I want to start by saying I respect the differing opinions that have been voiced. However, I'm honestly not feeling this preservationism sentiment towards this 300 South strip mall.
For a strip mall, its okay. It's got a second floor, which is nice and it is oriented to the street with the parking in back instead of in front. But its essentially a strip mall nonetheless. As far as design is concerned, its fairly plain and unremarkable. I have personally seen far more elegant strip malls in the suburbs (I have definitely seen worse as well).
As for the idea that the unique tenants are what make it important, I'd say this is true with most strip malls in America. In fact, strip malls are often where you will find the most small and unique businesses in a community.
Take this strip mall at the intersection of 1300 South and State.
The building is unremarkable and (unfortunately) not oriented to the street, with parking in front instead of in back.
However, it is home to the Pacific Food Polynesian Market, Korea House, Mi Lindo Nayarit, Shanghai Cafe, and the House of Tibet. This means this strip mall has a unique identity, with unique customers, tenants, and culture. This can be seen in many strip malls in every city.
All the same, I bet most people here would be excited if a project was announced tomorrow to demolish it and turn it into a new apartment tower. I would even say rightfully so, because strip malls are a horribly inefficient and wasteful use of space due to their low density of development.
My problem with the defense of the 300 South strip mall is that it is entirely based on each person's specific personal preference. This likely comes from having a personal connection to a few places in the location, so an 'it must be saved' mode turns on.
The fact that some are fine with the tire store across the street getting demolished speaks to this. That tire store represents unique jobs and services to this location that would not be there if the building was gone. And yet, they are disposable while the ones you care about are not.
Should we never demolish a strip mall or business ever again to build something else simply because there are unique tenants? That seems absurd, and yet that seems to be what is being argued.
My overarching point is this: cities are change. Almost every building downtown that many here love was built on top of the ruins of another building that someone else loved long ago. It is how our world works.
As I said when we learned Pantages was to be demolished, I believe the goal of preservation in Salt Lake in the past should have been to dedicate everything to protect and save a select few key buildings of significant importance. Instead, a lot of focus has been diverted to protecting what seems to be almost everything rather than key buildings. When everything is important to SLCs culture, identity, and history, nothing is.
Salt Lake's historical preservation movement is now at a point where the fate of historic structures are at the whims of developers. If Pantages couldn't be saved over the decades, why should developers be expected to save 'some old house' (i.e. Bookbinder)?
Honestly, I'm not remotely surprised by this. As I said when Pantages was announced, preservationists from older generations have been too distracted trying to 'save Sugarhouse from the millenials' (my generation) or 'protect the avenues' rather than dedicate their time saving the buildings that truly matter to the future cultural integrity of the city. If they had started there, maybe they could have branched out to saving other structures of lesser importance in addition. We will never know.
And yet, here we are again. Talking about how the 300 South property is too important to lose to the city. I understand change hurts. I genuinely hope these tenants are able to find new homes. But this kind of foolishness is why Pantages was doomed decades ago. We will keep losing truly important structures in this city unless people start to realise that you can't fight change. We must embrace it and use it to our advantage.
It is also important that we wait to see what design they come up with. I agree with Comrade that The Bookbinder is a terrible design that isn't worth the demo of a nice looking building. This likely won't stop it, but still. Maybe the building the developer puts forward for 300 South will be nice and most will be okay with it.
Anyway, that's just my feelings on this. I understand many disagree with me (which is typically the case anyway) and I respect that. I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.
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