Salt Lake:Official development news thread

[John Martin]

I just don't like the way they arranged the windows.. with the larger ones nearer to the edge... it just makes it look like something you'd see in Salina. I'm fine with the stucco though, it actually looks quite good I think. I like stucco as long as it's a bright or really pure color, it's just when it's tan or brown and trying to look like an old rotting Chateau that I don't like it. In an urban setting, where it's a completely contemporary and not a faux style, I think it looks good.

[blazefirelight]

Originally Posted by John Martin

Is the hotel going up just west of the airport a Hyatt as well? It looks just the same except I think it's brick.

I have been wondering the EXACT same thing! Whenever I drive by, that's the question that comes to mind. I just want to pull off the freeway, drive up and see.

[delts145]

Originally Posted by John Martin

I just don't like the way they arranged the windows.. with the larger ones nearer to the edge... it just makes it look like something you'd see in Salina. I'm fine with the stucco though, it actually looks quite good I think. I like stucco as long as it's a bright or really pure color, it's just when it's tan or brown and trying to look like an old rotting Chateau that I don't like it. In an urban setting, where it's a completely contemporary and not a faux style, I think it looks good.

I like your take on stucco John. That pretty well describes my take also, particularly on this specific project. Gateway in general is very attractive. Much of that has to do with the way the many different shapes and dimensions of the buildings mix with each other. Also, while there is a little too much of the stucco scattered around, it's not as overused, as say a Horton Plaza or so many of the newer projects in many cities throughout the southwest or L.A. At least there is a generous amount of brick and stone on many of the buildings at Gateway. I still would like to see someone go back and splash a bit of brick and cut stone(such as red sandstone panels) here and there. I especially would like to see a few of the buildings take on a finish similar to the Commercial Club or even the Odd Fellows Hall.

[SLCdave]

Originally Posted by blazefirelight

I have been wondering the EXACT same thing! Whenever I drive by, that's the question that comes to mind. I just want to pull off the freeway, drive up and see.

No need to pull off!! It is a Hyatt. Just like the one in Sandy

[utahboozer]

Originally Posted by SLCdave

No need to pull off!! It is a Hyatt. Just like the one in Sandy

"OMG what does that WalMart look like up close?"

[blazefirelight]

Originally Posted by SLCdave

No need to pull off!! It is a Hyatt. Just like the one in Sandy

Oh thank you! That will definitely save me a detour on my next trip out to Tooele. =D

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

Originally Posted by blazefirelight

Oh thank you! That will definitely save me a detour on my next trip out to Tooele. =D

okay, so I was walking around Broadway, I'd say six east to fifth eastish, and it is so amaizing, it's turning into such a cute little area. I went to Red Espresso with some friends and just looked westward from the coffee shop towards the CBD and it looks soo fantastic. It's colorful, it's lit up. it has people on it, it has awesome houses converted into diners. It's the perfect social main street for a small city like SLC and it's only getting better by the day.
Seeing it gave me so much joy and I bet it's only going to get better.

If you ask me Broadway is the next sugarhouse, with local shopping that is.

[delts145]

Millcreek steps nearer limits on 'monster homes'

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705291441,00.html


Robert Gallagher speak at a final public comment opportunity before the Millcreek Township Planning Commission Monday in Salt Lake City. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)

One more step on a long path to new zoning measures aimed at limiting "monster home" construction in Millcreek Township was completed last Monday night as the Millcreek Planning Commission heard public testimony on a proposal that will soon be headed for the Salt Lake County Council...

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[cololi]

Originally Posted by Justnslcsugarhood.

okay, so I was walking around Broadway, I'd say six east to fifth eastish, and it is so amaizing, it's turning into such a cute little area. I went to Red Espresso with some friends and just looked westward from the coffee shop towards the CBD and it looks soo fantastic. It's colorful, it's lit up. it has people on it, it has awesome houses converted into diners. It's the perfect social main street for a small city like SLC and it's only getting better by the day.
Seeing it gave me so much joy and I bet it's only going to get better.

If you ask me Broadway is the next sugarhouse, with local shopping that is.

Amen. I love the area between S Temple and 400 S and 200 E and 700 E. IT is such a diverse part of our city development wise. Broadway has become an absolutely fantastic place to walk. I walk through the area a couple times a week at lunch. I have seen the neighborhood in a whole new light since then. Throw a street car on 200 South and this area probably becomes THE place to be.

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

Utah's unemployment rate now exceeds 5 percent and continues to rise, but it's still far below the post-WWII high of 9.7 percent in 1983.

Utah unemployment rate tops 5%
Published: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 10:25 a.m. MDT

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and an analysis by the Department of Workforce Services, Utah's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate reached 5.1 percent in February — a 1.8 percentage point increase over the past year, with a full percentage point of that coming in just the last two months.

By way of comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate for February was 8.1 percent

About 26,000 jobs have been removed from the Utah economy in the past year, lowering total wage and salary employment to 1.22 million. That's a contraction of 2.1 percent.

The pain isn't over yet, either, according to Mark Knold, chief economist for Utah's Department of Workforce Services, who predicts the economy is "not finished squeezing out the jobs that may have become unnecessary. This suggests there are more declining numbers ahead, yet there is also hope that these losses will begin to stabilize by the summer months."

Since the downturn has not yet bottomed out, it's hard to predict its historical significance. But the unemployment rate last reached 5.1 percent in August 2004. At that point, it was coming down, not rising. It last rose to 5.1 percent from a lower rate in December 2001, during the national dot-com recession. By summer 2002, unemployment peaked at 5.9 percent, according to DWS statistics.




I think I remember hearing SLC's unemployment was only four point six so we are still doing pretty good........

[Urban_logic]

Originally Posted by SLCdave

They are protesting the Contractors and Hyatt for not using union workers/labor. You can see the same thing up at The Canyons and Daybreak.

Oh, I have seen them at Daybreak, trust me. I wasn't aware that they were associated nor what they were protesting about, but that makes sense now. I have nothing against unions, though I do support laws that give employees the option to join or not. Unions aren't always productive, so that's why I support the option to join them or not with legal protection from harassment regardless of what one chooses.

Originally Posted by TANGELD_SLC

I still don't like the Hyatt.

It's too short and very suburban. Along with being boring, bland and not unique in the least.

Good pictures of it though

It does look kinda suburban, but I think it fits in in the part of down town with the shorter buildings by the tracks.

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

so there is something going up on third south right next to sage's cafe, what is it?

[Urban_logic]

I'm not sure where to post this, so I will put it here. It is my proposal as a sort of southern anchor to bring more life to the southern part of town and also double as a "Grand Entrance" to our city. I haven't the slightest clue on how to model buildings on the computer, so I haven't come up with designs except for the bases of these buildings.

So here's the wrap:

My project would bring 5th and 6th South together into a sort of 550 South (though it wouldn't be called that ). Then, at 3rd West, the boulevard would split diagnaly to give it a "Times Square" look with and angled building in the center of theses streets.

Key:
-Landscape
-Office
-Residential
-Retail
-Iconic Tower
-Roadway (black)
-Pedestrian Thoroughfare (white)



Freeway to 5th West:

From the freeway, the on/off ramps of 5th and 6th South will each split in two. On both ramps, 2 lanes will follow the existing alignments of these streets, then 3 lanes from each will converge into one boulevard in between. All of this spliting and converging will take place in the block of 5th-6th West. 6th West will run below the ramps, as it does now. In this block, along the roadway, will be landscaping (colored brown above). There will be two 18-22 story twin office towers with a grand arch-bridge connecting them in this block off of 5th West (for those against skybridges, this will be connecting office space in an area where pedestrians wouldn't be walking anyway). These will help to frame the view of the iconic tower in the distance as people enter from the freeway.

5th West to 3rd West:

This block marks the begining of the "boulevard". After the ramps touch down at 5th West, an urban boulevard will continue forward. I envision small-scale retail along the street here at just the one level. Between 5th and 4th West, there will be 10-14 levels of residential space above the street with balcanies over-looking the street. In the next block, between 4th and 3rd West, there will be 10-14 levels of commercial office space connected with a skybridge (once again, to those warry of skybridges, this will only be connecting offices - so shoppers and pedestrians will stay on the street).

3rd West eastward:

At the intersection of the boulevard with 3rd West, I envision an iconic 35-40 story building with a clean-cut edge between the angled split in the boulevard to give the street the "Times Square" look. I see the tower as being made so as to blend in with SLC's beautiful soroundings (granite to resemble the mountains, glass to blend in with the sky, etc). I'm not sure what this tower will house, probably including office, residential, hospitality, or a combination of the three. I would also want a resteraunt at the top so people can enjoy the spectacular views from atop the 500-650 ft tower. As with the previous two blocks, I want small scale retail at the base of this tower to bring in stree-life. Then, across the streets, will be two medium-sized retail centers possibly 3-4 levels high with roof gardens/observation decks on top open to the public.

5th and 6th South will then meet up with the 2-lane splits that they left at the freeway and follow the existing roadways eastward toward Main St. The total project will be one city block in width from north to south and 4 city blocks east to west.

I have actually just come up with this over the past few days, so I am up for critique, input, thoughts, concerns, and just an open dialogue. I have incorporated what some on here have voiced as ideas they would like to see. The entire roadway is lined with pedestrian draws (all offices and residential space are above the street), it provides an anchor to the southern part of town, it acts as a gateway into the city, I tried to integrate pedestrian accessability into what is a very high-volume auto route, etc. I hope you guys like it! If anyone wants to diagram anything, feel free

.....

Updated later:

I have been thinking about it and have come up with an issue and possible solutions for that issue. The issue is the traffic flow. What's to stop people from taking the 2 lanes and by-pass the center of the development alltogether? Especially with pedestrians crossing the main boulevard, this would divert cars out from the center of the development. Maybe, instead, only 1 lane will divert onto the existing 5th and 6th South allignments and have a speed limit of 15 mph - that way, it would be much slower and less convenient to go around the project and encourage drivers to go through it. Or, the two 5th and 6th South routes could be truck routes - that way, noisy, polluting semis are taken out of the center of the development.

[John Martin]

Arggghh, I hate one way streets! I know this is a stupid question, but why are 5th and 6th south one way streets? I assume it's because of the freeway entrances, but is there any other reason to have 5 lanes of traffic all going the same direction? Seems like such a waste.

[Urban_logic]

Originally Posted by John Martin

Arggghh, I hate one way streets! I know this is a stupid question, but why are 5th and 6th south one way streets? I assume it's because of the freeway entrances, but is there any other reason to have 5 lanes of traffic all going the same direction? Seems like such a waste.

Because SLC only has 180k people where as the rest of the valley has 820k. Plus, you have a 500k metro to the north and another 500k to the south - that's 2 million people within a 50 mile radius!! SLC has a huge influx in its daytime population from its resident population. If you have ever gone into/out of down town SLC during rush hour, you will see that those 10 lanes are fully used. As we switch more solidly to rails, hopefully the need for that many lanes will decrease.

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

Originally Posted by Urban_logic

I'm not sure where to post this, so I will put it here. It is my proposal as a sort of southern anchor to bring more life to the southern part of town and also double as a "Grand Entrance" to our city. I haven't the slightest clue on how to model buildings on the computer, so I haven't come up with designs except for the bases of these buildings.

So here's the wrap:

My project would bring 5th and 6th South together into a sort of 550 South (though it wouldn't be called that ). Then, at 3rd West, the boulevard would split diagnaly to give it a "Times Square" look with and angled building in the center of theses streets.

Key:
-Landscape
-Office
-Residential
-Retail
-Iconic Tower
-Roadway (black)
-Pedestrian Thoroughfare (white)



Freeway to 5th West:

From the freeway, the on/off ramps of 5th and 6th South will each split in two. On both ramps, 2 lanes will follow the existing alignments of these streets, then 3 lanes from each will converge into one boulevard in between. All of this spliting and converging will take place in the block of 5th-6th West. 6th West will run below the ramps, as it does now. In this block, along the roadway, will be landscaping (colored brown below). There will be two 18-22 story twin office towers with a grand arch-bridge connecting them in this block off of 5th West (for those against skybridges, this will be connecting office space in an area where pedestrians wouldn't be walking anyway). These will help to frame the view of the iconic tower in the distance as people enter from the freeway.

5th West to 3rd West:

This block marks the begining of the "boulevard". After the ramps touch down at 5th West, an urban boulevard will continue forward. I envision small-scale retail along the street here at just the one level. Between 5th and 4th West, there will be 10-14 levels of residential space above the street with balcanies over-looking the street. In the next block, between 4th and 3rd West, there will be 10-14 levels of commercial office space connected with a skybridge (once again, to those warry of skybridges, this will only be connecting offices - so shoppers and pedestrians will stay on the street).

3rd West eastward:

At the intersection of the boulevard with 3rd West, I envision an iconic 35-40 story building with a clean-cut edge between the angled split in the boulevard to give the street the "Times Square" look. I see the tower as being made so as to blend in with SLC's beautiful soroundings (granite to resemble the mountains, glass to blend in with the sky, etc). I'm not sure what this tower will house, probably including office, residential, hospitality, or a combination of the three. I would also want a resteraunt at the top so people can enjoy the spectacular views from atop the 500-650 ft tower. As with the previous two blocks, I want small scale retail at the base of this tower to bring in stree-life. Then, across the streets, will be two medium-sized retail centers possibly 3-4 levels high with roof gardens/observation decks on top open to the public.

5th and 6th South will then meet up with the 2-lane splits and they left at the freeway and follow the existing roadways eastward toward Main St. The total project will be one city block in width from north to south and 4 city blocks east to west.

I have actually just come up with this over the past few days, so I am up for critique, input, thoughts, concerns, and just an open dialogue. I have incorporated what some on here have voiced as ideas they would like to see. The entire roadway is lined with pedestrian draws (all offices and residential space are above the street), it provides an anchor to the southern part of town, it acts as a gateway into the city, I tried to integrate pedestrian accessability into what is a very high-volume auto route, etc. I hope you guys like it! If anyone wants to diagram anything, feel free

.....

Updated later:

I have been thinking about it and have come up with an issue and possible solutions for that issue. The issue is the traffic flow. What's to stop people from taking the 2 lanes and by-pass the center of the development alltogether? Especially with pedestrians crossing the main boulevard, this would divert cars out from the center of the development. Maybe, instead, only 1 lane will divert onto the existing 5th and 6th South allignments and have a speed limit of 15 mph - that way, it would be much slower and less convenient to go around the project and encourage drivers to go through it. Or, the two 5th and 6th South routes could be truck routes - that way, noisy, polluting semis are taken out of the center of the development.

I kinda like it. Where you have the "iconic tower" you should put a fountain like Cincinnati's fountain square in front of it.

[Justnslcsugarhood.]

So, there seems to be a lot of mid rises going up downtown. I love the idea of mid rises especially residential mid rises with retail at the bottom of them. I think these mid rise residential towers on the east and west ends of the CBD are more culturally salt lakian, lol. I love how they all seem to be in the area Cololi was talking about as well. If you ask me this area and north downtown salt lake are going to be our first downtown "hoods" they are more distinct then any other area and are developing nicely in a way that suites the local atmosphere of their given neighborhoods.

[Urban_logic]

Originally Posted by Justnslcsugarhood.

I kinda like it. Where you have the "iconic tower" you should put a fountain like Cincinnati's fountain square in front of it.

Nice

I was going for the whole New York Times Square look with a big TV screen and everything. I suppose we can integrate other things so as to make it our own. I want the tower to truley screem "SALT LAKE!"

[urbanboy]

More pictures of the Boston Building Renovation:

[delts145]

Salt Lake City seeking Broadway theater developer

http://deseretnews.com/article/70529...developer.html

Growing metropolis seeks partner with a love of the arts and a desire to build a Broadway-style theater.

That is Salt Lake City's personal ad, as the city works to move forward with a 2,500-seat theater as the center of an arts and cultural district in the capital's downtown.

"This is an opportunity to get out there and find what interest there is in the project," said Councilman Eric Jergensen, as the city put out a "request for qualifications" from developers this week. "We need to find a partner to help us develop that area into a center of vibrancy."...

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