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Originally Posted by SLC Projects
I just think (with my crazy way of thinking ) that cities like Sandy or Murray that are on the east bench are running out of land to built on. So with projects like the "Proscenium" seems smart to me since the developer wants to built 2,400-plus-seat Broadway-style playhouse, a performing-arts high school, a 500-seat venue and a black box theater in addition with office space, a hotel and condos all on a few acres of land. This projects saves alot of space and land by building upwards instead of outwards like most projects in the suburbs. Just think how much space this project would take it these hotels and condos buildings are only 3 or 4 stories each. How many buildings would they need to build to get the same S.F. And since Sandy is running out of land the city is now to the point that it will have to start building up. Otherwise the city would stop growing. We live in a valley and we can only built out so far. Beside I thought we all hated "sprawl". This project isn't sprawl.
My next point is that maybe not everyone who lives down on the southend of the valley want to drive to downtown SLC for EVERYTHING. Would it be smarter to build some office buildings and condos down on the south end of the valley to and keep more cars off the roads. With gas at $4 per gallon most people want to limit their driving. So with this "Proscenium project" since it's a mix-use project people can live on one floor and go to work on another floor with out ever leaving the building. How bad would our roads be if every office building was built in downtown SLC and everyone would have to drive to salt lake city for work? 1-15 would be a parking lot. ( I know I've make this point a few times before. )
I just feel people hate this project just because it's in Sandy. If it was in Salt Lake or South Salt Lake or even Murray I don't think people would be freaking out as bad.
What about the Market Station project in South Salt Lake? That isn't downtown but people seem to be ok with that. Should South Salt Lake be limit to only 5 story buildings? Why is it ok for South Salt Lake to built up but other cities like Sandy or Murray or P.G or Lehi can't.
Besides I like tall buildings and I welcome Sandy for trying to develop more of a city center.
That's just my thought.
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Delts: I think there is more to the issue here than meets the eye.
First, the Denver Tech Center is a classic case of when urban development is not concentrated. The Tech Center, just south of the inner belt loop in Denver, sucked away much of the development that would have normally gone downtown. It also significantly contributed to the sprawl in the south end of the Denver metro area, much like the Sandy project would do to the sprawl occurring in southwest SL and northern Utah counties.
Second, and I think this might be the real reason, the proposed Proscenium development makes no sense from a lot of development perspectives. Where is the client base for high rise office development in the south end of the valley? If you look at all the development that has taken place along the Jordan River in South Jordan, those businesses are not the kind that are going to pay premium lease rates for high-rise offices.
Where are the home buyers going to come from to suck up the condos in the development? Not trying to being smug, but there is not much of a track record of urban development in the south end of the valley, so I suspect people with the means to purchase those condos will put their investments elsewhere.
Finally, the whole project hinges on artists wanting to live and work in the south end of the valley. The few artistic people I know in the area would gag at the thought of choosing Sandy over downtown SLC. Sandy is not exactly a bastion of creative thinking and free expression. Ironically, the lack of tolerance in Sandy for diverse opinions would seem to be the death knell for this project. The whole concept makes much more sense if it were anchored by the Gehry development in Lehi, whose designer is a renowned artist and very creative thinker. I'll take the Lehi project, which, by the way, is much closer to a major university with well developed arts programs, over Sandy if major high-rise development is going to occur outside of the SLC CBD, which must happen sooner or later.