Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

I’m merely speaking to the availability & need for diversity in housing stock j. The downtown area.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

You think that DOWNTOWN as a neighborhood should include single family housing...to provide the availability in single family housing stock...DOWNTOWN?? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

So, in your mind, should all the towers in Chicago come down because the neighborhood of Downtown Chicago doesn't have your version of housing stock diversity????

Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahahahahaha

[TMoneySLC]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

Wait. Wait. Wait.

You think that DOWNTOWN as a neighborhood should include single family housing...to provide the availability in single family housing stock...DOWNTOWN?? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

So, in your mind, should all the towers in Chicago come down because the neighborhood of Downtown Chicago doesn't have your version of housing stock diversity????

Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahahahahaha

Man, I you have quite the vivid imagination to extrapolate that I want to raise Chicago from that sentence.
We’ve been talking about SLC and preservation.
So, I’m not sure where your mind comes up with raising Chicago. But, ok. You do you.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

Man, I you have quite the vivid imagination to extrapolate that I want to raise Chicago from that sentence.

Haha. Not really. You are saying, essentially, that in order for Downtown SLC to have a diversity in housing stock - rather than considering the literally hundreds of thousands of single family houses in the metro area, downtown ITSELF should include single family houses.

Therefore, by YOUR logic, in order for cities to consider themselves as having housing stock diversity, their downtowns must also include single family housing - even when their downtowns are TOTALLY SURROUNDED BY THEM.

You honestly need to look at things WAY more holistically.

Hahahahaha

[TMoneySLC]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

Haha. Not really. You are saying, essentially, that in order for Downtown SLC to have a diversity in housing stock - rather than considering the literally hundreds of thousands of single family houses in the metro area, downtown ITSELF should include single family houses.

Therefore, by YOUR logic, in order for cities to consider themselves as having housing stock diversity, their downtowns must also include single family housing - even when their downtowns are TOTALLY SURROUNDED BY THEM.

You honestly need to look at things WAY more holistically.

Hahahahaha

But this is a forum about SLC. I have been talking about SLC and only SLC. Not in blanket statements about urbanism globally.

[TMoneySLC]

ANYHOW…..
Is anybody else bummed about the fins coming off the Astra tower?
I liked that detail personally.

Also, as I look at the WaFedBank bldg on 4th and Main from my office, I’m actually noticing how the Astra echoes a lot of the arch features from that building. I feel that lends an air of familiarity to the overall design.

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

But this is a forum about SLC. I have been talking about SLC and only SLC. Not in blanket statements about urbanism globally.

I'm confused. Are you thinking something like this is acceptable in downtown SLC? If not, I apologize for misunderstanding.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

But this is a forum about SLC. I have been talking about SLC and only SLC. Not in blanket statements about urbanism globally.

Okay.

Then, explain why downtown Salt Lake City as a neighborhood should be treated differently than any other city's downtown?

Also, please enlighten us as to why single family houses, which are literally everywhere, belongs in the neighborhood of downtown SLC (but not in any other city's downtown).

I refer you to my prior comment:

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

Haha. Not really. You are saying, essentially, that in order for Downtown SLC to have a diversity in housing stock - rather than considering the literally hundreds of thousands of single family houses in the metro area, downtown ITSELF should include single family houses.

Therefore, by YOUR logic, in order for cities to consider themselves as having housing stock diversity, their downtowns must also include single family housing - even when their downtowns are TOTALLY SURROUNDED BY THEM.

You honestly need to look at things WAY more holistically.

Hahahahaha

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

ANYHOW…..
Is anybody else bummed about the fins coming off the Astra tower?
I liked that detail personally.

Yeah, I was a little bummed about that, as well. But from a list of things that could be changed, I'll take something as small as that vs a height reduction or something.

[TMoneySLC]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

I'm confused. Are you thinking something like this is acceptable in downtown SLC? If not, I apologize for misunderstanding.

I think that’s extreme and pretty funny.
But I do think that neighborhoods in the overall urban context could provide an uniquely SLC experience. One where an intermingling of single family neighborhoods with urban development is something wholly unique.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

ANYHOW…..
Is anybody else bummed about the fins coming off the Astra tower?
I liked that detail personally.

Also, as I look at the WaFedBank bldg on 4th and Main from my office, I’m actually noticing how the Astra echoes a lot of the arch features from that building. I feel that lends an air of familiarity to the overall design.

Not really.

Wait. Wouldn't the design be better if, instead of a tower, it was a single family house?! Gotta improve that 'hOuSiNg StOcK dIvErSiTy' downtown.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

Yeah, I was a little bummed about that, as well. But from a list of things that could be changed, I'll take something as small as that vs a height reduction or something.

Agreed, height reduction would have been a real disappointment.

[Boz]

Simmer down, children.

[Blah_Amazing]

BTW, I have been working on cleaning up, updating, and improving the accuracy of List of tallest buildings in Salt Lake City Wikipedia page for the past 6 months or so. This includes adding the 'completed buildings ranked in each height range' and 'Completed Buildings by Decade' charts as well as adding the 'Under Construction' and 'Proposed' sections as well. I also chose to restrict the list to buildings over 50 meters. There were some buildings on there that were way lower, but with so many mid-rise projects that were surpassing those, I felt they didn't warrant being on the list anymore.

I still have to expand on the page's lead section, but I am hoping to be able to dismiss the article alerts from a over a year ago soon.

I was hoping some of you would take a look and see if there is anything you can add to what I got.

[wrendog]

Lol. I see there has been a ton of posts since I logged in last!

That means either a huge, fun announcement, or a bunch of bickering!

And of course it's the bickering. Sigh.

[Blah_Amazing]

Cowboy Properties posted this rendering video of Liberty Sky on Youtube today.
Not quite sure why, since the project is almost done, but whatevs.

Thought y'all would be interested.

• Video Link

[TheGeographer]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

I live downtown exactly because I like that life. Your vision of downtown isn't the only vision of downtown. To suggest that there isn't room for multiple housing types downtown is ludicrous. Why not preserve the things that make our downtown unique when held against others.

I am curious how many people in the forum actually live downtown?

Why does living downtown matter? Are you implying that to have a say in downtown matters you have to live there? That’s like saying if you live in downtown you can’t comment on the Draper prison site development, inland port or new airport for that matter. That’s ludicrous. Please enlighten me.

By the way, I lived in downtown, but when push came to shove I wanted to buy a property and wasn’t able to afford a single family home in the avenues, sugarhouse, or even in rose park in close proximity to downtown. Could have kept renting forever, but wanted to invest in some real estate. My choice I realize, but many people are being confronted with this reality. I agree some single family homes are nice in the downtown periphery (there are still plenty of them and plenty of housing diversity), but as Blah mentioned they are too expensive for the average young person, even myself with a graduate degree, to afford. The whole point of building more mid-high rises downtown is to perhaps make it financially achievable for more people to live downtown one day. The generations before mine and people who purchased properties 10 years ago were fortunate to be able to afford single family homes near downtown in Salt Lake on a modest income. Now a days you gotta be earning well above the median household income. Let’s embrace more infill with the hopes of maybe balancing the scale a bit for people like myself who dream of maybe being able to afford to purchase a property in a mid-high rise downtown one day, to achieve that goal. I don’t know what industries everyone else is in, but in the environmental sector I work in all the young workers are moving to smaller cities or towns and going full time remote because they can no longer afford to live downtown. That’s sad. Just because you can’t afford to live downtown, or don’t want to rent forever and therefore don’t live downtown doesn’t mean you can’t have a vision for it. I still work there, and enjoy spending my money there on the weekends. I just don’t live there.

[rockies]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

BTW, who are you TMoneySLC? We have had a history of trolls in the past and the fact that you joined not long after one of those got blocked is starting to make me suspicious.

I agree with p much everything you said regarding downtown etc... but it really is comments like this that push people away from joining the conversation. Why must every time someone has a bad take we threaten them with getting banned it's like being called a witch in the late 17th century lmao. I didn't actually make an account here for a while because I didn't want to be accused of being a troll for just joining around a certain time

[SaltCityScrapers]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

BTW, I have been working on cleaning up, updating, and improving the accuracy of List of tallest buildings in Salt Lake City Wikipedia page for the past 6 months or so. This includes adding the 'completed buildings ranked in each height range' and 'Completed Buildings by Decade' charts as well as adding the 'Under Construction' and 'Proposed' sections as well. I also chose to restrict the list to buildings over 50 meters. There were some buildings on there that were way lower, but with so many mid-rise projects that were surpassing those, I felt they didn't warrant being on the list anymore.

I still have to expand on the page's lead section, but I am hoping to be able to dismiss the article alerts from a over a year ago soon.

I was hoping some of you would take a look and see if there is anything you can add to what I got.

Something I've noticed for several years...

We have a few buildings listed as considerably taller than their actual heights, on both Wikipedia and several other internet sites. I'm not sure where these figures originated but they are definitely wrong:

The American Towers condos are listed as 324 feet. They are plainly much shorter than their next door neighbor, 222 Main, which is 318 feet. I made some measurements on Google Earth, which seems to be pretty accurate. They clock in at around 288 feet.

The second inaccurate listing is the Hilton City Center, which is listed at 243 feet. It is plainly not that tall. More like around 186 feet.

Finally, the State Capitol is listed as 285 feet. I cannot get that height unless I measure from the top of the cupola clear across the lawn hundreds of feet away at 300 North. The documents from Forell/Elsesser, the company who did the seismic refit a few years ago, list the height to the top of the outer dome as 235 feet. "The structure’s majestic dome stretches 165 feet above the rotunda floor and the outer dome rises 235 feet above the ground. " The additional height of the cupola is 35 feet, which would make it ~270 feet. Not a huge difference, there, mind you, but it is somewhat inaccurate.

Not sure if anyone wants to correct it or not, just trying to keep it real

[mattreedah]

Originally Posted by TheGeographer

Why does living downtown matter? Are you implying that to have a say in downtown matters you have to live there? That’s like saying if you live in downtown you can’t comment on the Draper prison site development, inland port or new airport for that matter. That’s ludicrous. Please enlighten me.

By the way, I lived in downtown, but when push came to shove I wanted to buy a property and wasn’t able to afford a single family home in the avenues, sugarhouse, or even in rose park in close proximity to downtown. Could have kept renting forever, but wanted to invest in some real estate. My choice I realize, but many people are being confronted with this reality. I agree some single family homes are nice in the downtown periphery (there are still plenty of them and plenty of housing diversity), but as Blah mentioned they are too expensive for the average young person, even myself with a graduate degree, to afford. The whole point of building more mid-high rises downtown is to perhaps make it financially achievable for more people to live downtown one day. The generations before mine and people who purchased properties 10 years ago were fortunate to be able to afford single family homes near downtown in Salt Lake on a modest income. Now a days you gotta be earning well above the median household income. Let’s embrace more infill with the hopes of maybe balancing the scale a bit for people like myself who dream of maybe being able to afford to purchase a property in a mid-high rise downtown one day, to achieve that goal. I don’t know what industries everyone else is in, but in the environmental sector I work in all the young workers are moving to smaller cities or towns and going full time remote because they can no longer afford to live downtown. That’s sad. Just because you can’t afford to live downtown, or don’t want to rent forever and therefore don’t live downtown doesn’t mean you can’t have a vision for it. I still work there, and enjoy spending my money there on the weekends. I just don’t live there.

I lived next to Trolley Square in two different apartments, Sugarhouse, North Salt Lake and Capitol Hill. I now live in Tucson. If I moved back (and i want to someday) it probably wouldn’t be in an apartment…I still think my opinion is just as valid as other people here.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by SaltCityScrapers

Something I've noticed for several years...

We have a few buildings listed as considerably taller than their actual heights, on both Wikipedia and several other internet sites. I'm not sure where these figures originated but they are definitely wrong:

The American Towers condos are listed as 324 feet. They are plainly much shorter than their next door neighbor, 222 Main, which is 318 feet. I made some measurements on Google Earth, which seems to be pretty accurate. They clock in at around 288 feet.

The second inaccurate listing is the Hilton City Center, which is listed at 243 feet. It is plainly not that tall. More like around 186 feet.

Finally, the State Capitol is listed as 285 feet. I cannot get that height unless I measure from the top of the cupola clear across the lawn hundreds of feet away at 300 North. The actual height from the top of the statue down to the lawn immediately in front of the building's stairs is 253 feet.

Not sure if anyone wants to correct it or not, just trying to keep it real

A lot of these heights were established by the old skyscrapers.com page (now Emporis), which really didn't fact check any of the heights.