Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[TheGeographer]

Originally Posted by rockies

The Denver-SLC population comparison on the sub as well as past conversations here have made me curious about whether or not SLC's metro population figures will ever be more accurate? When using the combined statistical area as opposed to metropolitan area SLC the gap between the two regions is much smaller

It seems misleading or at least silly that when you look up salt lake's metro population it only says 1.2 million but when including ogden/provo/park city/logan it's nearly 3 million. I understand Utah is a bit unique when it comes to the amount of cities but I don't see why this discrepancy between CSA and MSA populations has to be so much larger than other nearby cities

Salt Lakes metro population is misleading when you take out Ogden and Utah valley from the equation. Those two areas should be included. Denver’s CSA population which includes Boulder and Greeley is 3.6 million, so still about a million more. Colorado’s front range population from Ft Collins to Colorado Springs is 5 million, so about double SLC CSA. For comparison the distance from Ft Collins to Colorado Springs is about 20-30 miles longer than from Ogden to Spanish Fork. So distance wise about the same. I think the Front Range population that is double SLC CSA plays into why the urban environment in Denver is more developed and the density in Denver itself is higher. Despite all the room to expand out east with DIA, Denver largely faces the same issue as SLC in terms of being landlocked by other cities (Aurora, Lakewood, etc.), which has lead to an explosion of growth in Denver’s downtown and surrounding area not yet seen in SLC. Another thing people don’t know about the Front Range is the lack of water resources as you move east, and less desirable land away from the mountains. So while those not from there have the perception that development can expand forever onto the plains, that isn’t the case. Aurora (400,000 population give or take) has rapidly expanded out east and ran into some of these issues. SLC CSA has a lot of parallels to Colorado Front Range so I’d imagine we’re on the same trajectory.

[RC14]

^
On this topic, one thing I noticed the other day that I hadn't realized before is that Salt Lake county is actually one of the largest counties in America. I think it's ranked 37th or something like that which is more impressive when you look at a map of us counties with a population over 1 million. Most of them are clustered around the largest cities. Denver has a combined city and county government and their population is under 1 million. So, if you look at it by county, Salt Lake is larger than Denver. This almost makes me wish Salt Lake had incorporated all of Salt Lake County.

[wrendog]

Originally Posted by RC14

^
On this topic, one thing I noticed the other day that I hadn't realized before is that Salt Lake county is actually one of the largest counties in America. I think it's ranked 37th or something like that which is more impressive when you look at a map of us counties with a population over 1 million. Most of them are clustered around the largest cities. Denver has a combined city and county government and their population is under 1 million. So, if you look at it by county, Salt Lake is larger than Denver. This almost makes me wish Salt Lake had incorporated all of Salt Lake County.

Denver County is also like 150 sq miles and SL County is like 750 sq miles

Edit: to be fair, SL County buildable land area is probably closer to 350 sq miles. Lots of mountains and marsh/lake area in the county

[TheGeographer]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Denver County is also like 150 sq miles and SL County is like 750 sq miles

Edit: to be fair, SL County buildable land area is probably closer to 350 sq miles. Lots of mountains and marsh/lake area in the county

Not to mention a good chunk of Denver’s land is out by DIA where they haven’t started to develop near as much compared to the downtown area. This comparison is tricky. Add Aurora and Lakewood to Denver county then it’s larger than SL county population.

[DenverInfill]

Originally Posted by wrendog

Denver County is also like 150 sq miles

Of which about one-third is Denver International Airport. The non-airport part of Denver is approximately 100 square miles, which makes it easy to calculate the city's effective population density. Pop = 715,000 / 100 = 7,150 ppl/sq mi.

Denver became a consolidated city-county in 1904. As part of that process, the city annexed a number of surrounding towns and some unincorporated territory and adopted a new city-county charter. The City & County of Denver government operates essentially as a city (municipality) but includes a few functions/services that are delivered in Colorado at the county level (jail, elections, etc.).

Denver's boundaries have been landlocked since the early 1970s (due to a state constitutional amendment) and haven't been altered since except for the ~50 square mile annexation to build DIA.

[wrendog]

SLC will always be little brother to Denver in the mountain west. And that's ok.

SLC has a TON going for it right now and I'm excited for it's future

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by Paniolo Man

Will they or won't they close Gadsby early? Not all of those units are 70.

Not all of those units are 70?? What? Gadsby is anticipated to still be going for another 10 years after the HQ relocation, from my understanding. We have proposed to keep the central plant and towers as a landmark for the Power District. I'm not sure if it has been confirmed that they will stay.

[bob rulz]

I don't have much to comment on lately. Lots of exciting news to track though.

The Astra construction site is really having issues. Is it a cheap contractor? Inexperienced workers? Something is clearly wrong with that construction site.

Originally Posted by Atlas

Rocky Anderson is apparently running for mayor of SLC again in 2023. Thoughts?

Just what we need. Someone who cares more about his national image than helping the city. Mendenhall isn't perfect, but she's an infinitely better option. Hopefully the residents of SLC don't bite, but I can say that a lot of people aren't happy with Mendenhall's handling of the homeless situation, and Rocky's emphasis on homelessness might appeal to some of the younger generation that don't remember or weren't here for his previous administration.

[rockies]

I wasn't necessarily interested in the actual populations bc of course SLC is smaller than Denver and will always be. I think it's probably cooler that it's smaller... just seems like a bad way to organize data

Also, here is a picture from my hotel room that shows the South West Temple tower lot cleared

[SLC PopPunk]

Looks like construction fencing is up around the former Salt Lake City School District building on 400 E and 100 S. Has anyone heard what might be going there?

[Orlando]

There is also construction fencing on the lot east of the 136 E. South Temple tower, but no signage.

[LuisPanzer]

Originally Posted by rockies

I wasn't necessarily interested in the actual populations bc of course SLC is smaller than Denver and will always be. I think it's probably cooler that it's smaller... just seems like a bad way to organize data

Also, here is a picture from my hotel room that shows the South West Temple tower lot cleared

Is that where the building designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz Architecture is going to be built ?

[mstar]

Has anyone heard any inside information on the status of Astra? I worry that if this most recent mistake by the construction crew is going to get the General Contractor fired. If that happens, we won't see any activity on this project for awhile. It would take some time to find a new GC, then wait for when the GC could start a full crew on the site. . . . . Question for Schmoe - I know you can't give any details, but do you think this is going to be big enough problem to have serious delays in construction?

[Atlas]

Guys, I'm in Charlotte this week and I have to say my impression of it is that it's everything that Comrade fears SLC will become. Very impressive buildings but almost no street life to be found right next to the city center where I'm staying. There are some local restaurants but they're separated by long stretches of concrete and driveways. Very little pre-war architecture to bump up the walkability.

SLC has a much better transit network already though, which is something we should be proud of.

Originally Posted by LuisPanzer

Is that where the building designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz Architecture is going to be built ?

Yes, this project. Empty lot in the left-center of that image.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Guys, I'm in Charlotte this week and I have to say my impression of it is that it's everything that Comrade fears SLC will become. Very impressive buildings but almost no street life to be found right next to the city center where I'm staying. There are some local restaurants but they're separated by long stretches of concrete and driveways. Very little pre-war architecture to bump up the walkability.

SLC has a much better transit network already though, which is something we should be proud of.


Yes, this project. Empty lot in the left-center of that image.

Really, tho, that's Salt Lake already - just without the impressive buildings lmao

We still have a very limited nightlife downtown, which is saying something considering downtown isn't really that big to begin with, so, it's not like all the options are spread out over miles.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Really, tho, that's Salt Lake already - just without the impressive buildings lmao

We still have a very limited nightlife downtown, which is saying something considering downtown isn't really that big to begin with, so, it's not like all the options are spread out over miles.

This got me thinking, is Park City the SLC metro nightlife hub?

[freeshavocado]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Guys, I'm in Charlotte this week and I have to say my impression of it is that it's everything that Comrade fears SLC will become. Very impressive buildings but almost no street life to be found right next to the city center where I'm staying.

All the big buildings currently going up in downtown slc are residential or hotel, though. So I think street life will only increase. It definitely has since I moved here 10 years ago.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Really, tho, that's Salt Lake already - just without the impressive buildings lmao

We still have a very limited nightlife downtown, which is saying something considering downtown isn't really that big to begin with, so, it's not like all the options are spread out over miles.

This is significantly worse, in my opinion. Main Street SLC is still something special and there are good pockets of old and new urbanism around it. Still a ways to go to fill in the missing teeth, and State Street can be a formidable barrier, but I've never seen it as dead as this.

I did ride the light rail south of Uptown Charlotte and there was some more interesting newer urbanism around but the eastern part of the CBD that I've seen is just utterly empty all day long.

Originally Posted by locolife

This got me thinking, is Park City the SLC metro nightlife hub?

No. SLC is better.

[meman]

Mstar, I think its highly doubtful that the general contractor will be replaced for the Astra tower since it is Jacobsen Construction, which built Liberty Sky across the street.

[TheGeographer]

Originally Posted by freeshavocado

All the big buildings currently going up in downtown slc are residential or hotel, though. So I think street life will only increase. It definitely has since I moved here 10 years ago.

For sure. It was dead downtown SL when I moved here about that same time. Much more lively now