Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 3

[DCRes]

I noticed the other day that there are currently 5 cranes up in downtown. They are at the ESA hotel, Ballet West/Capital Theater, La Porte, Boyer 101, and Boyer parking garage.

I took a walk around town today at lunch and snaped some pics, enjoy!

Steel has been going up on the Ballet West/Capital Theater expansion


111 Main/UPAC Demolition Site










They were dropping debris from the roof


Boyer mid-block parking garage


Future site of Boyer 151


Old Zim's Building. It looks about how it has for a while but I have seen people up working on the roof the past two days.


Boyer 101


I was liking the way this building was looking with the grey walls but then i realized that they covering is up with the tan stone




La Porte - The steel is up the second level above ground. There is a lot of cement work underground and on the main level, underground parking maybe? There are a ton of workers there so maybe it will start rising faster now.




Panorama from a parking garage just east of the La Porte project

[delts145]

Great updates DCRes, Thank you!!

[jimmycdii]

Hey, so some of you know I work for the Tribune. Today I created a survey on the ugliest building in SLC. I know that has been a perennial topic of discussion here so I thought I'd share it. Hopefully it'll get a lot of responses and we'll get a sense of what the non-development nerds out there like (or, dislike the least). Here it is.

[jmonkey]

Thanks for the update, DCRes!! I don't get downtown as much as I used to, so I'm missing the progress on all the great projects underway right now. It's much better than lengthy conversation about whether Salt Lake is a minor-major city or a major-minor city or whatever. Salt Lake City is a unique city that is vibrant and growing. It has gotten better and better in my 20+ years here, and that's enough for me! Thanks for the pics!

[jmonkey]

And thanks to you also for your pics, DMTower!

[ToysNoiz]

Originally Posted by jimmycdii

Hey, so some of you know I work for the Tribune. Today I created a survey on the ugliest building in SLC. I know that has been a perennial topic of discussion here so I thought I'd share it. Hopefully it'll get a lot of responses and we'll get a sense of what the non-development nerds out there like (or, dislike the least). Here it is.

I voted Carl's Jr. There are plenty of ugly buildings downtown. My mind just goes blank when I try to thing of them. Short and wide drives me crazy.

As I've said before, I love the Church Office Building, but that's only because I've grown to love it. It's really the only building I'm bias about. If I wasn't from SLC, I'd probably think "Every city has a boring tower. Whatever."

Just while I'm talking about it, here's my favorite angle of the tower...
Shows off the height. I actually really love this view of downtown. It's sexy.


http://mysteryofutahhistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/lds-church-office-building-38-stories.html

On the Courthouse, I got a tour of the building thanks to Okland Construction. Really cool open architecture. I'll post some pics once I get to a PC.

[jimmycdii]

I also like the COB. I wasn't going to include it (I didn't want people thinking the Trib was criticizing the church somehow w/ the survey, because that wasn't the point) but several people told me they hated it so I put it on the list. I can see how people don't like it, but I can't see how they'd think it's uglier than some of the other buildings.

I feel like there are a lot of really bland buildings in Salt Lake. The two on the NE and SE corners of State and 200 South fit that description. I just sort of forget about them. But buildings like the Shilo go further, I think, taking bad taste to an aggressive and whole new level. I know not everyone shares that opinion though.

[RC14]

I think another good candidate would be the Seasons at City Creek. Surprisingly, at least to me, most people I talk to don't think that building is ugly but I think it looks terrible. It looks like they were trying to mash together several different ideas and do them all really cheaply.
Another one would be the plaza hotel. However, the ugliest has to be that pink, 15 story residential building on 200 west.

[jedikermit]

Not development news, but some of you know that I'm a teacher, and now my job is training other teachers. I just found out that I landed a gig this summer in Chicago, using architecture to help teachers teach history. I was at a similar workshop in 2009, and used that a lot with my students; now I'll get to be the one using architecture to teach teachers. Very excited--it's a great city. Um. That's all.

[SLC Projects]

And to think that THIS broke ground about a year after......



THIS


Just thinking that the 10-story apartment building will be very close to be about the same height as the 12-story Marriott across the street.

[CofIKid]

I don't think that you can really compare The Boyer building to the State Street Project. There are always a lot of unknowns when you demolish buildings on a site to build new structures, compared to tearing up a parking lot and building a pad for a seven story building.

A lot more site work went into the La Porte project than was expected. I mean look how fast the new Ballet West Structure is rising, but that lot has been cleared for sometime now.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by CofIKid

I don't think that you can really compare The Boyer building to the State Street Project. There are always a lot of unknowns when you demolish buildings on a site to build new structures, compared to tearing up a parking lot and building a pad for a seven story building.

A lot more site work went into the La Porte project than was expected. I mean look how fast the new Ballet West Structure is rising, but that lot has been cleared for sometime now.

Good point, maybe not the best development to compare it to, but I think the underground work has taken a lot longer then really any other development that I've seen, even the one's that had old structures that needed to be demolish. I know that some of the delays last year were due to a long cold winter, but what's their excuse this winter that hasn't been that bad? Even now that most of the underground work is done and steel beams are going up that should be rising up fast it's still taking forever. I guess if I could compare the state street development to anything it would be the Broadway Park Lofts development that has been in the works since 2007. Hope it won't be that long. I'm really looking forward to seeing this development top out.

[CofIKid]

Until the concrete and underground work is complete along the northeast side and the crane is removed, and a more permanent tower crane is put in place, I can't see the project moving much more quickly.

But here's for hoping that there aren't to many more delays.

[jimmycdii]

Originally Posted by RC14

I think another good candidate would be the Seasons at City Creek. Surprisingly, at least to me, most people I talk to don't think that building is ugly but I think it looks terrible. It looks like they were trying to mash together several different ideas and do them all really cheaply.
Another one would be the plaza hotel. However, the ugliest has to be that pink, 15 story residential building on 200 west.

Agreed, that pink building is an eyesore. I wouldn't even know what to call it though. Does it have a name?

Also, the La Porte-BPL comparison got me wondering how much of the delay really is out of their control; I know the biggest delay at BPL was due to funding and Allen Millo leaving the project, etc., but even in the last year they've been going very slowly. BPL had all their funding and were at work in 2013 long before the Boyer project broke ground, but they're now less finished than Boyer. It seems to be a lack of will/poor management or something else. It makes me think that the competence of some teams really is quite a bit lower than others.

[CofIKid]

I disagree, some of it may have been management issues, but working in the construction industry made me appreciate the hurdles you have to go through on different projects. No two sites are the same, and I am sure the management team is not happy with the extended time frame.

I am just glad progress is still being made on the project.

[delts145]

Also, didn't LaPorte take advantage of a long list of Government incentives for it's development. Incentives that often can have stop and start fits, along with any number of bureaucratic delays. This in addition to the subterranean issues pointed out by UtPlanner.

[EPdesign]

I am curious to know, with regards to the La Porte project, how much of the old buildings they were planning to preserve? and how much did that change when they decided to demolish them? I am pretty sure that a change such as that could play a huge impact in design, money allocation, and even permits. I'm not saying that this is definitively what caused some of the delay,but it is something that could have played a role.

[Comrade]

I've figured it out! When I look at the Boyer 101 building, I'll just tell myself, over and over again, it was built in 1988. Therefore, for its decade, it isn't such a bland, blah office mid-rise.

[ToysNoiz]

Originally Posted by Comrade Reynolds

I've figured it out! When I look at the Boyer 101 building, I'll just tell myself, over and over again, it was built in 1988. Therefore, for its decade, it isn't such a bland, blah office mid-rise.

I like your method, Comrade. I drove past all of the construction sites DT yesterday. When I saw 101, I thought "Wow, how did this Sandy building get here?" But yeah, 1988, not bad.

[jedikermit]

Yeah, I went by Regent Street, hoping for some kinda action -- uh, demolition, not...action. Anyway. Kinda forgot that they don't do much on Saturdays. If I have time, I may try to swing by tomorrow, but it seems unlikely.