Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[bob rulz]

I knew I wasn't crazy in having seen that somewhere.

[delts145]

Guys, Remind again what the name of these two are?

Originally Posted by Atlas

I walked around SLC today and snapped some pics.

Other new apartment buildings near The Exchange:

[SLC PopPunk]

Originally Posted by delts145

Guys, Remind again what the name of these two are?

In the first picture the far apartments are Block 44, middle apartments are the Quattro and the near apartments are the Encore.

[Orlando]

Anyone care to take a pic of the happenings going on the Kensington site?

[delts145]

Originally Posted by SLC PopPunk

In the first picture the far apartments are Block 44, middle apartments are the Quattro and the near apartments are the Encore.

Thank you...

[Rileybo]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Anyone care to take a pic of the happenings going on the Kensington site?

Here’s a pic I got last night.

https://imgur.com/gallery/zYeyZZs

[delts145]

A few comments have been made that it would be too much to expect both Kennsington and Pantages and Liberty Sky to go up around the same time. I guess my one question would be this. Isn't there still a significant shortage of luxury rentals available downtown? It was my understanding that the downtown Salt Lake City market was way underserved for luxury rentals. It's not as if these towers are going up as condos for sale. If indeed there is still a significant shortage of highrise luxury rental apartments and both development groups are substantial heavy weights then why wouldn't both Kennsington and Pantages go up at around the same time? There seems to be a lot of hurried activity with both concerns.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by delts145

A few comments have been made that it would be too much to expect both Kennsington and Pantages and Liberty Sky to go up around the same time. I guess my one question would be this. Isn't there still a significant shortage of luxury rentals available downtown? It was my understanding that the downtown Salt Lake City market was way underserved for luxury rentals. It's not as if these towers are going up as condos for sale. If indeed there is still a significant shortage of highrise luxury rental apartments and both development groups are substantial heavy weights then why wouldn't both Kennsington and Pantages go up at around the same time? There seems to be a lot of hurried activity with both concerns.

From what I understand, Salt Lake City as a whole has a need for at least 5,000 luxury apartments today. There is also a need of roughly 7,500 low income apartments.

These numbers do not include those that would be considered middle income.

The numbers are for City wide not just downtown. It should be reasonable to think that based on the numbers, all 3 towers could be built at the same time while also having plenty of left over demand.

The only issue comes down to labor. Are there enough workers available to build these, Block 67 phase 1, Tower 8, Salt's latest project, 255 S State, and all the current projects (from existing housing to the airport)?

I think that labor is the most limiting factor we have currently.

[meman]

TOWER 8

Does anyone out there know if Tower 8 has any signed leases or an anchor tenant or is it being built purely on speculation?

[delts145]

Originally Posted by Makid

From what I understand, Salt Lake City as a whole has a need for at least 5,000 luxury apartments today. There is also a need of roughly 7,500 low income apartments.

These numbers do not include those that would be considered middle income.

The numbers are for City wide not just downtown. It should be reasonable to think that based on the numbers, all 3 towers could be built at the same time while also having plenty of left over demand.

The only issue comes down to labor. Are there enough workers available to build these, Block 67 phase 1, Tower 8, Salt's latest project, 255 S State, and all the current projects (from existing housing to the airport)?

I think that labor is the most limiting factor we have currently.

Thanks Makid, always appreciate your input and latest info. Speaking of labor shortages has there been any word on the Patrinely project lately? I know they were having trouble last we heard with finding the right labor for the project. Also, if you can clear up any confusion about The Regent Hotel. I know the latest gossip was that it was back on track. Is that still a possiblility?

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by Rileybo

Here’s a pic I got last night.

https://imgur.com/gallery/zYeyZZs

Cool. They must have already secured a shoring permit. Can anyone confirm?

[LeroyJenkins]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Cool. They must have already secured a shoring permit. Can anyone confirm?

This was just an early test program to assist in finalizing the design. The project is still a long way out.

[Utah_Dave]

Originally Posted by delts145

A few comments have been made that it would be too much to expect both Kennsington and Pantages and Liberty Sky to go up around the same time. I guess my one question would be this. Isn't there still a significant shortage of luxury rentals available downtown? It was my understanding that the downtown Salt Lake City market was way underserved for luxury rentals. It's not as if these towers are going up as condos for sale. If indeed there is still a significant shortage of highrise luxury rental apartments and both development groups are substantial heavy weights then why wouldn't both Kennsington and Pantages go up at around the same time? There seems to be a lot of hurried activity with both concerns.

While I am hopeful, I fall into the category of skeptical that Kensington and the theater tower will both go up in similar time frames just based on SLCs history on moving large projects along. Some head winds I identify are financing of which ever project is slowest to progress, particularly with the inevitable economic slowdown or cool off period we are due for. Perhaps the one big thing going for both projects is they are backed by seasoned developers. I would love to see both get going in the next few years but I’d be happy with one also.

[delts145]

Downtown & Metro - 10 years of data for new office builds puts Salt Lake City metro among high achievers nationwide

BuildingSaltLake.com - Luke Garrott Reporting - Full Article @ https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/10-...rs-nationwide/

...Suburban SLC growth is eye-popping

...In addition, suburban growth in the Salt Lake City metro region was downright explosive from 2008-18. ...Some major competing cities... suburban office space expansion lagged behind Salt Lake’s by as much of a factor as 1 to 5, ...also Portland’s compared at 1 to 7.

Salt Lake City suburban office SF grew by 43.1% from 2008-16. Compared to... and Portland’s 6.59%, it’s an impressive number.

Rendering of West Valley City's Fairbourne Station office and civic campus as designed by Bowen Studios and EDA Architects.

Suburban growth continues to be the main story of new office construction. That’s no surprise, given the incentives for developers to locate new projects there. Affordable land cost, location near freeways, and shorter construction schedules for greenfield development all add up.

Downtown’s prospects?

CBD development is difficult and expensive – space and capital are at a premium. Yet Salt Lake City’s CBD office market, as well as it's luxury apartment supply, continues to grow robustly. It outpaces Portland... and other competing cities in the 2008-16 period by more than 2 to 1.

Where Salt Lake City lags behind other comparable cities is in new office construction in the first urban ring.

The city council has just approved a zoning rewrite for its D-2 zone and demand for office space continues to rise near transit and Downtown.

According to its planning director, Nick Norris, there are “virtually no design standards” in the Central Business District, and planning is hoping to get a revision process started in 2020. It will include a proposal for minimum height requirements in the CBD, and may allow taller buildings midblock.

It remains to be seen if Salt Lake City will soon be measuring substantial urban growth in office demand just outside its Central Business District.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story failed to mention that the D-2 zoning rewrite was completed, and added information on the upcoming CBD process.

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[bob rulz]

Good to hear about the proposed planning standards in the CBD. I wish they would've done so earlier.

[Orlando]

suburban office space expansion lagged behind Salt Lake’s by as much of a factor as 1 to 5, ...also Portland’s compared at 1 to 7.

Salt Lake City suburban office SF grew by 43.1% from 2008-16. Compared to... and Portland’s 6.59%, it’s an impressive number.

This is not impressive. It just shows that sprawl is king in northern Utah metros. And, when they say Salt Lake City, they really mean Lehi, Utah Valley, Draper, Sandy, and also Salt Lake City.

[Utah_Dave]

Yeahs, that’s probably the worst stat you can get particularly for an area with geographic bottle necks for transportation and an area with bad air quality.

[Rileybo]

“Salt Lake City suburban office SF grew by 43.1% from 2008-16.“

Yay, more parking lots!

[Ironweed]

Originally Posted by Utah_Dave

Yeahs, that’s probably the worst stat you can get particularly for an area with geographic bottle necks for transportation and an area with bad air quality.

Agreed. This is not a stat to be proud of.

The local powers that be don't understand proper urban development.

Sprawl should never be part of the equation. Yet, that is what we have.

[delts145]

Utah Tech jobs growing twice as fast as other states


Jobs in the Utah tech sector are growing twice as fast as the rest of the country, and most of that growth is in Southern Metro of Utah County according to a report presented at the Utah Economic Summit

Gina Halladay, Lehi Free Press

Utah has been named the state with the most robust job growth between August 2017 to August 2018, according to a report by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute that was presented at the Utah Economic Summit recently. That growth can be attributed in large part to Utah County, as without Utah County’s numbers in that calculation, Utah would only be in fifth place nationally.

The population of Utah has increased by 263,178 people in the last five years. “We’ve added a population the size of Weber County in five years,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. Population growth is often a sign of economic strength, and the state of Utah is the fastest-growing economy by job growth in the nation. The Point of the Mountain and the Lehi area are quickly becoming the “uptown” to Salt Lake City’s “downtown,” she said. “Population, power, political power, economic power, are all shifting south in the state.”

Tech sector growth can be witnessed by anyone driving in Lehi along the freeway seeing the rate office buildings are going up. Companies like Podium, which started five years ago in a Provo apartment by CEO Eric Rea, moved into a brand new 150,000 square-foot building in Lehi just nine months ago. They have already outgrown it. A few days ago, they broke ground on a new $20 million building which will become their new headquarters. “Today we broke ground for our second building at Podium HQ. Over the past four years, we’ve gone from five to over 500 employees, and with this expansion, our campus will have room for 1,600 employees,” according to Podium’s social media platform.

Podium innovated a cloud-based platform which helps businesses make customer interactions fast and easy. Their products help offline business attract, communicate with and retain customers through the careful management of their online presences and messaging tools. Podium was also listed by Inc. Magazine as one of the best workplaces in 2018 and 2019.

“Local businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and our communities. This new building will allow us to continue to scale and grow to help fill in the communication gap between those businesses and their customers,” said Rea.

Other issues addressed at the Economic Summit included housing, the fusion of technology and artificial intelligence (like automated cars), quality of life, and the growing pains of fast growth. For a full report of the economic summit see the website: https://gardner.utah.edu

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