I'm going to bring up the whole 'Save the Pantages Theater' again.
After reading the most recent Building Salt Lake article...
https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/sal...ater-district/
... I feel more strongly than ever that the Theater should be saved. Or at least should not be torn down.
I would be perfectly happy if the RDA sold the land fronting Main Street, including the entrance to the theater. The theater part is located pretty far back from Main Street - in fact, it is farther back than both the Kearns building and the US Bank building. Why does the new tower need to be so deep? Why can't it go just as far back as the other two buildings that will be beside it, and preserve the theater in the middle of the block?
A new entrace to the theater can come later. Perhaps when the parking garage on 2nd south is redone (or removed
) a new entrance can be placed there.
I realize that the theater will need a lot of work - but that money doesn't need to be paid right now. We can just let it continue to sit like it has been for years, and then once the money is ready we won't regret having knocked it down earlier.
The article states it will probably take around $100 million to fully restore the Utah theater. The new Eccles theater across the street cost over $125 million, so spending that much on a theater is not unprecedented. It only seems high now because we are currently paying off the newest theater. If Salt Lake City continues to grow it becomes easier to finance these sorts of projects. Bigger cities have more events, such as a larger Sundance film festival, and more events need more event space.
One of the reasons listed against the theater is a lack of parking, which just makes me angry. At a time when autonomous taxis are just around the corner, people are going to knock down a historic building because there is not enough parking?
I want to see the theater saved from demolition. I don't care about the entrance to main street, I want to see a tower there. I just don't see why we can't have both.