Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by delts145

panoramio/photos


placepics.triposo.com

These remind me of the Hotel Newhouse. Would have looked great next to the borg cube, like a modern twin.



http://andrewhuntbooks.com/city.html

[UTPlanner]

To answer a few questions I read this morning:

1. There is a lot of work happening in the Tribune Building currently. The interior has been mostly demolished and the framing has begun. They are planning on being completed in the spring.

2. The reason that most of the new multi-family residential buildings in the city lately have been around 5-7 floors is not because of restrictions from SLC. It is not difficult to obtain a Conditional Use Permit for increased height in the right areas of the city.

The reason is that once you go taller than approximately 6-7 floors, depending on the ceiling height on each level, you can no longer use wood to frame the building. This is commonly referred to in the industry as "stick frame". Instead steel must be used to frame the building. This increases the cost dramatically and it becomes extremely difficult to make the cost work in a rental project.

[jedikermit]

Originally Posted by Old&New

These remind me of the Hotel Newhouse. Would have looked great next to the borg cube, like a modern twin.



http://andrewhuntbooks.com/city.html

That's a great point about the contrast that could have existed between the Newhouse and the Borg Cube...I remember when I was a pup, my dad being so outraged that they were demolishing the Newhouse. We went downtown to watch; I was excited to see the implosion, but my dad was kind of sick about it. There was a lot of anger about it at the time--if those people had known 30 years ago that it would still be a parking lot in 2012, I have to wonder if they would have still allowed it to happen.

Interesting but brief article about the Newhouse here, with a small photo gallery: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705343201/Newhouse-Hotel-2-a-landmark-to-explosive-end.html

...I also wonder though, if the Newhouse Memorial Parking Lot was some of the impetus behind SLC's recent decision to move toward getting rid of so many surface lots. Hopefully the Newhouse's death will do some good yet.

[jedikermit]

Also (and this has nothing to do with anything), a week or two back, I told my sons that I had a surprise for them, and we were going to do something fun, and my 8 year old lit up and said, "are we going to go walking around downtown and look at buildings???"

Because my boys are freaking awesome.

That's all.

[Future Mayor]

I just read an article about 13 Pro Teams Running out of fans. The article covers NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB
http://247wallst.com/2012/11/26/13-pro-teams-running-out-of-fans/

So I figured I'd bring up the topic of MLB coming to SLC again. Two teams made me scratch my chin and wonder, "what are the chances?"

I also looked up the values MLB teams.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2012/03/21/the-business-of-baseball-2012/

The Seattle Mariners are #1 on the list of teams losing fans. They have had a 51.4% drop in attendance over the last 10 years. They however they are still the 12th most valuable team in MLB with a value of $585 million.

An even more interesting one is the Oakland A's. They have had a 22.6% decline in attendance over the last 10 years and are the least valuable team in MLB, valued at $321 million.

By comparison the Jazz are valued at $335 million, #16 of 30 in the NBA.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2012/01/25/the-nbas-most-valuable-teams/

Not bad for being the 6th smallest tv market in the league.
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2011/03/nba-market-size-numbers-game/

What this says to me, is that SLC is a good sports town and that with proper management a team can obviously be successful in this market.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by jedikermit

Also (and this has nothing to do with anything), a week or two back, I told my sons that I had a surprise for them, and we were going to do something fun, and my 8 year old lit up and said, "are we going to go walking around downtown and look at buildings???"

Because my boys are freaking awesome.

That's all.

My son ( who will be 4 next month ) is also getting into buildings. For the last year or two when ever our family would go downtown, my son would point at 99 west and say "Tower One". And I would say that's right son. Future building nerd in the making.

[jedikermit]

Excellent! Good work, Lee!

[arkhitektor]

Here's my 2-year-old in Boise a few weeks ago. My wife and daughter browsed the farmer's market while he and I watched the crane move things around:

[DCRes]

My 1 year old has no idea what a skyscraper is, but he sure does like monkeys

[Deek1978]

I have a 6 week old that doesn't really know what anything is, but he sure does love boobies He and I have that in common.

I couldn't help it, I may be married and starting my career, but in reality I'm just a giant 14 year old.

[T-Mac]

Love it Deek1978, thanks for that.

[bob rulz]

I have a quick random question...I was downtown a couple of weeks ago and noticed for the first time a small, fenced off, boarded up building (looks like it used to be a diner or something similar) right next to the Carl's Jr at about 50 E 200 S. It's so dilapidated it looks like it's been abandoned for a decade. (Google Street View shows it there in the same state in 2007.) Does anybody know what the deal with that building is? And how has it remained sitting there for so long right in the heart of downtown? It would be a major eyesore if it weren't so small but the fact that it's sitting there still does bother me some.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I have a quick random question...I was downtown a couple of weeks ago and noticed for the first time a small, fenced off, boarded up building (looks like it used to be a diner or something similar) right next to the Carl's Jr at about 50 E 200 S. It's so dilapidated it looks like it's been abandoned for a decade. (Google Street View shows it there in the same state in 2007.) Does anybody know what the deal with that building is? And how has it remained sitting there for so long right in the heart of downtown? It would be a major eyesore if it weren't so small but the fact that it's sitting there still does bother me some.

I did a little bit of research on that bad boy a little while back ago... It has been abandoned since 2008.. So only about 4-5 years

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5825989#post5825989

[StevenF]

There is an old Eat a Burger location on 47th next to Hires. Its a coffee shop now.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I did a little bit of research on that bad boy a little while back ago... It has been abandoned since 2008.. So only about 4-5 years

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=5825989#post5825989

Hmmm, it definitely looks fenced off on Google Street View, and it says that the street view is from 2007.

Thanks for the link though, glad I'm not the only person that's noticed that place! And sorry, I wasn't sure if it had been mentioned in this thread, I have followed it off and on and I did look back about 15 pages or so before I asked about it.

It looks a lot older than something built in 1990.

[Merewether]

Originally Posted by stayinginformed

I noticed on my way home today that the gas station on the northwest corner of 9th east and 400 south has now been demolished. I am looking forward to seeing that intersection becoming even more dense.

I noticed from the train today that the fence there now has a sign saying
"Coming -- 7-11"

A missed opportunity if this is a conventional convenience store.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

Hmmm, it definitely looks fenced off on Google Street View, and it says that the street view is from 2007.

Thanks for the link though, glad I'm not the only person that's noticed that place! And sorry, I wasn't sure if it had been mentioned in this thread, I have followed it off and on and I did look back about 15 pages or so before I asked about it.

It looks a lot older than something built in 1990.

I wouldn't trust googles dates. Google time lapse view on google earth is always a little out of whack... I think they have an arial view listed in the 60-70's and its clearly the 90's.. I got my info from business and trademark records.

1990 sounds about right.. I remember it seeming fairly new in the early 90's. it was designed to look retro.. Add that to several years of not being maintaind and it can add quite an effect... There is a pretty big crack developing on the curved part of the roof on the east side. There are also windows busted out. You can still see the tables stacked inside... I bet the place has a lot of water damage by now... I wouldn't not be surprised to see the place come down as part of the PAC / Regent Street redevelopment...

[chad.farnes]

Originally Posted by Merewether

I noticed from the train today that the fence there now has a sign saying
"Coming -- 7-11"

A missed opportunity if this is a conventional convenience store.

I was actually thinking that it was going to be a convenience store and was surprised when people on this forum started talking about it being something else. It was in an article I read about the recent plans to change the zoning on 4th South. From what it said, the city council got word that that old building (a gas station or something) was being torn down and replaced with a convenience store. That was the straw that broke the camels back and since pedestrian friendly development (or as close as it can be on 4th)--- or at least something with residential--- wasn't happening as they had hoped, they stepped in. As a result they felt the need to change the zoning on 4th to prohibit those types of 7-11 store developments in the future. With all the talk about it being something else, I was thinking that I missed something and that they were changing their development plans. So yes, I'm pretty sure that it is going to be a 7-11. So while it is sad that it is just a 7-11, in some ways it is a positive thing because it got the city council to change zoning on 4th so some better development happens in the future.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I wouldn't trust googles dates. Google time lapse view on google earth is always a little out of whack... I think they have an arial view listed in the 60-70's and its clearly the 90's.. I got my info from business and trademark records.

1990 sounds about right.. I remember it seeming fairly new in the early 90's. it was designed to look retro.. Add that to several years of not being maintaind and it can add quite an effect... There is a pretty big crack developing on the curved part of the roof on the east side. There are also windows busted out. You can still see the tables stacked inside... I bet the place has a lot of water damage by now... I wouldn't not be surprised to see the place come down as part of the PAC / Regent Street redevelopment...

It's definitely 2007 - unless they came back in 2008 to shoot other areas of the city, which I don't think they did. My house has a Ralph Becker sign out in front and as we're all aware, Salt Lake mayoral elections happen a year before presidential elections.

So, I'm inclined to believe the date listed (July, 2007).

[Future Mayor]

It is a shame that it is going to just be another convenience store, but I agree with you Chad, at least it got the council to act. It's interesting to see 7-11 expanding again in recent years. There is a new one on 2700 S and State, one on 200 S and 400 E, and now this one.

I'm sure it's 7-11 corporate that is building this new one, but if it's not then franchisee is missing a huge opportunity on the 4th S 9th E location. Imagine a 5-10 story apartment building with a 7-11 as the first floor retail tenant. Talk about a built in customer base, add in the new IHC Clinic, Trax and possibly the Student Housing across 4th south and it sounds like a win win to me.