Salt Lake:Official development news thread - Part 2

[scottharding]

Yeah, I went through and looked at a lot of the units at the Broadway Park lofts. I wasn't the only one. There were a lot of people going through, and many of them talking like it was simply an opportunity they couldn't pass up. Even the people working there and showing the units were talking about bidding.
It sure seemed like they'd sell all of this first phase pretty quickly, and why not? The starting bids are about 1/4th the original asking price. People are going to get these for about half.
I'd say that encourages finishing the project.

[scottharding]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

My bad, I went back and did a better job with my homework on this. It looks like half of the funding was already secured by the city and the Tiger II grant simply finished the job (at least almost completely).

The total cost is estimated to be about 55.5 million.

So then as I understand it, that money that was previously secured by the city is what has now been left off of the fiscal plan for the next year.

[s.p.hansen]

Maybe our friends savvy in construction can help us out here, but am I wrong in assuming that the most expensive parts of the construction are already finished?

[livedowntown]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

Maybe our friends savvy in construction can help us out here, but am I wrong in assuming that the most expensive parts of the construction are already finished?

For the street cars or fro Broadway Park Lofts?

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by scottharding

So then as I understand it, that money that was previously secured by the city is what has now been left off of the fiscal plan for the next year.

Yeah, I think I'm going to drown out my sorrows with some ice cream in the fridge .

[s.p.hansen]

Originally Posted by livedowntown

For the street cars or fro Broadway Park Lofts?

For the Broadway Park Lofts, but If anyone has any more expertise on the streetcar situation, by all means, they are more than invited to try and assuage our fears.

[livedowntown]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

For the Broadway Park Lofts, but If anyone has any more expertise on the streetcar situation, by all means, they are more than invited to try and assuage our fears.

Of course the back building where the for sale units are is done.

Broadway (the front building) is done with heavy construction (stuff that requires cranes.) It is mostly glass, light framing, mechanical and finish that needs to happen now.

I suspect that it is still in the many millions though.

[scottharding]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

Yeah, I think I'm going to drown out my sorrows with some ice cream in the fridge .

That does seem our best option at this point.

[UTvision]

As per Broadway Park Lofts, having an auction has been a pretty great marketing ploy to sell off real estate quick. Most people buying real estate now are looking for deals and if you can make people think they are getting one, you'll sell units pretty successfully. Nothing is gonna go for, $55,000 but it gets a lot of attention.

I found it interesting that " in the next month you’ll see ads for our auction in the Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, The Oregonian, Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake Magazine, Salt Lake City Weekly, Q Salt Lake, radio and TV spots, and many, many more."

This sounds like its gonna be a great way for them to raise some money to finish their project. Maybe I'll have to bid.

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by livedowntown

I actually know that it is potentially good news. The original bank that owned the loan for Broadway Park Lofts reached its lending limit and eventually went under (it took almost two years) and were taken over by the FDIC. The loan was sold to US Bank for pennies on the dollar. The project has been sitting there while US Bank figured out what to do (they were in no hurry.) Now the owner, Ken Millo, is liquidating the units to raise the capital to buy the loan back from US Bank and finish the project.

The truth is this looks like it will be a great deal for anyone who wants to buy downtown in a cool, authentic project. The units will end up selling for much reduced rates from the original asking price.

I'm glad to hear that the situation isn't as desperate as it appeared. I'd thought that it was the bank auctioning off the units.

Based on your avatar, do you live there?

[s.p.hansen]

^^
I always thought it was this cool warehouse that was being used for his avatar picture.


Salt Lake City: West of the CBD by sphansen47, on Flickr

[livedowntown]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

I'm glad to hear that the situation isn't as desperate as it appeared. I'd thought that it was the bank auctioning off the units.

Based on your avatar, do you live there?

I live here next door to Broadway Park Lofts. (old picture, sorry)

[arkhitektor]

Originally Posted by livedowntown

I live here next door to Broadway Park Lofts. (old picture, sorry)

I'd always just assumed that the Broadway Park Lofts were just another phase of the building that Bingham Cyclery is in- the units themselves look very similar. Were they both developed by Millo?

What is the name of your building then, anyway? We looked at a unit in the building about 5 years ago, but chickened out and bought in the suburbs....

[livedowntown]

Originally Posted by arkhitektor

I'd always just assumed that the Broadway Park Lofts were just another phase of the building that Bingham Cyclery is in- the units themselves look very similar. Were they both developed by Millo?

What is the name of your building then, anyway? We looked at a unit in the building about 5 years ago, but chickened out and bought in the suburbs....

My building is Uffens Marketplace (take the "m" off of the word muffins to say it) and it was developed by Millo (as was Patrick Lofts the back pictured above and Tire Town where Cucina Toscana is and Tony Caputo's use to be.) We love it here. It is one of the few places, in salt lake, you can go to a restaurant, a basketball game, and movie without even needing transit, let alone a car.

[SLCdude]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

...but If anyone has any more expertise on the streetcar situation, by all means, they are more than invited to try and assuage our fears.

I really hope the Sugar House Streetcar doesn't face any financial problems. I heard just weeks ago (i forget where) that construction is supposed to begin sometime in 2012.

The downtown streetcar, however, is a long ways away from construction.

[chad.farnes]

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52702274-90/downtown-percent-becker-parking.html.csp?page=1

Heres an interesting article about downtown from the Trib. Its a pretty good article about the current state and direction of SLC's downtown.

[delts145]

Local governments find themselves on both sides of the budget crunch

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/70539...-on-both-sides-of-the-budget-crunch.html

Steve Fidel, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — The managers of Salt Lake County-owned facilities calculate they have maintenance needs totaling $47 million — an amount that could grow to $102 million over the next five years.

That list keeps getting longer in a down economy, prompting the county on Tuesday to start chewing through a prioritized list of projects that, if all undertaken today to get the county on top of maintenance needs for the next five years, would cost a whopping $206 million. That total does not include any new projects...

[T-Mac]

Brooks Arcade building sold to Celtic Bank

According to The Enterprise, Alphagraphics sold the building to Celtic Bank. Alphagraphics will consolidate its operations to the second level of the building while Celtic Bank will occupy the third level. The article said that the Celtic Bank building on 400 South 340 East is under contract to be sold to Salt Lake City, which is building a major new public safety complex nearby.

[T-Mac]

Law firm of Shumway, Van & Hansen is moving from Alpine to downtown Salt Lake City according to The Enterprise. They are leasing 4,900 square feet in The Judge building.

[Future Mayor]

Love to hear that a company is moving from the burbs to the city.