Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[freeshavocado]

Originally Posted by Dallas Snob

Gosh. I cant tell you how many times i ate at that Crown Burgers when i was the Marketing Director for a company on Beck Street back in the day. Besides how incredible the burgers were, the thing i remember the most is how i smelled like smoke for the rest of the day! LOL! At least this development is worthy of the memory.

If you frequented the Crown Burger near Beck Street, it was likely the 300 W location. The 200 S 400 E Crown Burger location is the one that is being replaced.

[Dallas Snob]

Originally Posted by freeshavocado

If you frequented the Crown Burger near Beck Street, it was likely the 300 W location. The 200 S 400 E Crown Burger location is the one that is being replaced.

You are 100% correct. Thank you for that clarification.

[Atlas]

Hines is buying 136 E South Temple and with plans to convert it to 255 apartments.

Paywalled article: https://www.businessinsider.com/real-est...office-for-residential-conversion-2022-6

Also mentions that downtown SLC office market is not performing very well compared to Lehi, etc. Residential market is sky-high though.

[Utah_Dave]

Wow, that’s a pretty big project. I wonder if they will change the exterior of the build too? Can you confirm if it’s the big white high rise building?

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by Utah_Dave

Wow, that’s a pretty big project. I wonder if they will change the exterior of the build too? Can you confirm if it’s the big white high rise building?

Yes, this tower is the one in question. Some snippets from the article:

Hines' project is not without its challenges, the primary being the expense of renovating a building from the 1960s and converting an office floor plan into apartments. Harris said the construction would likely cost more than an equivalent new build.

The company declined to disclose the size of the deal, though the Salt Lake County Assessor's Office this year valued the property at just under $56 million.

There are office buildings that wouldn't work for conversions, including the biggest properties, which would make it difficult to provide apartments with enough natural light. South Temple Tower, Harris said, has a floor plate that's 40% smaller than the usual office building, a feature that had hurt its leasing in the past but makes this conversion easier. It will still require renovations of the exterior wall to add more windows.

Similarly, the property didn't have enough parking for office uses but has a good ratio for residential use.

[bob rulz]

More high-rise residential downtown, wonderful! I hope that project ends up going through.

There's a lot of old office space that is probably going to continue to be underutilized downtown that could be torn down or converted to residential. Meanwhile, there will still be enough demand for office space to fill the new modern office buildings. I think it's a good trend.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Also mentions that downtown SLC office market is not performing very well compared to Lehi, etc. Residential market is sky-high though.

After reading the article, I do think that they were meaning office demand regarding Tech. While there has been some demand for Tech office space downtown, it is still minor compared to the demand around the Point of the Mountain.

I do agree with Hines that there is a vast demand for residential downtown. It is this demand and the subsequent residents that will push for more commercial demand, including tech, downtown.

Lastly, from the article, 136 E South Temple is between 25% and 50% leased. With this conversion, these companies will be moving their offices. These companies may very likely move to 95 S State helping to push up the occupancy which will lead to the need for additional commercial space.

This move by Hines does help to confirm Sundial's shift from Commercial to Residential. This shift will help The West Quarter, Phase 2's (Block 67) planned buildout. It is more likely that the Commercial Tower will be built at the same time as the Residential and Hotel components.

I do hope that we will see updated renderings for Sundial and 136 E in the next few months.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by Makid

This move by Hines does help to confirm Sundial's shift from Commercial to Residential.

How does that confirm that?

[delts145]

Theatre Tower

Originally Posted by msbutah

They've made it halfway through the facades on Main.

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[Makid]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

How does that confirm that?

In the article a spokesperson for Hines talks about how Commercial leasing is still lagging but Residential is booming. It came across to me that they are shifting their focus, at least for the next few years, towards Residential and away from Commercial.

Because of how lucrative the residential market is currently, especially in SLC, Hines would make more from shifting Sundial to residential than leaving it as commercial, or even delaying Sundial a few years until demand picks back up against.

Also, this shift does help The West Quarter as there is still demand for office, just at a slower pace. So rather than have possibly 2, 400K sq ft commercial building competing for the same tenants, leaving both lingering for years, we will can see The West Quarter fully build out. The reason behind this is that The West Quarter commercial tower will be built on top of a shared podium. This means that they have a leg up on other commercial projects unless they started at the same time.

The lower commercial demand, plus the current tenants from 136 E most likely relocating to 95 S, I think there will likely only be enough demand for 1 new commercial tower in the next 3 or 4 years. I do think that this commercial tower will be in The West Quarter because of the advantage above.

[delts145]

I always enjoy how you explain these things Makid.

That is great news about the old University Club Tower! Very excited to see what Hines comes up with in the way of changing the skin of the tower portion. I've always liked the old Beneficial Life now the Key Bank Tower, especially after they updated the bottom. However, even after the update on the University Club Tower's lower levels, the tower portion still kind of sticks out like a sore thumb and really doesn't match up well with the updo street levels.

[Utah_Dave]

I agree delta. Street level is ok but the main structure is pretty vanilla. I will say I do like the light color and how it contrasts with some of the surrounding buildings. Otherwise I think this location is excellent for some residential and the new residents will still feel like they are in a residential neighborhood but also urban as well. The granary area is up and coming but I much prefer the east side and the established trees and existing character. I’m quite excited for this project.

The Sundial on the other hand seems like it would be hard to maintain the same design if it went residential. Should we expect an all new design if it went residential? My wish would be to break it up into 2 towers instead of one mass like the current proposal, I don’t see that happening though. It will be interesting to see what out of that project

[EPdesign]

^^^ kinda what you said Makid

https://www.ksl.com/article/50425041/why...scraper-is-being-converted-into-housing-

Interesting

[delts145]

This is going to be quite the busy immediate area over the next three or so years. The big Elk's lodge development across the street, The new apartments next door to the East, and the upcoming Tower on 2nd East and Sociial Hall Ave. Even though the commercial market could possibly have a temporary stall, the residential market downtown seems to be more than making up for whatever blip happens with office sq. footage.

Plans for Office to Luxury Multifamily Tower Conversion in Prime Downtown Location - https://www.hines.com/news/hines-acquires-south-temple-tower-in-salt-lake-city

SALT LAKE CITY) June 17, 2022 – Hines, a global real estate firm, today announced the acquisition of South Temple Tower in Salt Lake City, Utah. Serving as its first office-to-residential conversion, Hines plans to embark on the transformation of a 217,000-square-foot office building into a 255-unit luxury multifamily tower. With construction set to begin in Q1 2023, this renovation will include the complete removal of existing office spaces and repurposing the building for high-quality residential living at a time when the Salt Lake City market is starved for much-needed housing.

To achieve this conversion, Hines will strip the existing office building to its core and shell and repurpose the building structure to create an efficient residential floor plan. After extensive analysis, South Temple Tower met the right requirements needed for a successful conversion process including walkability, natural light, shape of the building, number of potential units and overall floor plan.

The 24-story multifamily tower will feature studios, and one-and-two-bedroom homes, paired with high-quality interior finishes and an expansive amenity offering, designed by Hickock Cole. As part of Hines’ ESG strategy, this adaptive reuse project will reduce embodied carbon by limiting new construction materials including the production of concrete, which can be one of the largest emitters of embodied carbon across the industry. Through the implementation of more efficient mechanical systems once the building is in operation, Hines expects that it will lower the operational carbon emissions of the building over its lifecycle and new residential utilization.

“Downtown Salt Lake City is experiencing immense growth, with Utah having the second-highest population growth in the country over the last decade, and there is an undersupply of housing,” said Dusty Harris, senior managing director of Hines. “As a local resident, I’ve watched the office market shift and the residential market pick up speed since the dawn of the pandemic. Aligning with the company’s core values, Hines is stepping in to fill a need amongst the city’s residents, by delivering a sustainable high-rise product that will be new and highly attractive for this growing market.”

The property sits on one of the city’s most desirable streets in Salt Lake City close to downtown and all of its amenities, Salt Lake Temple, the light rail, and many major employers. South Temple Tower offers unobstructed views of the city skyline, the Capitol, and the Wasatch Mountain. The acquisition was brokered by Kevin Shannon and Bryce Blanchard of Newmark.

About Hines

Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 285 cities in 28 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $90.3 billion¹. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to 373 properties totaling 114.2 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,530 properties, totaling over 511 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 198 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. ¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of December 31, 2021.


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[Reeder113]

Current progress on Astra:

[Ironweed]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

Current progress on Astra:

It is amazing to see all the detail and requirements that go into these projects. An incredible amount of effort. A salute to the workers. They're busting their butts for sure.

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by Ironweed

It is amazing to see all the detail and requirements that go into these projects. An incredible amount of effort. A salute to the workers. They're busting their butts for sure.

The logistics that go into building something like this just blow my mind. Kudos to everyone involved in any kind of project like this.

[Jbash]

NOT SLC DEVELOPMENT RELATED, I APOLOGIZE! Anyways, there's this architecture competition going on right now called SKYRISE that I was going to register in, and ideas would be appreciated! For context, I was a student in an advanced engineering program in high school, and my focus was on architecture. During this past school year, my senior year, I competed in the Utah State TSA (Technology Student Association) championship and took first in both the months long Commercial Architecture Design competition and a single day CAD proficiency competition. I leave next week to Dallas to compete at Nationals. So, this SKYRISE competition would be the third high level design competition I enter. The prompt for this competition is to design a skyscraper (150m+, but you guys already know that) of any height and in any locale. The main thing being judged is our ability to design a building program and defend it. Anyways, this forum is full of experts and I'm just a student, so I wanna hear your guys' ideas, opinions, etc. What city should it be designed in? Height, use, features, etc. I already have some ideas, I just want to hear yours as well! Really go crazy. Thanks all!

[Utah_Dave]

Congrats jbash. You have already surpassed my knowledge base if you are winning competitions, or even just being involved in competitions! Nice work. Please keep us posted on your experience in Dallas and take some pictures and post them of all the creative ideas you come up with and what you see in Dallas. I’ll let others give out the advice but stick with a design your have the most enthusiasm for since it will show up in the little details of the project. Keep us posted

[Reeder113]

Worthington tower progress. Original picture by u/HossTR18 on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DevelopmentSLC/comments/vguy5e/worthington_week_of_620/