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Posted Nov 5, 2018, 11:41 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,000
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Originally Posted by FullCircle
I think it would probably be a good idea to revisit all the zoning height maximums to make sure they still make sense in an actively growing city in this day and age, one that is trying to reinvigorate/reinvent its downtown core.
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The City Council wants to do just this. They are constantly having to override the planning commission because the planning commission is rejecting projects due to height maximums in various parts of the city. The Council wants to allow increased height and density along high frequency transit corridors.
Also, in some development news:
Office spaces in Salt Lake City: With costs rising and land at a premium, folks are getting creative, even setting up shop in shipping containers
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/11/...ces-salt-lake/
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If you want to understand the latest trends in Salt Lake City office spaces, look at some of the effects of a sizzling economy.
Utah could gain as many as 50,000 jobs this year — and workers need workplaces. Salt Lake County is expected to absorb up to a million square feet of new office digs, on par with its growth trajectory in recent years.
Utah County will add about 1.5 million square feet, if the latest projections are a clue, with rapid office growth driven by the magnet of Silicon Slopes as a tech hub and the county’s relative edge over its neighbor to the north in terms of available land and large office projects already in the pipeline.
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But top real estate brokers who specialize in office spaces say Utah’s capital city is under intense demand as a place to work, with a premium — thanks to TRAX — on locations in the central business district. That’s true of startup companies, existing firms looking to grow, or corporate giants like Amazon, Facebook and Goldman Sachs, all expanding in the Beehive State.
“People are excited to move here and be a part of our downtown area,” says Eric Smith, senior vice president and office market specialist with CBRE, an international commercial real estate firm with offices in Salt Lake City.
Another key factor for the look and mix of Salt Lake City offices is the jobless rate. In Utah, that’s hovering at a near-record low of 3 percent — close to full employment.
The more competition for top talent heats up — particularly in knowledge-based sectors of the economy — the more important it is to fashion workspaces with architectural and design appeal, along with higher-end finishes and plenty of amenities, according to the experts.
Keeping workers happy — and costs down
Brokers say fitness rooms are now standard in many high-end offices in Utah’s urban markets, as are comfortable lounge areas, game rooms, bike lockers and patios. Trendy decor — high ceilings, natural light, top-notch finishes — is as much about making workers comfortable and productive as it is about honing and conveying a company’s image.
A decade ago, many saw square footage of office space as a commodity. Today what an office looks like can be key to a company’s survival and success and is increasingly part of how firms brand themselves — both to the outside world and to their own employees.
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“Office space nowadays is very much, particularly for large companies, a tool for retention and recruitment. It’s hugely important,” says Casey Mills, vice president of office leasing and sales at Salt Lake City-based Newmark Grubb ACRES, a top local broker in commercial real estate.
Another force shaping workspaces along the Wasatch Front is the rising cost of construction.
The same trends that have been squeezing affordability in Utah’s housing and apartment markets — shortages of labor and land along with surging prices for building materials — are making it harder to build new offices these days, pushing up office rents, especially downtown.
Regional demand for construction workers is at something of a peak, with labor supplies gobbled up by the $3.6 billion overhaul of Salt Lake City International Airport, work on a new state prison and several large private-sector distribution centers underway.
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“It’s a labor issue,” says Dana Baird, executive director at the commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, of rising office building price tags. “Steel and tariffs are impacting costs, but labor is the biggest issue.”
While new office towers are expected to rise in Salt Lake City within three to five years, economic boosters at City Hall say the capital lacks a wide selection of larger office spaces — about 50,000 square feet or more — suitable for a larger employer. Whether for cost reasons or for lack of size in available spaces or both, many new firms are picking offices farther south in the county.
“That’s what we’re struggling against,” says Lara Fritts, the city’s director of economic development. “When a company comes to Salt Lake City that needs 50,000 square feet, 100,000 square feet, I have no product to show them.”
At the same time, high demand and costs in the heart of Salt Lake City’s cultural and business district are forcing creative uses of space.
More people, less room
Developers are combining infill — reuse of downtown land among existing structures — with seeking additional height on buildings in their quest to make more of space, bringing several new high-rises to the Salt Lake City skyline, most recently 111 Main.
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That same quest for value is on display in the interior of new office spaces.
“Companies are trying to utilize their space very efficiently," says CBRE’s Smith, “so that they’re not wasting any space and their people per square feet is optimal.”
Traditional ratios of employees and square footage are, in many cases, out the window, with some new firms in Utah’s urban core packing as many as 10 offices workers per 1,000 square feet. Instead of fully built-out offices, floor plans are made up of cubicles mixed with meeting spaces and small huddle rooms in a more open approach.
“And these are not tech companies,” Smith says.
Those higher densities in offices are also raising the importance of proximity to mass transit as company managers search for new spaces and negotiate office leases. With land at a premium, parking stalls and garages are increasingly less available, forcing the option of transit.
Many executives raise concerns about regional air quality in connection with their workers’ commute, says Chris Kirk, managing director for the downtown Salt Lake City office of Colliers International — along with the fact that many millennial employees are less dependent on cars.
“Proximity to TRAX is super important,” says Kirk, echoing other office brokers. “I get asked about that just about every tour I do.”
Some landlords are even offering shuttles from their offices to TRAX lines.
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I didn't bring the whole article over, just many of the highlights. The biggest being that there is a very high demand for office space downtown but costs are going up due to tariffs as well as a lack of labor primarily due to the Airport.
The best part is that with the increase in people wishing to drive less and the "Return to City Living" that we have been seeing, this is driving more companies to look at downtown as a place for expansion/location/relocation. This should continue to grow as the number of downtown residents continues to increase as well as future commercial projects are built. These 2 factors should begin to compound each other.
This should put more pressure on the City Council to do something on the zoning height limits. Maybe make them pyramidal where they are removed in the downtown area and are added the further out you get.
Maybe maximums of 375' could start at 600s (East, South, West) and 200' at 1300s. Maximums could only be reached with going through CBDR and being directly adjacent to a high frequency transit stop of 10 minutes or better.
This would limit the impact initially to only a few areas but would primarily impact Downtown as there wouldn't be any caps provided the building went through the CBDR process, basically the same as now but it would remove the midblock limit and help relieve the pressure of land bankers in the D1 area.
It would also push SLC to fund the Black Trax line to allow for increased density and height along both North Temple and 4th South.
During this process though they also need to set a limit to Width + Length to Height of the building. They either need to set maximum Width + Length to Height limits or set minimum height limits so that the wider and longer a building is, the taller it must be to compensate.
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