Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[DCRes]

Bringing our recent discussions full circle...


[IMG] by , on Flickr[/IMG]

[UtahBison]

Originally Posted by DCRes

Bringing our recent discussions full circle...


[IMG] by , on Flickr[/IMG]

10/10! Well done, well done.

[SLCHenry]

Lehi/Draper have a ton of tech companies based their such as Divvy, Weave, Podium, Pluralsite, Lucid etc. Does SLC have any tech companies? I know Galileo was going to move their HQ downtown but they didn’t. Would be nice to see more companies downsize.

[Paniolo Man]

After chilling in sunny Green River for the first half of the week I snagged some photos on my way up today.

SPARK! (1500 W North Temple)



Think this is called "Solis at Jackson Station" (150 N 900 W)


No, my lens isn't dirty. They had a street sweeper doing circuits up and down the road kicking up more dirt than it was collecting.


The Village at North Station (1955 W North Temple)



Unknown (875 W. North Temple)



Ville 1659, motel to housing conversion. Temporarily used as a homeless shelter. (1659 W North Temple)

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Potgut

Could you imagine if Salt Lake's downtown was that dense, tho?

[RC14]

Originally Posted by Paniolo Man

After chilling in sunny Green River for the first half of the week I snagged some photos on my way up today.

Thank you for the photo update Paniolo Man!

Here is one more of Astra from about an hour ago.

[Rileybo]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Could you imagine if Salt Lake's downtown was that dense, tho?

Eh, about the same as reality.

[Stenar]

Originally Posted by SLCHenry

Lehi/Draper have a ton of tech companies based their such as Divvy, Weave, Podium, Pluralsite, Lucid etc. Does SLC have any tech companies? I know Galileo was going to move their HQ downtown but they didn’t. Would be nice to see more companies downsize.

The Silicon Slopes website used to have a map of all the tech companies in the state and when you clicked on each company, it showed how many employees each company had. There were always more tech companies and employees in downtown SLC than in Lehi, at least when they had the map on their website. I suspect the Utah county leaders of Silicon Slopes removed the map bc anyone could see there was more tech in SLC.

The tech companies are just more obvious in Lehi and Draper because they're all newer buildings. The recent Hogwarts Legacy game everyone has been playing was created in downtown SLC.

[Paniolo Man]

Originally Posted by SLCHenry

Lehi/Draper have a ton of tech companies based their such as Divvy, Weave, Podium, Pluralsite, Lucid etc. Does SLC have any tech companies? I know Galileo was going to move their HQ downtown but they didn’t. Would be nice to see more companies downsize.

Downtown has that company that made the completely non-controversial Harry Potter game.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by meman

Does anyone on this thread know the status of the Main Street Apartment Tower?

Last I heard the funding for the tower had been stopped.
Has this project been cancelled or just delayed?

A year after demolishing the Utah Theater, Hines is set to miss first development deadline

The development that was slated to replace the now-demolished Utah Theater on city-owned land Downtown is on track to miss its first deadline after interest rates spiked, the market slowed, and the developer struggled to shore up financing for construction, Building Salt Lake has learned.

Hines was expected to break ground on a 31-story building near 150 S. Main St. by March 31, according to the development agreement between the Texas-based developer and the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency, which was signed in late 2021.

But in the wake of a broad slowdown in new development projects in the capital city and across the country, Hines has struggled to secure a new capital partner who can follow through with the project. The group will miss the March 31 anticipated start date…

https://buildingsaltlake.com/a-year-...ment-deadline/

Shouldn’t they have been required to secure funding before demolishing the theater? Where did they get the money to do the demolition? Sounds like either a BS excuse, or an egregious and unforgivable oversight by the mayor and city council. Might be time to say goodbye to Erin and her administrative staff.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Rileybo

Anyone else see this display of thin-skinned “nu-uhhh”

These aren’t “city” activities, so this isn’t a rebuttal.

A rebuttal would need to include all forms of urban entertainment: the cultural arts, nightlife, shopping, museums, dining, etc. Is Salt Lake City lacking in some of theses areas? Sure, and we shouldn’t be so in denial to not do anything about it. A restored functioning Pantages would have added to SLC’s cultural arts scene. We should be supporting efforts to increase entertainment options downtown.

[SLCHenry]

Originally Posted by Old&New

A year after demolishing the Utah Theater, Hines is set to miss first development deadline





https://buildingsaltlake.com/a-year-...ment-deadline/

Shouldn’t they have been required to secure funding before demolishing the theater? Where did they get the money to do the demolition? Sounds like either a BS excuse, or an egregious and unforgivable oversight by the mayor and city council. Might be time to say goodbye to Erin and her administrative staff.

Im so sick of Hines at this point. The Sundial is practically dead and now this… They also have South Temple Tower and I bet the story is the same for it. Such a shame they demolished the theatre. I was super excited for the tower but the chances of it actually happening are zero.

[taboubak]

Ya I agree I'm over Hines. I was so excited when they first came to the city. Now I wish they never set foot here at all, they seem to be the worst kind of big corporation. Extremely cheap and making promises they can't keep. Other developers haven't seemed to have that much of an issue with the cost increases. So you are gonna tell me one of the nations largest can't afford to build two mid size towers? Besides at this point the Utah Theater situation is just downright unethical if they don't develop soon.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by SLCHenry

Im so sick of Hines at this point. The Sundial is practically dead and now this… They also have South Temple Tower and I bet the story is the same for it. Such a shame they demolished the theatre. I was super excited for the tower but the chances of it actually happening are zero.

I don't think that's a foregone conclusion. The only news is a confirmation that there have indeed been delays because of the market conditions. We've still been seeing new residential projects moving forward. A source told me recently that Soren (South West Temple) is still happening despite delays. Hines could still pull through too.

On a related note, it's looking like the Unico data center adaptive reuse project is dead. The parcel is for sale. No confirmation on the city portal yet.

[SL,UT]

Are you Kidding me??? All the drama and theatrics involved with getting this project off the ground to end up like this? They even got the land valued at $4M for free!! Hines sure didn't miss any deadlines getting the wrecking ball to a Historical and architecturally significant theater. Granted it needed major work to restore its luster, but DAMN!!! Now it is gone forever and we will be left with an empty lot for at least a decade now. Or better yet, maybe Carl's JR will build a restaurant there....ample surface parking, a long drive through lane and non-functional turf as far as the eye can see


This proves developers and the city council have no vision for the city. If there is an older historical building standing in the way of potential development, the only option they can think of is to demo it. That theater could have been restored AND a new highrise built above it. Look at New York City's Palace Theatre. The 109 year old theater was hoisted off its foundation to its new position 3 stories above Times Square as part of the TSK broadway project. Such a creative and innovative solution that the leaders of this town have no comprehension of. Granted, Salt Lake is not New York, but DAMN. They actually care about preserving historical structures while at the same time being able to develop the same plot. More info on that here.

If developers and city leaders had vision, that could have happened here. Now it is gone forever. The Mayor and city council dropped the ball on this one.

[mstar]

I hope you are correct Atlas. This will be a complete blunder if this project doesn't happen. The city had so much trust in Hines in giving them the property. I hope it is just delays.

[meman]

Unfortunately, this news seems par for the course in Salt lake City, with many projects either delayed or cancelled.

I too hope your right, Atlas about the project just bein delayed (for how long-who knows?) They sure didnt waste any time tearing down the theatre, what was the big rush there??????

By the way, window glass is being installed in the Worthington Tower today.

[SLCHenry]

On the bright side of this, maybe Kensington can buy this property and build us a taller tower *cough cough Schmoe*

[Marvland]

I'm really surprised that many of you don't know how money works. This is happening all across the market, regionally and nationally, world-wide. If you weren't digging holes before rates went to 7%+, which translates to internal money at 12-18%(!!) for any gap funding or private money, your project isn't going to be built. Period. I have received no less than 9 inquiries from developers on deals that were shovel ready 10 months ago that are for sale right now, but the pricing is WHACK still. Commercial real estate has lost over 20% of actual under-writable value in 6 months, depending on asset type. When you can get over 3.5% on a MONEY MARKET account, it's a bloodbath for development. Real rents, including incentives, are down 18-25% from peak. I saw a dude swirling a cracky pizza sign that said "FREE RENT" in front of a new project the other day. Have you noticed that commercial prices have not reduced by 20% like in SFR housing? Because they are bigger and don't want to realize losses. They can play the game longer than a typical homeowner. I read that the last closing on a mid size to large size office acquisition was over six months ago.

Anybody who closed at the wild land values over the last 18 months is either in trouble or sitting on their thumbs if they have the capital to weather this storm. Wholesalers (ei flippers) will get wiped out if they got caught in the musical chairs game. On the other side of the coin, when rates get back to around 4-5%, and if construction costs retract, (the labor/overhead side will have had to come down) and these projects become much more feasible. Hines basis in the land is probably $2 million in design and demo costs. The acquisition was free. It will be really hard to let it go back to the RDA for their "clawback" clause. If there is a way they will do it. It doesn't matter if they are Hines or anybody else.

Right now, it's time for the Church to start building things again IMHO.

[RC14]

On the bright side of this, maybe Kensington can buy this property and build us a taller tower *cough cough Schmoe*

That is exactly what I was thinking. It's a prime location. At this point, it would be perfect for a new tallest.
If Hines does pull through, they should build it 100' taller to make up for the delay.