Salt Lake:Official development news thread - Part 2

[TonyAnderson]

I guess the X games will be this year's Olympics.

[urbanboy]

I think this would be pretty great! What do you think?

[SLC Projects]

While I'm all for a theme park/casino development. I'm not sure having it at the great salt lake would work. It stinks out there. No wounder nobody ever develops anything out there.

[urbanboy]

There is definitely a distinct smell, but that generally stays around the shore-line. Many of the older generation actually kind of like the smell because they've associated it with their childhood trips out to Saltair, and some have even romanticized the smell. But out on the lake it's not as noticeable.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by urbanboy

I think this would be pretty great! What do you think?

I've always wished they would rebuild Saltair, not the crappy '80s warehouse with onion domes that they called Saltair, but the beautiful, original Moorish design. I'd be bummed if a decent amount of money wasn't spent to make it look more like the original, and not some cheap, tacky modern version, though.

[delts145]

Agreed Stenar, I like what they're doing with Antelope Island, The Willard Bay area, and a few other ongoing improvements, but that region of the Lake is so underdeveloped. It would take some major revenue to do it right and secure the level of the lake in that area, but it would be worth it in the long run.

[i-215]

Not to mention convincing the legislature to allow gambling ...

[urbanboy]

Saltair:









Saltair II











Saltair III (Just before it's Grand Opening)








http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/results...tc,/ushs-school,/USHS_Shipler,/ushs-hook

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1

[WeST]

I am a little surprised, to say the least, that this proposal would come from you UB. Have you thought about what the environmental impact would be with a development like this? This would make a very distinct and dramatic impression on the existing ecosystem.

[TonyAnderson]

Seagulls enjoy a little entertainment just like the rest of us.

[urbanboy]

Yes, I have. Unlike the proposed bridge in Utah County, this would not be feeding sprawl. It could also legitimately be argued that this would increase VMT (vehicle miles traveled), It would. However if any east west commuter rail were built it would have to pass by this location, therefore making it easy to connect into the mass transit network. Furthermore, this development would have less of an ecosystem altering impact than the existing causeway connecting Kaysville to Antelope Island. Having a resort on the Lake would also make it economically important to keep the lake clean, not just environmentally important.

[RFPCME]

UB Urbanboy:

I don't think the Salt Air development is a very good idea...for a variety of reasons, none of which has to do with gambling.

The only way Salt Air would work would be to dike off the southern end of the lake to be a fresh water reserve, which does not make sense in the second most arid state in the Union--an incredible waste of water through evaporation (The lake is only 50' deep at its deepest.)

But you say: "Oh, we'll leave the lake the way it is! We don't need to dike the area to turn it into a fresh water preserve."

Oh, yes you do! Without fresh water surrounding Salt Air, there is no logical reason to go there, unless you are so caught up in sailing that you will launch your boat anywhere, including a briny pond that will eat the Hell out of everything on the boat.

The shallowness of the lake means the shoreline advances and retreats up to a 1/4 of a mile in a year. Some years the water is lapping at the foundations. Other years, you're stuck with a fly-infested mudflat.

Besides brine shrimp and the birds who feed off of brine shrimp, like that crazy flamingo who escaped from the Tracy Aviary years ago, no creatures like that lake. It's a fetid puddle left over from Lake Bonneville. Jim Bridger, nearly 170 years, ago probably said it best: "The lake is a cruel practical joke."

If you want a casino, which is a much better way of funding education than cutting the 12th grade (one of Chris Buttars' recent gems), it makes more sense to let the Utes put one on their lands in the Uintah Basin. Or maybe we could get Tom Dolan to realize the only way he is going to get highrises in Sandy is to legalize gambling within the city limits.

I kinda like the second idea. Everybody wins...Dolan get his highrises. Fewer people get killed on their way back from Wendover, and the State gets badly needed money for education. Best, it gives Utah County residents another reason to secede from the State.

[TonyAnderson]

I say we open up crack houses to help fund our colleges. That way crack houses seem OK

With that said, I personally would like a casino. But not to pay for education.

Perhaps one in one of the ski / snow resort areas. That way they'll have something for non-winter months as well. And that way it's more of a 'getaway' type of thing.

And Utah County secede? Nah, I like the current idea of things like FrontRunner South to connect the areas to even a greater degree.

[urbanboy]

Originally Posted by RFPCME

UB Urbanboy:

I don't think the Salt Air development is a very good idea...for a variety of reasons, none of which has to do with gambling.

The only way Salt Air would work would be to dike off the southern end of the lake to be a fresh water reserve, which does not make sense in the second most arid state in the Union--an incredible waste of water through evaporation (The lake is only 50' deep at its deepest.)

But you say: "Oh, we'll leave the lake the way it is! We don't need to dike the area to turn it into a fresh water preserve."

Oh, yes you do! Without fresh water surrounding Salt Air, there is no logical reason to go there, unless you are so caught up in sailing that you will launch your boat anywhere, including a briny pond that will eat the Hell out of everything on the boat.

The shallowness of the lake means the shoreline advances and retreats up to a 1/4 of a mile in a year. Some years the water is lapping at the foundations. Other years, you're stuck with a fly-infested mudflat.

Besides brine shrimp and the birds who feed off of brine shrimp, like that crazy flamingo who escaped from the Tracy Aviary years ago, no creatures like that lake. It's a fetid puddle left over from Lake Bonneville. Jim Bridger, nearly 170 years, ago probably said it best: "The lake is a cruel practical joke."

If you want a casino, which is a much better way of funding education than cutting the 12th grade (one of Chris Buttars' recent gems), it makes more sense to let the Utes put one on their lands in the Uintah Basin. Or maybe we could get Tom Dolan to realize the only way he is going to get highrises in Sandy is to legalize gambling within the city limits.

I kinda like the second idea. Everybody wins...Dolan get his highrises. Fewer people get killed on their way back from Wendover, and the State gets badly needed money for education. Best, it gives Utah County residents another reason to secede from the State.

Oh, we'll leave the lake the way it is! We don't need to dike the area to turn it into a fresh water preserve. Bathing in the salty lake is part of the attraction: "Saltair...try to sink."

The advancing and retreating shore line is and always has been a problem. I was just hoping that this area of the lake is one of the deepest spots. That way, it wouldn't really matter how high or low the water is... as long as there are flexible stairs that can reach the water (at whatever level it's at), and the platform is high enough to never be flooded.

Jim Bridger probably made his statement about the lake for two reasons: 1 because it's not fresh water and he was thirsty... or 2 because many (including Brigham) believed the lake was connected to the Pacific Ocean by a natural canal, and he found out it wasn't

There is obviously a Utah market for casinos, which is why Wendover and Mesquite, Nevada exist. Why not designate one place here for gambling, and keep a portion of those dollars in Utah?

[SLC Projects]

I never know there were three Saltairs.

[TANGELD_SLC]

I just thought I'd ask a hypothetical question... A supertall skyscraper would be about 750,000-1,000,000sqft minimum... What kind of business would downtown SLC need to attract to fill that much commercial space?

[i-215]

Sounds like corporate headquarters to me. My vote is still for Crayola, and the Crayola-crayon-shaped tower! But that would probably involve moving everybody into one site, which often isn't feasible.

In fact, even Crayola couldn't fill 1,000,000 sq ft.

[Makid]

The problem with the square footage minimum is the size of the blocks in SLC.

I think the Wells Fargo building has close to 700k sqf.

I do know that the LDS Church could completely fill a 1.5m sqf building without room to spare. They could probably go more if they consolidated all of their buildings in the SLC area into 1 building.

[Future Mayor]

I would estimate that a bank could command that much space. I know Zions has portions of their operations all around downtown. I tried to look up the sf of the tower but emporis didn't list it. If I'm not mistaken Zions occupies the majority of their tower, and I'm sure if they consolidated their operations they could fill enough of a structure of that size, with some of the space being leased to other tenants.

The proposed Zions Bank tower on 100 S and State, that was canceled, would have been 33 stories. I would imagine with all the acquisitions they have made that they could easily occupy a larger building now.

But I doubt they will build new unless they had a large tenant that wanted to take of the current tower.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

The proposed Zions Bank tower on 100 S and State, that was canceled, would have been 33 stories.

Why did it get canceled? I heard that there were a proposed tower on that site a few years back by Zions, but I never know it would of been that tall. They should of went ahead with it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!