Salt Lake:Official development news thread

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

Seattle can keep the Space Needle, I just don't want one in Salt Lake.
....or maybe I'm just disgruntled by all of the money I've spend on tickets to ride up to the viewing areas at the top of such towers.

Incidentally, I visited the Stratosphere for the first time last Thanksgiving while visiting family in Vegas, and the place is a dump.
For a building that is barely 10 years old, it desperately needs a makeover for its interior.

Also, did you know that the Kennecott smokestack is taller than the Stratosphere in LV and is actually the tallest structure west of the Mississippi? I didn't.



We should just add a revolving restaurant to the top and call it good:






....and yes, you're absolutely right, the Pearl TV tower in Shanghai is by far the worst of the "needles", and is likely one of the worst things ever built by man:



I throw up a little every time I see a picture of it. The worst part is that Shanghai would have such a fine looking skyline if they could only get rid of it.
For some reason the Beijing tower and the CN Tower in Toronto don't bother me as much.

OH, I love the TV tower I've been in it. It goes well with what they have in Shanghai. I think that a more seattleesque space needle would be more appropriate for SLC though.

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

Auckland has the best space needle, we should try to cater to a needle similar in style.

[wrendog]

I would approve of an iconic space needle, but only if were 500 ft or so. An 800 ft plus needle would look absolutely silly.

[i-215]

Yes! YES! YES!!!!!!!!!!

[Future Mayor]

I like your needle design Urban Boy. While it is iconic, it doesn't stand out like a sore thumb like I hamburger sitting on a french fry or something. I wouldn't mind one like that in that neighborhood. Someone need to go talk to Earl and somehow tell him that building this thing would be the best thing he could do to feed his ego.

The overall site plan would be great in that part of town. I could see a Saks, or Neiman Marcus becoming an anchor at that end of town.

[jtrent77]

I'm confused why SLC has to be like everyone else and get a needle? It wouldn't really be functional except to provide a slight tourist site and I don't really see it generating enough revenue from just tourist tickets to justify some Joe Schmoe company/corporation to come and pay for it. And I think we all know that there is no way the taxpayers in Utah would pay for an essentially non-functional icon to be built.

Personally, I say SLC is very different from other cities throughout the world, let them have their needles, let's do something new and different.

[UTAZLoVer]

lol like a spacespindle, or spacethimble!

[i-215]

But what makes it unique: It's a sprawly SpaceNeedle since it's 20 minutes west of downtown!

(And, technically, in my home town!)

[urbanboy]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

I'm confused why SLC has to be like everyone else and get a needle? It wouldn't really be functional except to provide a slight tourist site and I don't really see it generating enough revenue from just tourist tickets to justify some Joe Schmoe company/corporation to come and pay for it. And I think we all know that there is no way the taxpayers in Utah would pay for an essentially non-functional icon to be built.

Personally, I say SLC is very different from other cities throughout the world, let them have their needles, let's do something new and different.

So other cities can't say: We have a needle and you don't neener neener! Seriously though, we need something major at the south end of Main Street to pull people in that direction. With Temple Square acting as an anchor at the north end, and something like the needle acting as an anchor on the south end, Main Street will then be in a position to thrive. Most people who visit Temple Square also stroll around on Main Street Plaza. Here, there is a chance to visually compel them down Main Street. What could be more compelling to a tourist than a needle with great views, within walking distance. This could also help lure people from the skybridge. Needles also give visitors a chance to become oriented with the city, the same way maps are used to find ones orientation.

[UTvision]

Originally Posted by urbanboy

So other cities can't say: We have a needle and you don't neener neener! Seriously though, we need something major at the south end of Main Street to pull people in that direction. With Temple Square acting as an anchor at the north end, and something like the needle acting as an anchor on the south end, Main Street will then be in a position to thrive. Most people who visit Temple Square also stroll around on Main Street Plaza. Here, there is a chance to visually compel them down Main Street. What could be more compelling to a tourist than a needle with great views, within walking distance. This could also help lure people from the skybridge. Needles also give visitors a chance to become oriented with the city, the same way maps are used to find ones orientation.

Why not a giant pioneer statue with a restaurant and lookout in the head or possibly put a beehive on top of the needle?

I like your idea and agree there should be a southern anchor to Main St, I am sure theres enough artistic ability to create a unique icon for Salt Lake.

[urbanboy]

[ragerdude]

Isn't the city trying to create that Main street vibe by renovating Galivan Plaza and putting in the Broadway style theater? Galivan Plaza sort of is that southern anchor. If the indoor parking south of Eagle Gate College and other adjacent buildings were transformed into higher density mixed use projects with street level shops more people would walk between the Grand and Little America towers and downtown. Still, with the size of SLC blocks, walking more than three blocks becomes cumbersome.

[Skyscrapers4Me]

Hmmmm....something more like this ???

[delts145]

I personally wouldn't have a problem with a Spaceneedle, as long as it didn't end up looking like a cheap concrete slab, like the one in Vegas. I would like to see something actually incorporated into the structure of a sleek tower. Anyway, it's definately not a priority for any of us probably. There are other firsts that I would rather see like a 600 ft. plus attractive tower, that is as sexy as the new 222, but taller.

[i-215]

Thanks to you guys, I had a dream last night that a Kennecott executive read this thread, and decided to dismantle the smoke stack. I need to get more sleep. Or at least stop visiting SSP right before bed.

But I agree with Urbanboy. We need to put something in down around 5th south to draw people south. I now realize that's why I never venture south of 2nd south on foot.

[Boiseguy]

The one thing that an iconic structure like a needle does provide is a catalyst for highrise developement. In Calgary's case it seemed to provide that. It stimulates civic pride in the downtown area.. In salt lake's case.. it might be temple square... but I'm sure something else could be placed at the south of Main street.. allowing for a bird's eye view of the city. Most cities that have built these towers ended up having their skylines explode with expansion within a decade.. perhaps there's a connection.. hard to say...

[delts145]

The thought of this happening is very exciting to me, "that is light rail on Foothill and a train to Park City." I would be beside myself if something like this were given the go ahead. C'mon President Obama, "Give us the funds!"

Originally Posted by stevena07

Planners want reversible lanes on Foothill Boulevard, but city wants light rail

By Brandon Loomis
The Salt Lake Tribune


Regional transportation planners want to remake Foothill Drive to help carpools and express buses speed students and workers to and from the University of Utah.

It's not enough for some Salt Lake City Council members, who heard the plan Tuesday but said they want light rail -- and not just up Foothill, but all the way to Park City.



Martin and others said the plan focuses too much on moving cars through. Switching to light rail could help reshape land uses, leading to denser housing and new development east of the road, they said.

"What a wasted opportunity," Councilman Luke Garrott said of the Wasatch Front study. He agreed that the plan would cement the current landscape and promote cars instead of using light rail to reshape a major gateway to the city.

"We need a train to Park City, bad," Garrott said.



The Foothill Boulevard corridor currently handles about 46,000 daily car trips, which is down a few thousand from the days of Interstate 15 reconstruction in the late 1990s, according to Wasatch Front. Equipping it with reversible lanes and new buses to handle future growth would cost the Utah Department of Transportation and UTA about $15 million, the regional council estimates.

Wasatch Front's plan is just a recommendation, and would require cooperation from the Utah Department of Transportation, the Utah Transit Authority, the city and the university.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11388972?source=rss

[cololi]

I made some more detailed comments in the transit thread, but I think LRt on foothill is a political firestorm that will never have the needed support to actually get done. When you head further south past SLC boundaries, it gets even worse. Not so much due to the train, but primarily due to the increased densities.

A heavy gauge train up Parleys is great, the cost would be astronomical and I just don't see the ridership justifying the cost. I read somewhere a few years back that the average family of four vacationing and skiing at Park City Mt. Resort spend about 8,000 on their trip over 4 days. Spending a few hundred dollars on a rented SUV for that time is probably not going to be much of an issue for them. I don't think tourism in Park City could justify building a rail line. even the rail line from Denver to Winter Park lost money every year, I think it may even be out of service right now. Obama's stimulus plan is for projects that are ready to build. This would have years of EIS work prior to ever getting design dollars.

[urbanboy]

Originally Posted by cololi

I made some more detailed comments in the transit thread, but I think LRt on foothill is a political firestorm that will never have the needed support to actually get done. When you head further south past SLC boundaries, it gets even worse. Not so much due to the train, but primarily due to the increased densities.

A heavy gauge train up Parleys is great, the cost would be astronomical and I just don't see the ridership justifying the cost. I read somewhere a few years back that the average family of four vacationing and skiing at Park City Mt. Resort spend about 8,000 on their trip over 4 days. Spending a few hundred dollars on a rented SUV for that time is probably not going to be much of an issue for them. I don't think tourism in Park City could justify building a rail line. even the rail line from Denver to Winter Park lost money every year, I think it may even be out of service right now. Obama's stimulus plan is for projects that are ready to build. This would have years of EIS work prior to ever getting design dollars.

Some of those families probably died in auto accidents up Parleys Canyon, If we had only had a train... A train to Park City would be used allot, it's safer, and it's not as dirty as the automobile.

I'm thinking it might be better to use UTA's corridor in Sugar House and South Salt Lake. Perhaps the reverse lane system on foothill will be better for the short term, and then later we can introduce light rail or BRT. South Salt Lake could sure use the redevelopment opportunities.

[UTPlanner]

And all those people died riding a commuter rail train in LA... so it may not be a good justification.

I think light rail on foothill could work. I don't see how a train to Summit County would work. Davis County has 300,000 residents and less than 10,000 utilize the FrontRunner on a daily basis. Summit County has 35,000 residents, and yes I realize there are tourists but I just can't see how it would work. I think UTA ought to try some bussing first to see how popular it would be.