alleyway.

Most of the units will be what we call one-plus units, with one bedroom and a den that can be used as a second bedroom or an office," he said. "We expect these to be highly popular, through our market research. Those will be about 800 square feet. In addition to that we'll have a handful of straight one bedrooms and close to another 10 two-bedroom units."

Roughly 1,000 square feet of space on the corner of 900 South and Jefferson Street will be dedicated solely to commercial use, while the main building will be home to five work/live spaces with approximately 500 square feet on the ground level, suitable for retail use, and 1,000 square feet of living space above. Top level penthouse units will have 12-foot ceilings and substantial views.

The project has been designed by GSBS Architects and will be built by Okland Construction, which should complete the project in an approximately 12-month time frame, Brush said. A broker will be engaged to market the condos.

"Given our market analysis we don't want to be in the luxury condo market," Brush said. "It doesn't fit there anyway and there are plenty of those coming up in the next couple of years. We have great confidence that the market will absorb these units. This is our big project right now."

Copyright Enterprise Business Newspaper Inc. May 19, 2008

[delts145]

That Rockefeller project is a big positive. One can only imagine the long list of opportunities that such an organization would generate for the metro.

[Viperlord]

Speaking of industrial projects......

on a side note for those unaware the firm that I work for assists in engineering and marketing for a large 1,200 acre industrial park out in Tooele City....

Earlier there was talk about the "Holly Oil" pipeline running through Tooele on its way down to Las Vegas. Apparantly that project snuck up on me even. I just got informed the other day while in a marketing meeting that the pipe is stacked along the routes on our clients property out there, and its ready to go here shortly.


Also, something else to think about as times change...

Back when our client bought the industrial park a decade ago they were thinking about removing all rail service to the park and its buildings, leaving almost all buildings serviced by truck only. Luckily they decided to leave the rail in. They are now finding that as "the energy crunch" is changing with gas prices going up that the rail is almost worth its weight in gold I guess you could say. They are one of the few remaining industrial parks in Northern Utah that provides large parcels of land with the option of rail service. We have been looking at ways to run more rail lines to more of the parcels for our client. Parcels with rail service are selling for a good chunk more than those with just road access...


Anyways the reason why I sidetracked on that story was to kinda share an interesting conclusion.

Isn't it funny how we used to rely so much on rails, and then the interstate came along and the rails died. Now with the prices of gas rising dramatically rail seems to be making a comeback. My neighbor is a big rig driver for a freight company. He says it costs over 1,000 dollars to fill those big rigs up. So, its easy to see why everythings price is going up, food, clothing, etc...

[ski_steve]

Originally Posted by SLC Tortfeasor

Hey guys, just wanted to share a good article on New Urbanism. It was recently posted to CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/16/suburb.city/index.html

Very interesting, Thanks

I figured it would probably happen sooner or later, high gas prices or not. A great read, thanks for posting

[delts145]

Originally Posted by SLC Tortfeasor

Hey guys, just wanted to share a good article on New Urbanism. It was recently posted to CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/16/suburb.city/index.html

...Yet Nelson also estimates that in 2025 there will be a surplus of 22 million large-lot homes that will not be left vacant in a suburban wasteland but instead occupied by lower classes who have been driven out of their once affordable inner-city apartments and houses.

The so-called McMansion, he said, will become the new multi-family home for the poor.

"What is going to happen is lower and lower-middle income families squeezed out of downtown and glamorous suburban locations are going to be pushed economically into these McMansions at the suburban fringe," said Nelson. "There will probably be 10 people living in one house."

Very interesting read, I've seen this whole cycle already come full circle in Central L.A. Those former monster homes of the early 20th Century, which had become the crack houses of the 80's and 90's, were once again becoming the new enclaves of the gentry. So now what? Somehow I think that having multiple urban cores will help our suburbs along the Wasatch.

[i-215]

Sadly, continuing sprawl is actually more fair than reigning it in. If you keep downtown "ghetto," then it stays occupied by lower incomes. It's best they're there because it's transportation advantageous for them to be closer to the centers of lower-pay employment. Meanwhile the upper-white collar jobs continue to leave for suburban office parks - which is good because they are more likely to afford longer drives. That preserves the old neighborhoods for po'r folks (like me)

[delts145]

In Salt Lake City's case the trend is to gentrify central and downtown, which is good if they also continue to provide a dependable residential opportunity for middle to lower income folks, such as those in the fields of education, law enforcement, health-care, etc. I know there is now a big push with the lawmakers to create development space for a wider range of incomes.

[TimeSaltlake]

We actually had a debate about this issue in class the other day. I argued that issues like the trax going thru Northtemple is going to be a death blow to the community. Because of things such as new urbanism and how trendy it has become to live a lifestyle which advocates other transportation resources, neighborhoods where lower income or less economic vitality exsist will be hard hit. Trax is seen as this express way to serve those that cannot afford a car, yet the development that comes as a consoquence will push lower income citizens further away. Take Market Station. They ask if your income is at least 75K. This is going to be a mayor project, highlighting the potential that Mass transit offers in development and growth. Look at 4th south. It is a hot spot for businesses. How many low income people shop or eat at the establishment down that corridor. I doubt that you will see many eating at the Noodles and Co. or Wild oats. North Temple is going to change big time, thus increasing property values. How many low income people will live at the Citifront Bridges project, or the Kenny Condos?(i think thats what they're called.) More and more, that street will be filled with amenities that are not there to cater to people with income limitations. So as a result, people of lower economic standing will be pushed further and furhter away.

[Future Mayor]

This could potentially be a huge issues, however I think there are ways to eliviate it somewhat. The use of low income housing tax credits allows for developers to place low to mod income units in their developments. Developers can make the same amount of money placing 20% or more low-mod income units in the building as having them all market rate. That is the beauty of the program. To me I think this is a better solution than simply leaving a neighborhood in the toilet.

Maybe this is to idealistic of me but some studies have shown that we lift ourselves to our surrounding. If low-mod income families are surrounded by middle income families and individuals, they have opportunities to experience different social interactions. Often times it can lead to a desire to achieve more. I am not saying that all low-mod income individuals have no desire to achieve more.

Deversification of incomes within neighborhoods and developments is truly the key, in my opinion.

[UTPlanner]

Diversifying neighborhoods is a great thing and I agree with FutureMayor that by encouraging diverse incomes in a neighborhood I think that it not only helps those of higher incomes but also those of lower incomes. If students go to a neighborhood school and are constantly surrounded by poverty it can appear impossible to find a way to escape the unfortunate cycle. Likewise, individuals from higher incomes at times need to be snapped back into reality.

I currently live in the Liberty Park area and very much enjoy the diverse nature of the neighborhood. Though I am watching it quickly gentrify. I hope SLC will find a way to ensure that all income levels are accomodated in every neighborhood. I know that in some areas it is an impossibility but there is nothing wrong with having lofty goals.

[RFPCME]

Originally Posted by delts145

That Rockefeller project is a big positive. One can only imagine the long list of opportunities that such an organization would generate for the metro.

Delts: Is this the SAME Rockefeller group as in Rockefeller Plaza? Holy mackerel!

[RFPCME]

Originally Posted by RFPCME

Delts: Is this the SAME Rockefeller group as in Rockefeller Plaza? Holy mackerel!

I just googled the Rockefeller Development Group Corporation, and it IS the NYC-based company, owners of Rockefeller Center and a whole bunch of other property on 6th Ave., as well as a grundle of other property elsewhere.

Here's a thought...What would happen if downtown SLC and the RDGC got together?

[delts145]

^^^
Well, one things for sure... When the Rockefellers talk people definately listen... no pun intended. There definately could be some interesting networking possibilities for Salt Lake. No other group in the entire world making a big investment in the future of Salt Lake, would be a better harbinger of good things to come.

[RFPCME]

[QUOTE=delts145;3619822]^^^
Well, one things for sure... When the Rockefellers talk people definately listen... no pun intended. There definately could be some interesting networking possibilities for Salt Lake. No other group in the entire world making a big investment in the future of Salt Lake, would be a better harbinger of good things to come.[/QUOTE

Agreed! ]

[T-Mac]

From The Enterprise June 16-23

Howa splits Marmalade project; construction to resume soon

The article basically states that they are going to develop the west side of the street. They have split this project into two. The eastern part and the western part. The eastern being mostly residential. They already have tenants for the western portion which are waiting for the construction. They plan to begin construction again within 60 days.

"Howa Capital requested it be split into two developments and the big reason is with the housing market being the way it is right now, they're trying to be responsible," Priskos said. "They don't want to build something that's just going to sit on the market or build something they might lose money on. Right now the retail demand in that area is just unbelievable. So rather that spreading the tenants along both sides, we thought we'd go ahead and build the west side. There's demand there and we don't want to lose these tenants. They're good service tenants, restaurants, the type of tenants the neighbors want. There's no market reason to stop building on the west side. But we couldn't move forward with that without working with the RDA to get the term sheets to work to split the project into two different developments. They were tied together, it was all or nothing."

"Priskos said Howa has enough letters of intent in hand to fill the entire western portion of the project." One national tenant and the rest are local they said.

"In the meantime, 'We're looking at the east side. We still have tenants to go on the east side. We don't know if we're going to scale it down a little bit, build the same thing, try harder to get a grocer in the neighborhood. The market's changing all the time. Maybe we'll get a grocer, maybe we'll get a drug store. That would be very nice for the neighborhood, with some soft goods and some food items. We're opening our options now on the east side, so while we're building on the west side and filling it, it will give us momentum for the east side and show that there is good demand for retail in that neighborhood."

[TimeSaltlake]

Today I saw what will come in the wake of the legacy highway. I may sound like a pesimist, especially after my last post, however as I stood witness to a growing city, I was greatly sadden by how quickly we develope land. I was at the Foxborrow (once again, not sure of the name.) It is the community they are building in the very north part of redwood. You can see the overpasses that will grant access to the highway. The homes are beautiful, but there are so many so fast. And here I am trying to sell my home to live in a condo as a act of taking up less space, and i see this. Needless to say, they had beautiful townhouses. I almost considered buying one, then gave myself the biggest enviorment guilt trip. Point. I can see alot of the land being developed for residential units.

[SLCforme]

I feel you Timesaltlake. The best think that came out of the Legacy highway was the Legacy Nature Preserve, which protects the majority (not all, contrary to popular belief) of the develop able land on the west side of the parkway. I strongly feel that there are some areas that should not be developed because of their environmental importance and sensitivity. There is plenty of land on the front that is not so important, though, if I had my druthers I would like to see as much open space as possible remain while we redevelop brownfields with greater density to absorb any growth that occurs. Of course, if you really want my opinion (I'm sure many don't but this is an open forum for discussion so I'll go ahead and give it ) I think the human population needs to stop growing altogether. 6 billion is plenty humans for this planet. Of course I am looking at the issue as a biologist, not an economist who would want the growth to continue the economic growth, but it is simply not sustainable. Every ecosystem has a carrying capacity and the Planet as a whole is no exception. Planet Earth simply cannot sustain 20 billion people; of course reducing the average humans consumption would allow for a higher population, but there is still a limit. OK, I'll shut up now, and let the conversation get back to urban development.