Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[slc.guy]

Not to change topic but. While driving by the old Royal Garden Inn on 600 South today I noticed they have started to demolish it. Not sure if that is to gear up for the apartment complex that was announced few weeks ago. But it’s coming down.

[Wasatch Wasteland]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I don’t know if it should really be considered “getting things done” if it’s just going to need to be torn down in 20 years.

1500 for a 1 bedroom apartment? Eff that. How many people can afford $1500 a month for a one bedroom apartment? No wonder nobody lives downtown. I’m actually heavily thinking about moving out of downtown. It’s way too expensive, The rates are going up way too fast, and there just isn’t a lot downtown that makes it worth it... I don’t even like seeing movies downtown anymore. Now that Century 16 is being renovated, Megaplex 12 is officially the most ghetto first run theater in salt lake valley.

Average monthly rent for 1 bedroom is close to 1100, so quite a few people can afford it actually. If you take out some of the seedier neighborhoods pulling down the averages, the main part of SLC is probably closer to 1200-1300 average.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I don’t know if it should really be considered “getting things done” if it’s just going to need to be torn down in 20 years.

1500 for a 1 bedroom apartment? Eff that. How many people can afford $1500 a month for a one bedroom apartment? No wonder nobody lives downtown. I’m actually heavily thinking about moving out of downtown. It’s way too expensive, The rates are going up way too fast, and there just isn’t a lot downtown that makes it worth it... I don’t even like seeing movies downtown anymore. Now that Century 16 is being renovated, Megaplex 12 is officially the most ghetto first run theater in salt lake valley.

Um what? Are you talking about the proposed 20-story tower right now? Who's going to tear down a 20-story apartment tower in 20 years?

[jetlag]

Originally Posted by Wasatch Wasteland

Average monthly rent for 1 bedroom is close to 1100, so quite a few people can afford it actually. If you take out some of the seedier neighborhoods pulling down the averages, the main part of SLC is probably closer to 1200-1300 average.

Yeah, when you consider the boom in six figure earners in the valley that average is still low and far less than almost any other major city. There's definitely an influx of high earners coming in and driving up prices but I feel like the city's pre-tech lower average income is keeping supply/demand in check. Thus hopefully we won't see these $3k-5k/mo downtown apartments like Seattle or SF.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I don’t know if it should really be considered “getting things done” if it’s just going to need to be torn down in 20 years.

1500 for a 1 bedroom apartment? Eff that. How many people can afford $1500 a month for a one bedroom apartment? No wonder nobody lives downtown. I’m actually heavily thinking about moving out of downtown. It’s way too expensive, The rates are going up way too fast, and there just isn’t a lot downtown that makes it worth it... I don’t even like seeing movies downtown anymore. Now that Century 16 is being renovated, Megaplex 12 is officially the most ghetto first run theater in salt lake valley.

Maybe you should. I can't imagine living somewhere I hated to live. Personally I lived in the heart of SLC for a decade and loved it(granted rents were way cheaper). If it weren't for the housing crisis opening up an opportunity I probably still would.

[Jiffy]

Originally Posted by Liberty Wellsian

Maybe you should. I can't imagine living somewhere I hated to live. Personally I lived in the heart of SLC for a decade and loved it(granted rents were way cheaper). If it weren't for the housing crisis opening up an opportunity I probably still would.

Seriously. I can’t remember a comment of his where he wasn’t complaining about something! Sorry for getting onto you months ago trying to defend him. I didn’t realize how negative he was towards everything.

Those rents really aren’t bad. My wife and I were looking at apartments in Downtown Denver (maybe relocating there) and we went to that new confluence tower they just built, and it’s not even in the central business district and they wanted over 4000$ for a two bedroom.

Here in Seattle it isn’t much worse. I would kill for a two bedroom apartment downtown for 1500$-2000$

[ThePusherMan]

I'm super excited to see another downtown residential tower! Every year downtown gets more and more vibrant. The streets, even in the winter months, have more and more foot traffic. More bodies living in downtown proper is just going to add to that vibrancy. Is the building an iconic work of art? No, but we don't need all of our buildings to be architecture wet dreams. We need them to exist! I walked by the Carl's Jr. today and imagining even a mediocre building there instead of it made me all kinds of excited. Hope these projects come to life!

[SLCLvr]

Originally Posted by ThePusherMan

I'm super excited to see another downtown residential tower! Every year downtown gets more and more vibrant. The streets, even in the winter months, have more and more foot traffic. More bodies living in downtown proper is just going to add to that vibrancy. Is the building an iconic work of art? No, but we don't need all of our buildings to be architecture wet dreams. We need them to exist! I walked by the Carl's Jr. today and imagining even a mediocre building there instead of it made me all kinds of excited. Hope these projects come to life!

I agree. Once it has been established that there is a market for vertical residential towers at this price point (or above) and after a few perfectly good ones are built, hopefully someone will say, how can I stand out in a market of perfectly good but not necessarily inspiring residential towers.

[ajiuO]

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/02/17/2...-get-bigger-better-digs-under-dabc-plan/

Finally!!! I’ve been complaining about the liquor store on 400s for years.

I wish instead of building one new large store they would consider building a couple of smaller stores at either end of town.... they should also consider leasing locations inside of malls or strip malls. That way it’s not public property and dress codes and such can be enforced in a way that wouldn’t allow homeless people to loiter around the facilities.

I think one good location would be Harmons. Perhaps they could convince Harmons to convert part of their parking area on social hall Avenue into an enclosed retail area that could be leased out to the state to be used as a liquor store.

I think trolley Square would also be a good location for a second one... then perhaps they could extend the hours to the one located at Smith’s on 6th av.

[ajiuO]

When I say Harmons, here’s what I’m talking about. I think the area circled in red could easily be converted into a retail space that could be used as a liquor store. Not the outside part but the part that’s underneath the parking garage. Harmons has a huge parking lot that never reaches capacity. It would be convenient for people to be able to go grocery shopping and then go to the liquor store. Also it would be within Harmons property so rules could be enforced as to not allow homeless people to hang around there.

[RC14]

^
I think moving the liquor store to private property would be a great idea and help with the transient problem. I think they should do the same with the North Temple liquor store.

[ajiuO]

Also... this opens up a section of 400s for redevelopment. I think if they tore down the liquor store, Wendy’s, and the place between them... an apartment building or somthing might fit nicely there.

[bob rulz]

That would be a terrible location for a liquor store. Sure, a lot of people downtown would simply walk to the liquor store, but liquor stores are so few and far between in Utah, they simply need parking because many people will be driving from far away to go there. Not to mention Utah would prefer people not walk around too much with liquor. You would be adding a ton of parking demand and reducing space. Have you ever been to a liquor store on Saturday, or before a holiday? Liquor stores are one place I would argue absolutely need their own dedicated parking space. The liquor store and Harmons sharing parking sounds like a nightmare. Sure, their parking may rarely fill up all the way now, but imagine if you put a liquor store there. It would be full 6 days out of the week, basically all day.

If they're not going to privatize liquor stores, I do agree with leasing space on private property. Also, we need more than just rebuilt Foothill Drive and Downtown liquor store locations. There need to be at least 2 built in that huge void in the East Downtown/University/Liberty Park/Yalecrest area. It's ridiculous that someone who lives in say 9th & 9th has to go to either Sugarhouse, Foothill, or Downtown to get liquor. It's no wonder all of these locations are always packed.

They should give South Salt Lake a real liquor store while they're at it. The one near State Street and 33rd is a joke.

Of course, if they just privatized liquor stores, these wouldn't be issues....but preaching to the choir, etc. I should be happy at ANY incremental amount of progress but man, the State High Council is absolutely aggravating when it comes to alcohol.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

That would be a terrible location for a liquor store. Sure, a lot of people downtown would simply walk to the liquor store, but liquor stores are so few and far between in Utah, they simply need parking because many people will be driving from far away to go there. Not to mention Utah would prefer people not walk around too much with liquor. You would be adding a ton of parking demand and reducing space. Have you ever been to a liquor store on Saturday, or before a holiday? Liquor stores are one place I would argue absolutely need their own dedicated parking space. The liquor store and Harmons sharing parking sounds like a nightmare. Sure, their parking may rarely fill up all the way now, but imagine if you put a liquor store there. It would be full 6 days out of the week, basically all day.

If they're not going to privatize liquor stores, I do agree with leasing space on private property. Also, we need more than just rebuilt Foothill Drive and Downtown liquor store locations. There need to be at least 2 built in that huge void in the East Downtown/University/Liberty Park/Yalecrest area. It's ridiculous that someone who lives in say 9th & 9th has to go to either Sugarhouse, Foothill, or Downtown to get liquor. It's no wonder all of these locations are always packed.

They should give South Salt Lake a real liquor store while they're at it. The one near State Street and 33rd is a joke.

Of course, if they just privatized liquor stores, these wouldn't be issues....but preaching to the choir, etc. I should be happy at ANY incremental amount of progress but man, the State High Council is absolutely aggravating when it comes to alcohol.

Harmon’s has a huge parking garage.. the top level rarely gets used. If they were leasing out a part of their building I assumed that it would also get used of their parking garage... I believe parking there is also two hours... I doubt many people are going to be in the liquor store for two hours.

[bob rulz]

The top level doesn't get used much, but the 1st level and the Social Hall parking fill up at peak hours. Sometimes the top level hosts events, too.

I think you're underestimating the amount of traffic a liquor store right in the heart of downtown would get. Maybe it would be fine on a weekday afternoon, and obviously Sundays, but weeknights and Saturdays would be a nightmare. Unless we could count on most of the people combining their liquor trips and their grocery store trips, which I suppose some people would, or on the majority of people walking, which again some would. But would those be enough to offset the increased traffic?

Anyway, I think my biggest question is why fixate on that one location? There are better locations than that downtown, if we're going to theorize about it.

Now if liquor stores could be privatized and let the market dictate it...well, then it wouldn't be an issue because then theoretically there would be more of them around and we wouldn't have to concentrate everyone in a handful of widely spread-out locations. Again though, preaching to the choir.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

The top level doesn't get used much, but the 1st level and the Social Hall parking fill up at peak hours. Sometimes the top level hosts events, too.

I think you're underestimating the amount of traffic a liquor store right in the heart of downtown would get. Maybe it would be fine on a weekday afternoon, and obviously Sundays, but weeknights and Saturdays would be a nightmare. Unless we could count on most of the people combining their liquor trips and their grocery store trips, which I suppose some people would, or on the majority of people walking, which again some would. But would those be enough to offset the increased traffic?

Anyway, I think my biggest question is why fixate on that one location? There are better locations than that downtown, if we're going to theorize about it.

Now if liquor stores could be privatized and let the market dictate it...well, then it wouldn't be an issue because then theoretically there would be more of them around and we wouldn't have to concentrate everyone in a handful of widely spread-out locations. Again though, preaching to the choir.

I think you also missed the part where I recommended replacing one liquor store with two liquor stores... and extending the hours of the one on the avenues. I said that I wanted to put one liquor store at Harmons, one at trolley Square ( even Smith’s marketplace might work), and then extend the hours of the one on the avenues.

[SLCLvr]

I think the Harmons would be a good location if it had siblings to avoid being overrun but I'm not sure it's far enough away from church related activities. The main Episcopal Church is in the next block east. (speaking of which, in between Harmons the the Episcopal Church is that empty lot on the northwest corner of 100 S and 200 E that was at one time to be a Cowboy Partners condo or apartment building but has served as a staging area for years. Anyone know what the plan for that parcel is?) Trolley is a good idea, and I also thought that one in the proposed year round farmer's market west of the Rio Grande depot would be good to serve the depot/granary area. (and by the time one could be built there the Road Home would be history according to existing plans).

[Makid]

With the talk about liquor stores, I do like the one on 4th south closing and being moved.

I would love it if it was able to have 2 stores for the single closed one.

1 of them could go towards the east side of downtown. The second one, I would think that having it around the Central Station would be good. Provided it opened around 2020. It could be built into the planned redevelopment of the area.

As the shelter will be closed in 2019, opening it after that shouldn't have as much of an impact. Including it with another project in the area will help to keep the costs down, the State could sign a 99 year lease or they can build the project. The DABC offices could be built above the store. At least that way some of them would know what a liquor store does and could come up with improvement ideas.

[ajiuO]

I think one other thing that needs to go is the plasma clinic on 400s and 400w. We already have the one on north temple. That one should either be moved to the east end of town or south salt lake would be even better.

Has anything recently been said about 500 & 600 South? A few years back there was supposedly a plan to redevelop the two streets. I remember hearing somthing about removing the billboard, putting power lines under grounds, and cleaning up the properties to make them more attractive for development... seems to have dropped off the map.

Something seriously needs to be done with 500 South between 300w and the freeway entrance... The wide lawn area between the sidewalk and the roads needs to go. It should either be turned in the parking or bike lanes or something. Its currently being used as transient camps and a place for Homeless people to paint and swap around parts on stolen bikes.

Something different also needs to be done with the islands on 400w. Perhaps they could tear the grass out and put in trees and some sort of rock landscaping.. whatever makes it so that people can’t congregate there... maybe they should just tear them out and add bike lanes to 400 W.

[Ironweed]

Going on a tangent. No offense to Denver, but have you folks seen their new tower proposal? It towers above everything else and looks like the tower of Sauron of Lord Of The Rings. Not a proposal I would be proud of. I suppose that is what a 600 footer would look like if built in SLC. (Now that is sad)