Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Rileybo]

There’s only a couple views of the skyline where the temple is fully visible. I doubt the church would ever want to block it further. If anything, I foresee a small collection of 3-4 story buildings going on those huge parking lots.

[delts145]

If as Orlando pointed out it's a design extension of the blocks to the East then I suppose you will have subterranean parking, a fair amount of structural development on the perimeter of the blocks with beautiful garden features in the interior. It will be interesting to see the style of architecture they choose. Also, how many structures will be included off-street and toward the interior, served by landscaped pathways. Anyway, I do hope they choose 2020 to get started on such a major project. Heaven knows the area will only benefit from the ramped-up construction activity.

[airhero]

I never understood the view corridor thing with the temple. The only places you can really see the temple that would be affected by building on those parking lots are 300 W, 200 W, S Temple, N Temple, I-15, Triad Center, and of course the parking lots themselves. Whether you build 3-4 stories or 90 stories, all those views are gone except from I-15. I think building squat to preserve a view from just I-15 is dumb. Better to build a little taller and align your streets so they point toward the temple. That would provide a far more impressive view corridor than what we have currently.

[delts145]

I know there were a few posts about it when first announced. Did they ever follow up on the proposed redevelopment of the old Elks Club Building?

[FullCircle]

The decrease in traffic on this site the past couple weeks suggests that most people post on here while they're killing time at work. I'm still at work...

[Orlando]

Is construction still going on? All construction projects have halted to a stand still by order of our Governor. My project, in design, is still full steam ahead. Though, eventually, I think the impacts of all the retail and hospitality layoffs will hit my profession as well, which was opposite of the last recession where we were one of the first to be hit. Though, our projects, in design are scheduled to not begin construction months and months and even years away. So, many of our clients are presuming that this pandemic will be short-term (3 to 6 months), and the economy will be swinging back.

[scottharding]

As of yesterday, construction was still happening on all the major construction sites downtown.
Demo work is done on the Convention Center hotel and excavation is underway.

[delts145]

Originally Posted by airhero

I never understood the view corridor thing with the temple. The only places you can really see the temple that would be affected by building on those parking lots are 300 W, 200 W, S Temple, N Temple, I-15, Triad Center, and of course the parking lots themselves. Whether you build 3-4 stories or 90 stories, all those views are gone except from I-15. I think building squat to preserve a view from just I-15 is dumb. Better to build a little taller and align your streets so they point toward the temple. That would provide a far more impressive view corridor than what we have currently.

Yeah, same hear. Though I do think the newly developed short-range site lines of the Temple from its immediate North Temple and South Temple views will be a welcome improvement. I guess if you were to go by the Plaza dividing the Museum and Genealogical Library, then proceed directly west to 300 W., that will be the established view corridor from the West. Wait a minute. If your standing at the pioneer cabin and dead center between the museum and library, does that line up perfectly with the Temple? If that's the case then I'm beginning to catch the vision of what a beautiful corridor that could be walking east from 300 West to West Temple. That would greatly expand the beauty of Temple Square given how it would probably follow the same lux landscaping and waterworks as the existing four-block campus.

[Atlas]

I just went through some of the old (2015) documents for the Regent Street Hotel. It would have been a really great addition to the city, imo. Apparently there was a planned indoor/outdoor rooftop bar and pool which would have been unique in SLC (as far as I know). Not to mention the architectural style was a great throwback to the early 20th century and it would have brought foot traffic to Regent Street and it was right next to the Kensington Tower lot. Really a tragedy that this one didn't come through!



Hopefully we see it reborn at some point!

[jedikermit]

^^^^^

The Regent Street Hotel is one of the saddest (recent) ones that didn't come to pass. I'm still sad every time I see the site.

[jedikermit]

Some good (?) news -- the City has purchased "Hobbitville" in Sugar House and is turning it into a public art park. Daylighting the creek, preserving most of the structures and artwork, sculptures, etc.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics...ke-city-under/

There are some renderings of the plans at the link.

[delts145]

Originally Posted by Atlas

I just went through some of the old (2015) documents for the Regent Street Hotel. It would have been a really great addition to the city, imo. Apparently there was a planned indoor/outdoor rooftop bar and pool which would have been unique in SLC (as far as I know). Not to mention the architectural style was a great throwback to the early 20th century and it would have brought foot traffic to Regent Street and it was right next to the Kensington Tower lot. Really a tragedy that this one didn't come through!



Hopefully we see it reborn at some point!

Wasn't Marv talking about that being picked up by another developer recently? Not necessarily one known for tower developments in this area, more a suburban developer, but of sizable influence and also co-owner of a lot of major projects.

[airhero]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Is construction still going on? All construction projects have halted to a stand still by order of our Governor. My project, in design, is still full steam ahead. Though, eventually, I think the impacts of all the retail and hospitality layoffs will hit my profession as well, which was opposite of the last recession where we were one of the first to be hit. Though, our projects, in design are scheduled to not begin construction months and months and even years away. So, many of our clients are presuming that this pandemic will be short-term (3 to 6 months), and the economy will be swinging back.

Construction is definitely still going on. I provided this update a week and a half ago:

Good news is that almost all the construction sites are still in full swing. The airport, marmalade, Block 67, Dixon Place, CCH, 95 State, Liberty Sky, The Exchange all had construction workers on site hard at work yesterday. The only sites I went by that didn't were The Birdie, Park Avenue apt building, and Sugarmont (which was already having problems before COVID).

This was on a Saturday and when I went back around a few days later, The Birdie, Park Avenue, and Sugarmont also all had construction going on, as well as Paperbox. I live in Sugar House and at this moment there is ongoing construction with all three Sugar House projects. Construction hasn't seemed to be affected much.

[Atlas]

New article from BSL: How will the coronavirus impact on Salt Lake’s building boom? It’s ‘wildly unpredictable’

[FullCircle]

All good questions at the end of that article. My very uneducated thoughts are that there is still an unmet demand for housing, so unless things get really bad and people start moving back in with their parents, there will still be a need for housing. However, if many people can't make rent, then while they need housing they won't be able to pay for it. So is another homeless boom coming?

I think hospitality projects will take a huge hit. I see some form of travel restrictions, or just wariness to travel amongst individuals, as lessening demand for hotel rooms for perhaps years to come.

Retail and office will probably be somewhere in between housing and hospitality in terms of impact.

Something definitely going for continued construction of projects is that interest rates are so low and likely going to stay low for a long time, financing will be easier to come by in some respects. It could be hurt in other ways though, such as if banks and lending institutions tank as a result of widespread defaults. And if things continue, labor and/or materials costs could come down as well. Though if materials manufacturers are locked down, that may decrease supply and thus increase prices of materials. Hard to say at this point; everything is so interconnected, you can't predict anything based on how one industry will be affected.

[Utah_Dave]

Originally Posted by FullCircle

All good questions at the end of that article. My very uneducated thoughts are that there is still an unmet demand for housing, so unless things get really bad and people start moving back in with their parents, there will still be a need for housing. However, if many people can't make rent, then while they need housing they won't be able to pay for it. So is another homeless boom coming?

I think hospitality projects will take a huge hit. I see some form of travel restrictions, or just wariness to travel amongst individuals, as lessening demand for hotel rooms for perhaps years to come.

Retail and office will probably be somewhere in between housing and hospitality in terms of impact.

Something definitely going for continued construction of projects is that interest rates are so low and likely going to stay low for a long time, financing will be easier to come by in some respects. It could be hurt in other ways though, such as if banks and lending institutions tank as a result of widespread defaults. And if things continue, labor and/or materials costs could come down as well. Though if materials manufacturers are locked down, that may decrease supply and thus increase prices of materials. Hard to say at this point; everything is so interconnected, you can't predict anything based on how one industry will be affected.

A few thoughts I had about this subject are the house flipping industry should see a substantial drop in near future purchases while things get sorted out. This should leave more low end housing stock on the market in theory. However this will probably be temporary once uncertainty becomes more clear and investors look to pick up where they left off.

If things get really bad we might see a lot of VRBO Propeties look to either sell or move to a more traditional rental market. There is a surprising amount of VRBO properties along the Wasatch front that might be a wild card if those owners look to long term renters or just up and sell their properties.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there are some long term rental properties that are not well financed coming up for sale if renters miss a few months also.

I think all sorts of economic problems in certain sectors will pop up and it will be interesting to see if and how the federal government thinks it will need to bail it out and how it will be done. This could be very unpredictable for a long time.

The big factor besides the virus will be demand. I think at this point demand will pretty much dry up. I can’t imagine many people are looking to make any big moves for quite some time. There will be investors looking for opportunities but the majority of the public will wait this out for at least a year in my opinion or more.

If an effective treatment or vaccine becomes available and we can return to normal then things will go back quickly. I really don’t see that happening unfortunately.

[FullCircle]

Originally Posted by Utah_Dave

The big factor besides the virus will be demand. I think at this point demand will pretty much dry up. I can’t imagine many people are looking to make any big moves for quite some time. There will be investors looking for opportunities but the majority of the public will wait this out for at least a year in my opinion or more.

Totally agree. My wife and I were gearing up to make a big move (purchase a new property and sell the old) when this virus hit. Now we are holding tight. Real estate prices may drop dramatically, and if so, we could get something cheaper, but then our sale would be less as well. So now we're thinking of different options. Maybe buy the new but hold on to the old and rent it out. Or more likely, just keep waiting until things clear up.

Interesting thoughts on the house flipping industry and VRBOs. I really have no idea, but it will be interesting to watch.

[scottharding]

Took my dog for a walk yesterday, and snapped a few photos of The Exchange:






And the very nearly complete Quattro. Looks like they're doing some finishing touches.

[delts145]

Thanks Scott for those updates, we needed that! Wow, The Exchange is really coming along. A lot of progress since the last photo update.

[DCRes]

It's really nice to see a photo update, thank you!