Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[borninslc]

Exciting prospects for the Zim's Building on State Street:

"As early as October 2013...HUB Salt Lake is slated to open at the Zim’s Building on 150 South State Street. This building was built as a warehouse for carriage making in the 1900s and was later home to Zim’s Crafts for over 40 years. Now, the HUB is planning to turn it into an open collaborative space for a diverse group of growing businesses with similar sustainability and low-impact goals.

HUB offices currently exist in over 30 cities over all 5 continents. They were founded on the idea that an inspiring space is critical for enabling people to develop their ideas. The HUB creates a community, facilitates the exchange of ideas, and provides business resources such as workshops and event space.

The HUB Salt Lake will consist of four floors with ‘store-front’ type office space as well as hot-desking. HUB membership and space rental are month-to-month which helps eliminate the need for start-ups to sign long-term rental contracts. The building will also feature a café open to the public. Members can rent space as individuals or as a company, and pricing varies for private office space. HUB members can rent out the space for events for 70% off."

Read more here:

http://eccutah.tumblr.com/post/54132605313/the-hub-is-rolling-in-to-salt-lake-and-you-could-be-a

[UTPlanner]

Good luck to those working on the fomer Zims Building. It will be great to see that eyesore restored to its former glory. I'm not sure exactly what they're planning on doing in there because the link was blocked by my work and labeled as "Adult Material".

With regard to the DA's proposed office at 600 S and State St, do not plan on seeing work there anytime in the near future or perhaps ever. From what I've heard, the County Council thought that the price was too high for the the proposed building and the appropriated money for the building was used on other projects in the county.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by UTPlanner

Good luck to those working on the fomer Zims Building. It will be great to see that eyesore restored to its former glory. I'm not sure exactly what they're planning on doing in there because the link was blocked by my work and labeled as "Adult Material".

With regard to the DA's proposed office at 600 S and State St, do not plan on seeing work there anytime in the near future or perhaps ever. From what I've heard, the County Council thought that the price was too high for the the proposed building and the appropriated money for the building was used on other projects in the county.

So does this mean we should expect the D.A. Office building/s to end up in the suburbs? Think I remember reading somewhere that West Jordan was another place the County was looking into. That would be a disappointment if the building doesn't end up downtown.

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

Wow, did anybody else notice/know that the Marriott Hotel has a retractable roof over the indoor swimming pool? Is that new or did they always have that? ( 2nd picture from the 27th floor view. Great pics by the way.

Yeah, that's always been like that. I remember checking it out from the elevator lobby of the upper floors of a Marriott as a kid. I thought it was so cool.

[ToysNoiz]

I don't like to see a bunch of 3 story office buildings surrounding each other. I think a wise decision would be to construct a mixed-use tower where each company/business occupies 2 or 3 floors. Doing this would cost much less, take up less space, and would add to the skyline.

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by ToysNoiz

I don't like to see a bunch of 3 story office buildings surrounding each other. I think a wise decision would be to construct a mixed-use tower where each company/business occupies 2 or 3 floors. Doing this would cost much less, take up less space, and would add to the skyline.

I'm not exactly sure how it would cost less, unless you are talking environmental costs. With that said that's is exactly what developers do when building a skyscraper. They have to get pre-lease agreements in place of up to 40% of the buildings total square footage then they are able to get financing. There is however substantial cost increases when a building goes over 4-5 floors. The reason that office parks are so inciting to developers is that they can more easily get 40% pre-leased on a three story building and build it right away, and simply let the location get the remainder filled. Then they can get financing on another one once they get 40% for that as well. One issue is that many the majority of companies, except those like Adobe and Xactware don't actually own the buildings that there name is on. Most are simply the majority lease holder, which often times allows them to have their name on the building. As for office parks all owned and occupied by one company, the multiple 3-4 story building approach is the one that makes sense to them because they can build one 4 story building, such as Adobe did, then when they need more room, they can build the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th building, etc. It's harder to for some to do major expansion in a high rise, because while they can lease to other tenants in a taller building they then have to wait for those leases to expire before expanding their footprint in the building, as opposed to breaking ground on another building.

[ToysNoiz]

Originally Posted by Future Mayor

I'm not exactly sure how it would cost less, unless you are talking environmental costs. With that said that's is exactly what developers do when building a skyscraper. They have to get pre-lease agreements in place of up to 40% of the buildings total square footage then they are able to get financing. There is however substantial cost increases when a building goes over 4-5 floors. The reason that office parks are so inciting to developers is that they can more easily get 40% pre-leased on a three story building and build it right away, and simply let the location get the remainder filled. Then they can get financing on another one once they get 40% for that as well. One issue is that many the majority of companies, except those like Adobe and Xactware don't actually own the buildings that there name is on. Most are simply the majority lease holder, which often times allows them to have their name on the building. As for office parks all owned and occupied by one company, the multiple 3-4 story building approach is the one that makes sense to them because they can build one 4 story building, such as Adobe did, then when they need more room, they can build the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th building, etc. It's harder to for some to do major expansion in a high rise, because while they can lease to other tenants in a taller building they then have to wait for those leases to expire before expanding their footprint in the building, as opposed to breaking ground on another building.

Yeah, I totally got ya. Cost would probably be an issue. It is something I'd like to see in the future, though.

[RosePark]

Originally Posted by SLC Projects

So does this mean we should expect the D.A. Office building/s to end up in the suburbs? Think I remember reading somewhere that West Jordan was another place the County was looking into. That would be a disappointment if the building doesn't end up downtown.

Thanks for the info. After you told me which project it was, I started researching it. I cam across an old newspaper article citing the County Council as being hesitant about a downtown location citing the population explosion to the west and south as a reason to build in West Jordan. I don't get that logic. I'd think it would be better to be bear the courts than the population center of the county.

[Comrade]

This was actually one of the few proposals I liked. So, of course it's likely to never get built.

[Stenar]

There is a Third District Court in West Jordan, hence the idea of building near the court.

Originally Posted by RosePark

Thanks for the info. After you told me which project it was, I started researching it. I cam across an old newspaper article citing the County Council as being hesitant about a downtown location citing the population explosion to the west and south as a reason to build in West Jordan. I don't get that logic. I'd think it would be better to be bear the courts than the population center of the county.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Stenar

There is a Third District Court in West Jordan, hence the idea of building near the court.

But there's also one in SLC too.

[UTPlanner]

One of the main reasons that the DA's office was pushing for a new county owned building was because they claimed that they would save a lot of money overall because they would no longer be leasing space in the Broadway Office Building on 300 S and State. Because the cost of the proposed building escalated that savings was no longer shown so many in the County Council thought the money could be spent elsewhere. Because that money has been spent, I wouldn't imagine that we will see a new DA building anywhere in the county in the near future.

[Orlando]

I partially blame the architects for not understanding what the client really needed. Instead, they designed some wild and funky cool looking building, which because of all of it's funky angles, structure, and exterior systems, will, of course, be very expensive. When the first renderings came out, I was a bit incredulous that this would be built like that. I mean, what was the justification for all that funky stuff, other than it might look cool? It seems like the architect was over eager, and thus, will not get to have their design built.

[UTPlanner]

I wouldn't place too much blame on the architects. Sim Gill with Mayor Corroon requested a design that was unique, modern and that would satisfy the requirements to be certified LEED Platinum. They got the design that they requested.

[RosePark]

One thing I get sick of is viable businesses being displaced and buildings being torn down for projects that fall through. That happened in Sugar House and now that corner of 600 south and State will sit as an eyesore for who knows how long.

Shouldn't the developer (county/private/whatever) be required to show they have a concrete plan of action and funding in place before they get to start wielding a sledge hammer?

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by Comrade Reynolds

But there's also one in SLC too.

Yup, but RosePark said the DA's offices should be near the courts. There is a court in West Jordan, thus it would be near the court.

I personally feel it should be downtown, however.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by RosePark

One thing I get sick of is viable businesses being displaced and buildings being torn down for projects that fall through. That happened in Sugar House and now that corner of 600 south and State will sit as an eyesore for who knows how long.

Shouldn't the developer (county/private/whatever) be required to show they have a concrete plan of action and funding in place before they get to start wielding a sledge hammer?

At least the sugar hole is now being developed into a good size building by the same developer. The DA site, however if it falls through, then it will take another developer to come in and hopefully develop something other then a parking lot or gas station for that corner.

[Makid]

Just a quick update:

The art project to the West of the Capital Theater is being removed. There is only a small patch left.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by UTPlanner

I wouldn't place too much blame on the architects. Sim Gill with Mayor Corroon requested a design that was unique, modern and that would satisfy the requirements to be certified LEED Platinum. They got the design that they requested.

And I agree with it. For a long time, government buildings were generally the most substantial and impressive of any city - from the courthouse to the town hall all the way on down to the post office. We kinda deviated from that in the 50s and 60s and I was excited that the new DA building wasn't going to be just another typical bland box - or something equally uninspiring.

But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what we got now. You know, something like this from the Jefferson Parish outside New Orleans:



or this from suburban San Diego:



Yuck.

[justiny]

That Jefferson Parish building is atrocious.