Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by Orlando

Have any of you checked out Boise's thread lately? They are booming! It seems like they have a lot more under construction in their downtown area, including towers, than we have.

The number of residential units under construction in the downtown areas is probably similar, tbh. There's actually a lot of construction happening in the Granary District right now.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Atlas

The number of residential units under construction in the downtown areas is probably similar, tbh. There's actually a lot of construction happening in the Granary District right now.

Pretty underwhelming considering the Salt Lake metro population is nearly double Boise's.

[meman]

So why is salt lake so far behind even a city such as Boise??

Does anyone have any info at all about any new high-rise residential buildings beginning construction soon?

[locolife]

Originally Posted by meman

So why is salt lake so far behind even a city such as Boise??

Does anyone have any info at all about any new high-rise residential buildings beginning construction soon?

Not sure that is true. According to Google.

-At the beginning of 2025, there were nearly 2,300 apartment units under construction in downtown Salt Lake City.
-While it's difficult to pinpoint an exact number for all units currently under construction in downtown Boise, several large projects are underway, totaling around 850 apartment units

New development news is fairly quiet in all of the cities I follow. It's fairly easy to understand why, a ton of uncertainty for developers these days. Whether it's cost of capital, cost of labor, or tariffs.

[freeshavocado]

Originally Posted by locolife

Not sure that is true. According to Google.

-At the beginning of 2025, there were nearly 2,300 apartment units under construction in downtown Salt Lake City.
-While it's difficult to pinpoint an exact number for all units currently under construction in downtown Boise, several large projects are underway, totaling around 850 apartment units

New development news is fairly quiet in all of the cities I follow. It's fairly easy to understand why, a ton of uncertainty for developers these days. Whether it's cost of capital, cost of labor, or tariffs.

Maybe it's time for a photo update. I know of at least four big projects currently under construction in/near granary. Two towers downtown and in central city are currently being converted from commercial to residential. At the Edison site on 200 E, they've started foundation work. It looks like the project just north of Trolley Square is picking back up again.. what else? Would love to see something happen on the old Big Lots site, the old Office Max site, and the corner of W Temple and 400 s.

[Comrade]

Salt Lake is improving and that should be celebrated. But it's still the heart of a community that largely does not have the desire to embrace multi-residential living. The larger families, and the fact so many younger people actually start families at a young age here, dramatically limits the pool of people who would be interested in living downtown.

The most likely group of people to choose to live downtown in most cities:

1. Young professionals: Utah has the youngest median married age of any state, so the young people here are more likely to be married than, say, the young people in Idaho or Colorado.

2. Unmarried adults: Utah has the lowest rate of unmarried adults in the country at only 44.7% of the adult population. So, there are fewer unmarried people in the state, which means fewer people interested in the downtown lifestyle.

3. Childless adults: It only reasons that Utah is probably toward the bottom of the nation in terms of adults without children, since we know Utah has a high fertility rate, the highest child population and a majority of its adult population who are married.

4. Retired adults: Utah is by far the youngest state in the country, with a median age of under 32. The next youngest is Texas, at 35.5 - but while that four-point(ish) gap doesn't seem huge, roughly 30 other states are within four-points of Texas. So, that number clusters significantly after Utah. That means there are fewer retired adults in Utah than other states.

Couple that with Utah's external population potentially slowing, and I could see the growth we're seeing downtown slow as well (not even getting into the tariff situation or the economy overall).

But we'll see how things look in a decade. I definitely believe the downtown core benefits from external population growth as people from outside Utah move into the city/state - while suburban Salt Lake (and beyond) is likely to succeed directly because of what I outlined above with the families and the need to live in a detached single family home.

[bob rulz]

Those numbers are rapidly changing with the new generation though comrade. For example, Utah has fallen to 9th in fertility rate as of 2024, after being the highest for decades.

As for the point about Salt Lake vs Boise, there are a lot of midrise projects happening in Salt Lake City right now, but it may not seem like it here because nobody on this board has been vigorous about posting pictures recently (and BSL has instituted an outrageously overpriced paywall). There is still a lot of construction happening, it's just been quiet on starts for new proper towers.

Originally Posted by freeshavocado

Maybe it's time for a photo update. I know of at least four big projects currently under construction in/near granary. Two towers downtown and in central city are currently being converted from commercial to residential. At the Edison site on 200 E, they've started foundation work. It looks like the project just north of Trolley Square is picking back up again.. what else? Would love to see something happen on the old Big Lots site, the old Office Max site, and the corner of W Temple and 400 s.

There was just an application for a planned development and design review submitted for townhomes at the Office Max site. I also know that construction is either beginning or will be starting soon at The Silos next to the Post District, which is another pretty massive block-sized project.

[Comrade]

Don't get fertility rate and birthrate mixed up, tho.

Utah still leads the nation in birthrate, however. Fertility rate is calculated throughout a woman's lifetime - while birthrate calculates births per year.

So, what it's saying is that Utah women are having fewer children during their life span than maybe a decade or two ago but on average, it's still essentially similar to South Dakota when averaged out (women in SD average 1.91 children and Utah women average 1.8 children). COVID appears to be where it really changed for Utah.

With that said, Utah still had a birthrate of 14.9 children a year per 1,000, which is nearly a full-percentage point higher than North Dakota - who's second nationally.

[mattreedah]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

There was just an application for a planned development and design review submitted for townhomes at the Office Max site. I also know that construction is either beginning or will be starting soon at The Silos next to the Post District, which is another pretty massive block-sized project.

The Silos already has two buildings entirely framed out. I will take a picture next time I'm there.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Don't get fertility rate and birthrate mixed up, tho.

Utah still leads the nation in birthrate, however. Fertility rate is calculated throughout a woman's lifetime - while birthrate calculates births per year.

So, what it's saying is that Utah women are having fewer children during their life span than maybe a decade or two ago but on average, it's still essentially similar to South Dakota when averaged out (women in SD average 1.91 children and Utah women average 1.8 children). COVID appears to be where it really changed for Utah.

With that said, Utah still had a birthrate of 14.9 children a year per 1,000, which is nearly a full-percentage point higher than North Dakota - who's second nationally.

They are different but also corelated.

Utah's birth rate has been also decreasing, even though it remains the highest in the country. In 2023, Utah's birth rate was 13.0 per 1,000 residents, while the U.S. rate was 10.7 per 1,000. This marks a decrease from a rate of 17.5 per 1,000 in 2013.

[Comrade]

Cool. In 30 years, we'll be better positioned for urban living.

It doesn't matter RIGHT NOW that it's decreasing. It's still a factor in everything I outlined above. Utah as a state is unique in that regard.

[Paniolo Man]

Pictures from Thursday:

Pickle and Hide:



The Hendrey:



The Journeyman:

[delts145]

Thanks Paniolo Man. I always appreciate your updates.

[Ironweed]

I'll add my two cents; (They'll go to Comrade.) The credit markets are in complete flux. This is very impactful on developers. The situation is partly due to the raising of rates by the fed. We also have the insanity from the Trump administration. Combined, they have created uncertainty with a curtailment of development.

[John_Walker]

Has there been any news on the IHC hospital at the Sears site? What is the main thing holding this up, the approval of a site plan?

Omaha's 400 ft hospital and research center from Nebraska Medicine and UNMC has begun site prep and made me think of this. The UNMC board of regents said the price tag would $2.2 billion and over half of that was coming from private donations.

[Paniolo Man]

Originally Posted by John_Walker

Has there been any news on the IHC hospital at the Sears site? What is the main thing holding this up, the approval of a site plan?

I rent cars from the Hertz on main street every few months for various reasons. I recently chatted with their desk staff about what it'll mean for them. Their building and lot are leased from IHC and will be the site of the parking structure for the hospital. They seem to be under the impression that they will be staying put until 2028, so that is my assumption of IHC's planned construction start.

[rockies]

Originally Posted by John_Walker

Omaha's 400 ft hospital and research center from Nebraska Medicine and UNMC has begun site prep and made me think of this. The UNMC board of regents said the price tag would $2.2 billion and over half of that was coming from private donations.

I spent the day in Omaha today for work. Here are some construction pics of that new hospital for the few that might be interested. They are just barely getting started - but definitely wish we were getting something this size on the sears lot.

Downtown Omaha is very nice, the buildings seem generally larger than what we have and it has better bones than downtown SLC. However, I think SLC is still more lively and has more of its own vibe than Omaha. Our rush hour is 10x worse that's for sure

[bob rulz]

I'm definitely hopeful that IHC will come back with a better proposal for their hospital, since the city was very lukewarm on their initial proposal. I don't expect anything that's 400 ft - without knowing anything about the Omaha hospital, I imagine that's probably more equivalent in importance to the IHC hospital in Murray as opposed to this new one. Still, maybe something with some decent height will still happen there.

[JTO]

Originally Posted by rockies

I spent the day in Omaha today for work. Here are some construction pics of that new hospital for the few that might be interested. They are just barely getting started - but definitely wish we were getting something this size on the sears lot.

Downtown Omaha is very nice, the buildings seem generally larger than what we have and it has better bones than downtown SLC. However, I think SLC is still more lively and has more of its own vibe than Omaha. Our rush hour is 10x worse that's for sure

I lived in Omaha for a couple of years. I think downtown Omaha has a more "downtowny feel" compared to SLC's downtown. Though Omaha only has like 2 or 3 tall buidlings, it has better downtown neighborhoods. Omaha has the lively 'Old Market' neighborhood downtown that covers a couple of blocks and is paved in cool old uneven bumpy red bricks - it's a cool warehouse district that just has a vibe. Similarly, I have high hopes for Granary here in SLC, it has enormous potential! Speaking of Granary, has anyone else checked out the Woodbine Food Hall?? Fantastic!

[John_Walker]

Originally Posted by rockies

Downtown Omaha is very nice, the buildings seem generally larger than what we have and it has better bones than downtown SLC. However, I think SLC is still more lively and has more of its own vibe than Omaha. Our rush hour is 10x worse that's for sure

Yeah, downtown SLC is more lively. There are a lot more residents and probably employees too, plus there's NHL and NBA teams and a mall. Downtown Omaha is currently converting several high rises to residential and building a 200 ft apartment building. Those all will add about 1,500-2,000 new units. The new parks, riverfront, and STEM museum have attracted 4 million visitors over the last two years and all of the $500 million spent to develop those came from private donations. Hopefully all of those things, and the streetcar, can add more vibrancy to Omaha. The Greater Omaha Chamber views SLC as an aspirational metro.

Originally Posted by JTO

I lived in Omaha for a couple of years. I think downtown Omaha has a more "downtowny feel" compared to SLC's downtown. Though Omaha only has like 2 or 3 tall buidlings, it has better downtown neighborhoods. Omaha has the lively 'Old Market' neighborhood downtown that covers a couple of blocks and is paved in cool old uneven bumpy red bricks - it's a cool warehouse district that just has a vibe. Similarly, I have high hopes for Granary here in SLC, it has enormous potential! Speaking of Granary, has anyone else checked out the Woodbine Food Hall?? Fantastic!

Omaha has 634 ft and 475 ft towers with 677 ft and 400 ft towers under construction. But only has three others over 300 ft. Getting more towers in the 300-400 ft range like SLC has would really help fill in the skyline.