Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Makid

I would really love the City to offer an incentive of some sort to Developers to get local or small businesses into their commercial spaces.

This can include small restaurants, book stores, neighborhood markets (bodegas), laundromats, and so forth.

I think it could possibly be done via property tax rebates or something similar.

The City has been working on Affordable Housing but it also needs to work on Affordable commercial space for the small businesses/mom and pops.

I think it would be great to see developers work to include local businesses in their projects to take advantage of the incentive.

The lack of this is what ruined SugarHouse. It's so goddamn sterile and boring now and it's a direct result of losing all the local small businesses that made up the backbone of the neighborhood before the most recent redevelopment.

[bob rulz]

The two main shopping centers in Sugarhouse in all of their chain store glory have been around since the 90s.

[Marvland]

Originally Posted by Always Sunny in SLC

http://https://www.sltrib.com/news/2...ders-may-have/

Bummer about Ken Sanders.

“Great cities aren’t created by chain restaurants and retailers and cookie-cutter shops and services,” Sanders said. “The unique, indigenous businesses that come out of nowhere are what make great cities interesting in terms of art and culture, and I think bookstores are part of that fabric.”
He took aim at city and state economic-development policies for doling out millions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives to online retail giants such as Amazon and eBay to entice them to locate offices and jobs in Utah.
“Why isn’t there a collateral fund to be split among local homegrown businesses?” the bookseller asked.
“I’m not trying to say I get $5 million, OK?" Sanders continued. "But what about $500,000 or $50,000 or $5,000? And I don’t mean this just for me. I mean this for all local, homegrown businesses.”

There are a number of programs. The most prominent of which is the Economic Development Loan Fund. Last count I think it had a hand in 40 restaurants and bars. And who knows what else. Part of the battle is getting the word out and letting people know what incentives are there. The EDLF is probably the most progressive City loan program I've seen in the entire country.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

The two main shopping centers in Sugarhouse in all of their chain store glory have been around since the 90s.

Your point?

The two shopping centers have nothing to do with my post. Even when they came in the 1990s, SugarHouse still had a bevy of unique shops and stores that you really couldn't find very often in Salt Lake. Guess what? Those shops are gone - forced out by the development on the corner of 2100 South and Highland Drive many years ago.

Do you know, in 2001, over 90% of the stores on, or around, that block were locally-owned businesses? Shops like the Christian Science Reading Room, Cockers, Haight, The Free Speech Zone, Orion's Music, Wizards and Dreams and multiple others.

Today? In just that little area, there's only a handful of local shops and restaurants and even fewer shops and restaurants that are just unique to the neighborhood.

SugarHouse has lost a good amount of its vibe and big reason for this is because The Vue made it impossible for these other places to operate once it was built.

I don't like the SugarHouse shopping plazas. So, I am not sure if you somehow believe I do but I find them tacky, ugly and auto-centric. But at least I could reason that SugarHouse still had that one block that separated it from basically every other neighborhood in the Salt Lake Valley outside, 9th and 9th, with its total uniqueness.

The shopping plazas aside, SugarHouse was really the only place in the metro that had the type of vibe you'd get in a hip neighborhood in a major US city. It was an experience so foreign to a good amount of what we have in Utah and it's completely gone - gutted.

Now we've got Buffalo Wild Wings and Cubbys! Hooray! I'm just glad they haven't decided to go in and renovate the north-end of 2100 South because the second they do, you know those unique shops are going to be forced out, as well. And frankly, with how the growth is going in SugarHouse, I absolutely expect that will be the next step. That whole block west of Wells Fargo is filled with older, smaller buildings - just like the block where The Vue is now.

I'm sure they're gunnin' to demolish those buildings and develop another monstrosity so we can get a Chili's and an In-N-Out Burger into the neighborhood!

[Orlando]

A new apartment project on 5th East:


https://www.rawdesign.com/5theastapt

[scottharding]

I like it. And if I'm not mistaken, it's replacing a burned out old house, yes? So that's a good thing.

[Always Sunny in SLC]

Originally Posted by Orlando

A new apartment project on 5th East:


https://www.rawdesign.com/5theastapt

I really like it. I hope it is built, but that design says 2016 and the burned building and the boarded up office have been like that for 2-3 years so it might be stalled.

[ctobsl]

Originally Posted by Orlando

A new apartment project on 5th East:

I'll believe it when I see it start to get built.
I live next to the eye sore that it is going to replace.
It is a homeless camp and they have been causing nothing but problems ever since the house and office building were abandoned.

The house and office building have been sitting empty of tenants since 2016.
The house has caught fire 3 times already from drifters living in it. There is always something going on there where the police or fire dept. have to come and take care of it. Garbage, drugs and theft has plagued the area ever since.

I like the looks of this version much better than the one I have seen. I would post it for you, but it is a PDF file on my lap top and I am not sure how to get it posted here.

This is the only image I can find right now on my computer. This photo and the PDF with the plans were created in 2016 as well as what you posted. I like the image you posted much better.


https://ibb.co/SfHVV04

[Rileybo]

If I’m not mistaken, I believe this is the newest render of liberty sky. Only a few ground level changes from what I can tell.

https://imgur.com/gallery/4jVNx9v

[Orlando]

It seems to have lost a few floors.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by Orlando

It seems to have lost a few floors.

Yeah... Looks like they chopped of 2-3 floors. Bummer

[delts145]

Originally Posted by scottharding

Looks like the old Telegraph building in the 9th and 9th neighborhood will be getting new life, if the developer can get approval:

http://www.clearwaterhomesutah.com/s...ng-on-800-east

Good to hear!! I remember the first time I came across this building years ago. I was dumbstruck. I thought we need a whole street of this somewhere. It's about time they utilized the potential of this great old structure. Authentic reproductions of this kind of vintage appeal are what I'd like to see lining some of the inner blocks of the downtown. Really when you think about it, how hard would it be to get the street engagement fronts of the brick, windows and a few elemental trims right? It's really not that big of a stretch or extra expense. I know there's a huge number of potential tenants who crave the authentic classic looks of the past over just another cookie-cutter complex. I see it constantly here in Los Angeles. If the neighborhood is established or moving in the right direction, the old-style apartments don't last a day before they're snapped up.

[Orlando]

I missed these renderings of the proposed large project in Central 9th:



https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/con...s-central-9th/

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Orlando

It seems to have lost a few floors.

lmao with every update, this tower loses a few floors.

When it's finally built, it'll look like...

[Rileybo]

It’s the Reverse of when this development started, with every new render it was getting taller and sharper.

Edit: I still like what we’re getting. Although it is strikingly similar to the reclad of the Zions Bank tower.

[ctobsl]

I would hate to live on the 9th floor... lol

[delts145]

Originally Posted by ctobsl

I would hate to live on the 9th floor... lol

Good catch!!

[FullCircle]

I think that's the "Being John Malkovich" floor.

[Blah_Amazing]

Groups seek funding to see what it would take to turn Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande Depot into a year-round public market
The Salt Lake Tribune
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/01/...k-funding-see/

What would it cost to turn Salt Lake City’s historic Rio Grande Depot into a year-round public market — something akin to Pike Place in Seattle or Reading Terminal in Philadelphia? The Salt Lake Chamber and the Downtown Alliance want to know. So they asked the Legislature on Tuesday for $300,000 to pay for a feasibility study of the 100-plus-year-old historic train station. "The funding would be used to analyze the state of the building and how a market might fit inside,” Alison Einerson, told members of the Infrastructure and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee.

Experts would study the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, seismic status, historic renovation possibilities and market design, said Einerson, executive director of Urban Food Connections, which operates the alliance’s Downtown Farmers Market at Pioneer Park and — for the past seven years — the Winter Market at the Rio Grande Depot. The depot’s location, next to the intermodal hub for TRAX and FrontRunner, said Einerson, “will make it a daily shopping destination for people who work and live downtown as well as be a draw for tourists.”

The $300,000 request piggybacks capital improvements the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts has requested for fiscal 2021, said Jacey Skinner, vice president of public policy for the Salt Lake Chamber. “We are not asking the Legislature to commit to this project right now," she said, but "we do want to see if this is an appropriate use for the project and what a partnership with the state [which owns the depot] would look like.

“This is the first step,” she added, "to knowing whether the building can handle something like this, and if it is the highest and best use.”

It’s just one piece of the redevelopment planned for the area, which has been the focus of Operation Rio Grande, a multiagency effort to improve safety in the neighborhood.

On Monday, construction crews began tearing down The Road Home’s former shelter, just north of the depot. The state is expected to sell the 1.17-acre property, considered a prime area for new development as downtown expands westward.

The depot will be vacant in a few years, when the Department of Heritage and Arts moves into a new state office building to be constructed north of the Capitol, said department spokesman Josh Loftin. The department’s administrative offices, the Rio Gallery, the basement archives and state history collections are expected to move into the new space.

This isn’t the first time the Rio Grande Depot has been studied for a year-round market, said Sen. Gregg Buxton, R-Roy. “I’ve been in many meetings with the city, which wanted to develop this 14 years ago. Can’t we dig out some of those studies?”

Einerson noted that those studies were done before the planned Heritage Arts move, so a more comprehensive look at the space is needed.

“This is a fantastic project, and I’m very much in favor of it,” said Rep. Cory Maloy, R-Lehi, "but are there other ways to pay for the study other than from state funds? We are just in a year where every dollar is precious, and we have to spend the money wisely. I’m struggling to see where this would be a top priority for this year.”

*****************************

I was wondering what all of you thought about this instead of building a new building instead. I know some of you want the tracks moved and the depot to become the SLC Central station, but I think that isn't super likely (unfortunately). Do you think this would be a good alternative?

Personally, I always thought this area of downtown would be the best spot for the public market, rather than ballpark or fairpark.

Also, here is a link to the SLTrib article on the demolition of the Road Home: https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...-home-shelter/ I had no idea they were going to demolish it so quickly! A couple years ago they made it seem like it was going to be used for storage for at least several years, but I suspect they wanted it demolished sooner rather than later.

[Comrade]

They should just demolish it for a four-story apartment condo called Liberty Rio.