A rebirth for South Salt Lake?
Redevelopment » Building along 2100 South hoped to recast image.
By Drek P. Jensen
The Salt Lake Tribune
What does a beleaguered suburb saddled with a pinched tax base and a bum image do? Erect a downtown, of sorts, anchored by a train, a streetcar, an entertainment zone and, hopefully, a new identity. That's the strategy in South Salt Lake, which has designated a new redevelopment area along 2100 South called the Central Point Project.
Trax riders leave the Trax station at 2100 South and 200 West in South Salt Lake. South Salt Lake has declared the area a redevelopment project to be called Central Point project, hoping to turn blighted strip into a new downtown of sorts with restaurants, shops and theaters. (Al Hartmann / The Salt Lake Tribune)
New Mayor Cherie Wood and the city's first-ever economic-development director hope the property-tax investment will transform the corridor from Main Street to Interstate 15 into a new hub, complete with shops, restaurants and theaters.
"We have to change what the perception of South Salt Lake is," says Garth Day, hired as the city's economic-development boss in January. "This is our chance for a downtown development that the city doesn't have."
Last month, South Salt Lake's City Council, acting as the redevelopment board, approved a blight study, which is the first step in creating a redevelopment area. RC Willey, at 2301 S. 300 West, would not be included because the furniture store is part of a previous RDA.
If ultimately approved, the Central Point formula would provide tax breaks to businesses and developers within the new RDA. The boundary extends from 2100 South to Interstate 80 between Main Street and Interstate 15. Property taxes would be captured from any schools or other public agency in the project area.
Day notes the suburb is hamstrung by a host of publicly owned properties that do not provide revenue. About 40 percent of South Salt Lake's taxable real estate -- including the rails, freeways, school district parcels and a sewage-treatment plant-- is off the tax rolls.
"That's a challenge for us," Day says. "We have to be more aggressive than other communities."
But since Central Point straddles two freeways, major thoroughfares and public transit, Day is convinced the location is prime for a "renaissance."
"It's great that they're looking at a different model for development that sounds more urban and infill," says Bob Farrington, economic-development director for neighboring Salt Lake City. "That's exactly what I'd be doing."
Farrington notes a downtownlike focal point, centered around the Central Pointe TRAX Station, could provide an attractive bookend for a streetcar planned to run east to the Sugar House business district.
"How successful it is -- and how quickly it pays off -- is part of another question about how big the market is," Farrington says. "Hopefully, there's enough business and population to go around."
The goal, Day says, is to piggyback off the neighboring Market Station development, planned from Main to State Street just south of 2100 South. Financing for Market Station recently dried up, but Day says "several" developers have expressed interest in that block and its blueprint of housing, office and retail to energize the suburb's northern gateway.
"No one's really pulled the trigger on it," Day adds. "You'll see something happen there hopefully very quickly."
Overall, officials envision a multiblock stretch of pedestrian-friendly urban living, where a density of retail and a transit hub can serve the planned condos and apartments.
Negotiations with property owners have yet to begin in earnest, but Day says the suburb hopes to avoid condemning any property.
For Pat's Barbecue & Catering, a popular restaurant that serves burnt ends and has live music, Central Point will be a likely benefit. "Pat's is a venue we want to help grow and expand," Day says about the eatery at 155 W. Commonwealth Ave. (2145 South). "It would be an anchor of the entertainment district."
That's sweet news for owner Pat Barber, who hopes to expand since taking a chance on the marginal neighborhood when he opened in 2003.
"I can only hope that it's going to do good for the greater community," Barber says. "I have been talking with the city about doing something in the area for years. Now we have a new team in South Salt Lake. I'm really, really excited for the future."
Tools now in hand, South Salt Lake hopes the recession fades in time to use it.
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Can someone tell me how to do it?
call me naieve or foolish, but I hope that GreenBro wasn't lying about that highrise. SLC totally deserves a 30-40 story pls highrise. It's the big threshold that SLC just can't seem to pass!
I really, really love this building.
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