Thanks guys for the great photo update! Especially thanks to Paniolo Man for coming through with those pics of Sugar Alley and Alta Terra. Sugar Alley has made some great recovery progress these past two or three months. Also, I think the slower go on Alta Terra is understandable given the mess they were thrown by the failure of Marker Line. Looks like they're on the right track now though.
Astra looks fantastic from the south and east. I have no problem being patient with the upcoming west highrise addition and a north facing mural.
Looking at this photo makes me think it's high time that UTA instituted an attractive frequent schedule bus route loop from a sensible southerly point on State. Frequency would be an absolute requirement and tied to the rider, convention/hotel, and office-goer schedules. The buses could even be unigue to Salt Lake City, attractive and whimsical like something vintage classic or turn of the century vibe, maybe even double-decker. London's buses are around 14' high and the standard traffic light is 18'. The loop would depend on working in tandem with the city to strongly promote residential mid to highrise street-level commercial density fronting State St and W. Temple. Push the southerly developments a couple of blocks at a time if necessary until a development boom catches on. It doesn't have to encompass as many miles as say No. Temple to the airport. The bus route would be frequent, particularly following user patterns for those developments on State St. and W. Temple, whether the developments are residential, or mixed-use such as residential/tourist hotels. etc. The route would travel north up State, head west on 1st South, and turn south on West Temple to begin with, making convenient pickup and dropoff stops for residents and tourists alike. Bottom line, there needs to be a legitimate financial reason that the city and developers can feel enthusiasm for and finally push attractive revitalization of State St. and W. Temple, much in somewhat of the same way that North Temple has exploded. We've seen what convenient transit and cooperative City/State planning can do. Both State and W. Temple pose incredible potential for mixed-use development market sales and rental rates that span affordable-to-market-to-luxury. There are plenty of urban dwellers who now live along the Wasatch front who would prefer a vibrant, dense, exciting downtown environment along State or W. Temple if only given an attractive development and convenient mass-transit. There's no reason W. Temple and State Street's beauty and vibrancy can't be extended southward from say 1st South to 800 South sooner than later, not 20 to 50 years from now.
Prev
Linear Mode
