Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[locolife]

Originally Posted by TheGeographer

City Creek is great for dog walking. World class. And convention centers can be great draws to downtown while not being “in the way”. Look at Denver’s

I don't consider Denver CC not in the way, it sort of off the side of the city which kind of helps. I go to Denver a lot, I never go by the CC unless I'm at an event because it's a pretty dead zone. Looks a lot like this google photo a lot. The reality is most CCs and really most stadium areas not busy areas unless an event is occurring.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7437...8192?entry=ttu

[TheGeographer]

True that is a good point the Denver CC is off to the side compared to SLC CC. I think SLC CC will hopefully be less in the way with a revamp and getting rid of the west end of it

[delts145]

When the Salt Palace was built it acted as more of a protective wall for all points east at the time. Now with so much development and improvement west of the CC these past 23 years, it's time to rethink its massing. The CC should be reconfigured into something more like a vibrant multi-storied centerpiece for the entire downtown area. If done right we could actually end up as grateful that it's located at the center of downtown and not as a wall against I-15.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by delts145

When the Salt Palace was built it acted as more of a protective wall for all points east at the time. Now with so much development and improvement west of the CC these past 23 years, it's time to rethink its massing. The CC should be reconfigured into something more like a vibrant multi-storied centerpiece for the entire downtown area. If done right we could actually end up as grateful that it's located at the center of downtown and not as a wall against I-15.

Large conferences do not want the square footage spread over multi-stories, they want large areas or mass square footage on the same level. This is why all the biggest CCs are exactly that, they may have 2-3 levels max but they all eat up a lot of land. Chicago, LA, San Diego, Vegas, New Orleans, Phoenix. I’ve been to quite a few of these.

You either want big conventions or you don’t. Salt Palace is in a bad spot, Phoenix is too. Both create a bit of a dead space between two areas the cities have more activity in. Not too sure it can be fixed well, trying to think of any examples where it works well….

[s.p.hansen]

The massive convention space in San Francisco is in the dense area of the city and mostly underground.

[airhero]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

The massive convention space in San Francisco is in the dense area of the city and mostly underground.

I’m assuming that’s off the table for slc because of cost. If not, yes please put the exhibit halls underground. I’d much rather put those underground than the streets. That would absolutely help minimize the barrier effect.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by s.p.hansen

The massive convention space in San Francisco is in the dense area of the city and mostly underground.

SF spent $3.50 per foot to add 157,000 square foot to it in 2019, that's $4.28 per square foot in 2024 dollars. So if you want to "rebuild" 700,000 square feet of the Salt Palace today mostly under ground, that would push over $3billion. I'm not sure if the 2019 construction in SF was actually underground or not.

That doesn't put Salt Palace in a top 20 position of CCs by size but just reconfigures what it has now, unlikely that any additional conventions result in this type of overhaul. ROI on such a remodel doesn't seem great.

Anything is possible but where is all this money supposedly coming from?