Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Oh, Boz has only made 129 posts so far… interesting… AND, his profile picture is that of the Hines owned Kearns Building… Interesting…

I think you're taking this too personally. Boz is the world's greatest expert on his own opinion. As are we all. If you want to spend time trying to save the theater, go right ahead. But don't be offended if everyone doesn't share your passion.

[Boz]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Oh, Boz has only made 129 posts so far… interesting… AND, his profile picture is that of the Hines owned Kearns Building… Interesting…

Paranoid much?

I've been on this forum since August 22nd, 2010, but even before that for almost 10 years before I made an account.

The photo is mine, and I didn't even know what the buildings were called at the time.

[Boz]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

I think you're taking this too personally. Boz is the world's greatest expert on his own opinion. As are we all. If you want to spend time trying to save the theater, go right ahead. But don't be offended if everyone doesn't share your passion.

Respect.

[bob rulz]

The Salt Lake Film Society hasn't even been able to afford to re-open Broadway or the Tower Theater yet post-Covid. I don't see how Salt Lake City could support another independent movie theater at this time, especially with the state that the theater industry is in. I'm not 100% sure if movie theaters will ever get back to pre-Covid viability with how streaming has really taken off.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

I think you're taking this too personally. Boz is the world's greatest expert on his own opinion. As are we all. If you want to spend time trying to save the theater, go right ahead. But don't be offended if everyone doesn't share your passion.

Fair enough. Just seemed a bit odd to me that he’s all of a sudden so active on the forum. Boz, do you happen to be a sitting member of the RDA?

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Hmmm, Utah just experienced an earthquake that damaged the temple and knocked Moroni’s trumpet out of his hands, yet the theatre still stands unharmed, and only a block away. The majority of the craftsmanship is still intact and makes it worth it to restore the rest.

Do you personally know whether or not the theater suffered any damage from the earthquake?

Any old building being restored absolutely has to be seismically retrofitted. The earthquake last year was a wake-up call. Many old buildings suffered damage - and hardly any new buildings did. And that's not the worst that we could experience here. Not even close.

[Boz]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Boz, do you happen to be a sitting member of the RDA?

No.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

The Salt Lake Film Society hasn't even been able to afford to re-open Broadway or the Tower Theater yet post-Covid. I don't see how Salt Lake City could support another independent movie theater at this time, especially with the state that the theater industry is in. I'm not 100% sure if movie theaters will ever get back to pre-Covid viability with how streaming has really taken off.

You obviously have not watched the documentary.

[Reeder113]

Originally Posted by Old&New

You obviously have not watched the documentary.

To be honest, I think it would be cool if they could somehow integrate the theater into the new high-rise. But if it comes down to refurbishing the theater OR building the high-rise, I'll go for the latter.

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Reeder113

To be honest, I think it would be cool if they could somehow integrate the theater into the new high-rise. But if it comes down to refurbishing the theater OR building the high-rise, I'll go for the latter.

Read this:

Originally Posted by Orpheum

Haha... OK I'll say it...

Couldn't that parking garage park become a liability? All it will take is one child to do something foolish.. get hurt, or worse, and they'll need to restrict access. Didn't that happen at the LDS Conference Center's rooftop gardens?

Also, there are no guarantees. The developer will raze the theater, then they could come back and say that their latest market study suggests the project no longer makes "economic sense" and they'll ask to scale it back to something that could've easily worked with the theater. Only it will be too late.

So just something to think about. It's entirely possible that what gets built will be different from the sparkly thing they're distracting us with right now.

Will the final result be worth the loss of the theater? I guess that's my main concern.

Also, I want to add that the whole reason I joined this forum back in 2003 was because the LDS church was getting ready to demolish the Promised Valley Playhouse, to replace it with a parking garage. I believe in preserving the history and character of our cities, and that was a personal gut punch because I performed there when I was a kid. I know we can't always make it work, but preservation should always be considered and encouraged when we’re talking about 100+ year old buildings. Comrade, to see that you've finally thrown your arms up in the air about this is a bit surprising, but I get it.. the city and developer knows that eventually everyone will get tired and move on...

Except we won’t get tired.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Just watch, Atlas will try to show the worst of the damage to try to convince you the theatre is not worth saving …as if he’s working for Hines.

Hah, as I predicted!

You got me. Me and Dusty are on a quest to destroy every dilapidated historic building in the city. :babyeat:

In all seriousness though, you and Mr. "Save the Pantages" only post pictures of the ceiling and the hallway so that people think it's in better condition than it is. I still think it's egregious that the facebook page has this image as the banner with no description.

[RC14]

Originally Posted by Atlas

To be clear, I love the idea of having our Pantages restored and for it to become a world-class movie theatre. I just don't think it will happen and that, on top of my stated concerns about artistic integrity, there are principled concerns over the cost and viability of restoring it. The Save the Pantages group likes to throw around cost "estimates" from entities who haven't actually inspected the theatre in person, so honestly I'd trust those numbers even less than the ones the city has provided.

I also would love to see the theater restored. I envy Los Angeles for the historic theaters they have and it is sad that we had a theater comparable to those but lost it. The theater is already gone. It is literally a shell of what it was and with all that it would take to restore it we might as well build a "replica" on another piece of property in the same area.

There are a few reasons why I would no longer support spending allot of money on restoring this theater but I think the most important is that this is not highest and best use for that property. We need more housing and we all want more housing on Main Street. When I first started following this threat back in the 00s we use to talk more about getting people to live downtown and on Main street but now we act like that problem has been solved even though the only new housing on Main street is a handful of units at City Creek.

When I think about the money that would have to be spent to restore and maintain the theater, money that most likely would not be made back, and the potential uses for that location, I have to conclude that the best use of resources would be to allow the Heins project to move forward. This is an excellent proposal for a myriad of reasons. The only drawback is the loss of the theater which is mostly already gone.

[Ironweed]

What do you theater proponents expect the developer to do? Just hand the property back to the city, rescind a sales contract, then expect the city to restore the theater for multi millions which it doesn't have? My guess is if the city were to get the property back, the property would continue to be an eyesore for several additional years. The city would be struggling to find the money to restore it. Where is the money going to come from? What is the likelihood that the citizens of SLC will want to pay for this? Will the city bond for the money? I think the city could do much better by simply repaving the roads downtown. I think the tower will be a great addition to downtown. If they can save the theater at the same time, great! If, not lets just move on.

[bob rulz]

Seriously, in all of the Save the Pantages talk, I haven't actually seen a real proposal for funding it and for keeping it viable after funding. Not to mention the entire Save the Pantages campaign comes across as incredibly desperate and unprepared.

I'm honestly waiting for it to be demolished at this point, so that we can stop debating it.

[ThePusherMan]

Speaking of things getting demolished. Looks like July 30th will be Tavernacle’s last day.

[Marvland]

I'm so sick of this theater talk. Can somebody for the love of god propose a new tower or some shit? This is worse than the homeless talk three years ago. It's taking the air out of the room. Seriously. Shut up. It's not viable. I want to build a mountain out of carrots! I have no way to fund it, no path to execute it and but by God I will have my MOUNTAIN OF CARROTS! Blah blah blah blah blah.

Seriously we have lost so many unbelievable buildings to have this be the one that "really matters" is just trash. I'm now in the camp of BURN IT DOWN just so these threads stop melting my face.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by Marvland

I'm so sick of this theater talk. Can somebody for the love of god propose a new tower or some shit? This is worse than the homeless talk three years ago. It's taking the air out of the room. Seriously. Shut up. It's not viable. I want to build a mountain out of carrots! I have no way to fund it, no path to execute it and but by God I will have my MOUNTAIN OF CARROTS! Blah blah blah blah blah.

Seriously we have lost so many unbelievable buildings to have this be the one that "really matters" is just trash. I'm now in the camp of BURN IT DOWN just so these threads stop melting my face.

Lol. Yeah. I logged on tonight seeing that there were tons of new posts and thinking maybe there were some new proposals or something.

Nope, same ole theater blah blah blah (not amazing)

[Atlas]

In other news, vice chair Dan Dugan (District 6) plugged the Rio Grande Plan at the RDA meeting today!

Apparently, the RDA will be handing over all of the Station Center property to the University of Utah, which will in turn lead a new commission that will manage the sale and development of the parcels at market rates. The details haven't been worked out yet so it's still a preliminary idea but the U is evidently serious enough about the Station Center "innovation district" that they are already under contract to buy the remaining privately-owned parcels in the project area. There was also some mention of the U assisting with future transit (TRAX) connectivity along 400 S.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Welcome back!

I poked around on the different Worthington developer websites and found this description and new (possibly old?) design of the tower on the Timberlane Properties website:





I think I like the design we have seen before more than this version.

I don't mind this version if it is an updated one. The corners and other balconies are different, but that might be for additional structural support. I like that they have balconies in the center of the base of the structure (facing south), cause I think it helps break that up a bit.

My personal opinion is that it seems like the version you posted Atlas is ever so slightly more detailed, leading me to think it is an updated version. But I could be wrong.

Version we have seen before:

[Old&New]

Looks like it’s gone from 32 stories to 29.