Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5 - Page 174

EPdesign · #**3461** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 2:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by billbillbillbill

I'm trying to like the idea of this Union Pacific Hotel concept but this view from inside the Gateway just looks bad in my mind.

For a second I thought it was the Overstock building in Sandy. I like the building...I don’t know if I like it for this location.

Always Sunny in SLC · #**3462** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 3:18 PM**

Many times these buildings look better than the renderings so I am hopefully it is better than what it looks like now. I am thinking that Vestar is going to be successful and I think they could quickly turn this into a much more desirable place than CCC. I personally find CCC, while beautiful, to be boring if you are not clothes shopping or eating. Vestar is doing really well to create a really fun space that invites the community to hang out as well as spend money.

Hatman · #**3463** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 4:58 PM**

I love the idea of turning the old depot into a hotel - but that is not what I was expecting. Ideally I'd want them keep the view of the depot open to the plaza by building the hotel towers on top of the Barns and Nobel and Fleming's restaurant buildings. It doesn't look so bad from the east side, but it does make the plaza feel sort of sad.

StevenF · #**3464** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 5:02 PM**

The original master plan for The Gateway was to have a 12 story hotel next to the condos but Boyer never added that building and we ended up with a 2 story addition where Old Navy went in.

Comrade · #**3465** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 5:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenF

The original master plan for The Gateway was to have a 12 story hotel next to the condos but Boyer never added that building and we ended up with a 2 story addition where Old Navy went in.

A Salt Lake tradition.

airhero · #**3466** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 6:02 PM**

I'm not sure I've seen this posted yet, but here are the results (pdf link) from the urban design workshop for the Salt Lake Central Area Plan Project:

http://www.slcrda.com/wp-content/upl...rette2_LOW.pdf

It looks like there were three nodes that were the focus of this workshop: North Temple Station (this is the portion of North Temple between 500 W and 600 W on both sides of the viaduct), 1st and 6th (100 South and 600 West neighborhood), and the development of Salt Lake Central itself. Nothing was hashed out for the "Station Center" blocks.

I love what they came up with for Salt Lake Central. I'd hope "Station Center" looks more like that in terms of height and design.

airhero · #**3467** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 6:12 PM**

Here are some snippets from the report:

Overview:

1st and 6th:

SL Central:

Preliminary Phasing (Blue 0-3 Years, Green 3-5 Years, Red 5+):

airhero · #**3468** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 6:15 PM**

Also, I gotta say that UP Hotel design is a disappointment. Something much better can be done to integrate the design with the depot. This is quite an opportunity to build something unique. Unfortunately, there are some difficult limitations. The depot is quite small and there isn't a lot of space around it to work with. I fear whatever is built will end up overwhelming the depot in some way.

Orlando · #**3469** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 7:14 PM**

I agree about the concerns expressed about this proposal. Though, this shot is pretty cool:

Liberty Wellsian · #**3470** Posted **Aug 22, 2018, 11:52 PM**

Wow! I honestly hope that UP hotel falls through. That's awful! 1 more reason to avoid Gateway.

Always Sunny in SLC · #**3471** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 12:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liberty Wellsian

Wow! I honestly hope that UP hotel falls through. That's awful! 1 more reason to avoid Gateway.

Yeah the more I think about this the more I dislike it. It sounds like the process that they have to go through allows for a lot of input regarding design and materials so I hope this can be drastically changed. There is a lot of fun/ cool things that can be done, but this just misses the mark.

ajiuO · #**3472** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 12:43 AM**

Why doesn’t gateway just rip down some unused retail and put the hotel there instead. It’s not like anyone is lining up to get the space.

I honestly don’t think gateway is going to make it. I went to Dave and Busters and wasn’t all that impressed. The food wasn’t that great, you can’t take alcohol out in the games area, and it really wasn’t that crowded. I have my doubts that they will make it. Quarters on the other hand was packed when I went there. They are a bar so you can drink and game at the same time.

Liberty Wellsian · #**3473** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 1:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajiuO

Why doesn’t gateway just rip down some unused retail and put the hotel there instead. It’s not like anyone is lining up to get the space.

I honestly don’t think gateway is going to make it. I went to Dave and Busters and wasn’t all that impressed. The food wasn’t that great, you can’t take alcohol out in the games area, and it really wasn’t that crowded. I have my doubts that they will make it. Quarters on the other hand was packed when I went there. They are a bar so you can drink and game at the same time.

Across the plaza there is the least memorable architecture in the city. It is the tail end of 1500 linear feet of 2000's stucco blah. Build something there. Use glass and steel. Then you can walk north through the gateway and have the following experience; blah, blah, blah, blah, ooh modern building across the street from historic train station... nice.

Stenar · #**3474** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 2:28 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Always Sunny in SLC

Many times these buildings look better than the renderings so I am hopefully it is better than what it looks like now....

Wait! What? In my experience, buildings usually look far worse than their renderings.

bob rulz · #**3475** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 2:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajiuO

Why doesn’t gateway just rip down some unused retail and put the hotel there instead. It’s not like anyone is lining up to get the space.

I honestly don’t think gateway is going to make it. I went to Dave and Busters and wasn’t all that impressed. The food wasn’t that great, you can’t take alcohol out in the games area, and it really wasn’t that crowded. I have my doubts that they will make it. Quarters on the other hand was packed when I went there. They are a bar so you can drink and game at the same time.

I disagree about Gateway. Rehabilitating Gateway was always going to be a long-term process and I think Vestar has put it on the right track.

When did you go? Dave & Buster's is definitely a Friday/Saturday night kind of place. I agree that not being able to take drinks into the games area is a disappointment and hurts part of the appeal of Dave & Buster's, but maybe - MAYBE - with this and the confusion over taking drinks into the broadway theater, etc, the State High Council will relent soon and scrap that law altogether. Every few years they do stumble upon a common-sense alcohol law. It always comes with a catch, but it's very very slow improvement nonetheless.

Makid · #**3476** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 3:43 AM**

I think it would be better if the hotel was still a similar shape but only 2 or 3 levels in the center 1/3 of the hotel. The top 5 or 6 levels from the middle 1/3 could be split to the top of the North and South portions making them each 3 levels taller.

This would allow the back of the Depot to be visible from the Gateway while also not having it be so stark from the back side as well. This would require an update by the Planning Commission to allow for the height as it would exceed the current zoning but I think it would look better from all sides and would better compliment the Depot.

San Diego-Honolulu · #**3477** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 4:21 AM**

Some of you guys are ridiculous. You complain, cry, and say Salt Lake City doesn't have enough development. When news finally does come across that there are projects on line, some of you go as far to say you hope the plans fall through. Beggars cannot be choosers. These projects around the Gateway Center are good for the city and great for that area. It's actually nice seeing a hotel that isn't a box-shape design, like every other single one in the city. This should be welcomed and it only helps push development and attention to a different part of the city. The Gateway Center district has the potential to be a smaller version of what the Pearl district is to Portland. I like the hotel's brown warm tone. It reminds of the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Antonio. That hotel has a very warm feel and vibe to it.

ajiuO · #**3478** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 4:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by San Diego-Honolulu

Some of you guys are ridiculous. You complain, cry, and say Salt Lake City doesn't have enough development. When news finally does come across that there are projects on line, some of you go as far to say you hope the plans fall through. Beggars cannot be choosers. These projects around the Gateway Center are good for the city and great for that area. It's actually nice seeing a hotel that isn't a box-shape design, like every other single one in the city. This should be welcomed and it only helps push development and attention to a different part of the city. The Gateway Center district has the potential to be a smaller version of what the Pearl district is to Portland. I like the hotel's brown warm tone. It reminds of the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Antonio. That hotel has a very warm feel and vibe to it.

As much as a lot of us would like to see more development, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we want a historic building destroyed by attaching that monstrosity to the back of it. I really hope that it gets blocked. They did add on to the back of the building when gateway was originally built... but it was done in a pretty complimentary way that didn’t obstruct the building. There is so much abandoned retail in Gateway. There is absolutely no reason that they need to put that there.

bob rulz · #**3479** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 8:32 AM**

I don't think people are hoping that it falls through. I think that people are hoping that it gets changed to something less hideous.

Anyway, I agree that we can't be TOO critical, but at the same time, bad design and bad developments stick with us for decades. It's completely fair to be critical of a badly-designed proposal. How else do we place accountability on developers to create better projects?

delts145 · #**3480** Posted **Aug 23, 2018, 10:21 AM**

Luxury hotel coming to The Gateway's Union Pacific Depot, but some say design is 'disappointing'

...""The Union Pacific Hotel project will invigorate the original spirit and historic character of the Union Pacific Railroad Station by exhibiting its rich heritage to the Salt Lake City travelers and hotel guests as well as the Gateway visitors and Salt Lake City residents," planning documents state. But some downtown neighbors don't agree. They worry the current designs do little to complement the historic depot's character.
"It feels like a 1970s building in Berlin," said Christian Harrison, chairman of the Downtown Community Council, adding that the "chunky" building lacks the "character and charm" of the historic Union Pacific Depot building it's supposed to complement. "It could be a building in any business park," Harrison said, calling the current designs "disappointing," though he stressed the neighborhood welcomes a hotel — just not one with designs that "fall flat."
"There are some amazing examples in the world of where you take a historic building and you marry it with modern architecture," he said. "There are literally hundreds of examples, and this is not one of them."...

A rendering of an eight-story hotel being proposed at The Gateway that would be built around the west face of the historic Union Pacific Depot. Salt Lake City Planning Document

By Katie McKellar, The Deseret News - https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...ppointing.html

SALT LAKE CITY — The next project to breathe new life into The Gateway is taking shape — and it's eight stories tall.

The Gateway's new owner, Vestar, submitted plans this week to build a massive luxury hotel that would attach to the historic Union Pacific Depot — a move seen as the owner's next step to transform the struggling mall into a sweeping lifestyle and entertainment center.

"We believe the addition of an upscale, full-service hotel as an adaptive resource to the historic Union Pacific Depot will further enhance the Gateway as an entertainment and lifestyle destination within downtown Salt Lake City," Jenny Cushing, Vestar's vice president of leasing, said Wednesday. To build the so-called Union Pacific Hotel, Vestar is partnering with the Athens Group, another Arizona-based company that specializes in building luxury hotels, such as the Montage Deer Valley in Park City, the Montage in Beverly Hills and the Four Seasons Resort in Hualalai, Hawaii, among others, according to the company's website.

A rendering of an eight-story hotel being proposed at The Gateway that would be built around the west face of the historic Union Pacific Depot. Salt Lake City Planning Document

The project is in its beginning stages and will need approval from not only the Salt Lake City Planning Commission but also the city's Historic Landmark Commission because the plans call for "major renovations" to the Union Pacific Depot, said Molly Robinson, the city's planning manager.

"We have very detailed design guidelines for major alterations to landmark sites," Robinson said. "That's what the landmark commission (will use) to evaluate the project, so they'll be concerned about how the new building interacts with the old building."

Salt Lake City Planning Document