Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[mrawesome]

Just watched a news article about the Rio Grande Plan on KSL! Very exciting to see it starting to be taken seriously

[Old&New]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Back to the MLB in SLC:

I think one area the city (and state) struggles in is proactive lobbying. I read an article today about how community leaders and business leaders in Nashville have put together a collective to get the MLB there (they've done the same in Portland and other cities). It really showcases how serious they are about advancing the idea.

And they've got some heavy hitters, even if one is an absolute piece of shit:

Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General under Bush, is the chair.

Dave Stewart pitched for the A's for a good chunk of his career.

Eddie George, famous football player and Heisman winner.

There's not even a sniff of that here in SLC and why it's hard to take any idea of the MLB coming seriously.

I worry Salt Lake's current mayor has no interest in advancing anything like that and is too out to lunch on these ideas.

Salt Lake City could convince the Ogden Raptors to move to Salt Lake City and rename them the Utah Raptors.

[RC14]

I stopped by the Rio Grande Plan event today for a few minutes. Great turnout. It looks like there is allot of interest, including from people who can help make it happen.

[felixg]

Goddamn for as much as increased density is always a welcome change in slc, I think the depot district is quickly and tragically becoming easily one of the most hideous spots within city limits. And this is coming from someone who’s into brutalism

Like wtf even is this



I know this one’s a slightly older complex, but it was just redecorated. And it genuinely looks like an 8 story residential building trying to dress up as a house in lehi for Halloween

Anyone have any insights into how other cities keep their 5 over 1s from looking this level of bad? You rarely see anything quite as shit in LA, Phoenix, Denver or even Albuquerque lol. Is our city just severely lacking in rigid aesthetic requirements/general expectations? Somehow I imagine giving the planning commission any more say in this stuff would only make our situation worse

[mstar]

I went to the meeting too. It looks to me that this project is really starting gain some traction. I think the city leaders are all on board. The key will be convincing UDOT and the state legislature. I could see Cox supporting this, not so sure about the rest of state leadership, however.

[ucsbgaucho]

Originally Posted by SL,UT

Hearing of talk about burying the rail lines in that area and I just gotta laugh out loud about that. That will never happen EVER for one reason: Union Pacific. Take it from someone who used to work at their HQ in Omaha and got to experience their corporate culture first hand. Good luck trying to get them to go along with that.....

Not to mention UPR hosts Amtrak's California Zephyr line on those tracks. Moreover, UPR owns the tracks in question and BNSF has haulage rights on these same tracks. Both UPR and BNSF have a duopoly on all freight rail lines including here in Utah. In other words, you would need huge sway with not only the railroad lobby, but also the federal transportation agency and Surface Transportation board for trackage rights, not to mention the decades of back and forth deal workings, environmental impact studies, public comment periods, and not to mention loads and loads of cash before one single bucket of earth is removed.

In my opinion, this is a pipe dream.

Reno did it. Construction only took 3 1/2 years. 2.25 miles of track. Used by Amtrak and UP. Not terribly different from what SLC is looking to do. UP put up almost $20 million for the project, and allowed them to double-stack cars and extend the length of their trains. About 10 years of planning.

Of course they paid for it with hotel taxes and other bonds and some faulty-in-hindsight math regarding sales tax revenues, so it almost bankrupted the city. But SLC is not Reno. So I wouldn't call it a pipe dream, it's definitely feasible logistically, the tough part is getting enough people in power to back the project and push it through.

[Rileybo]

Originally Posted by Old&New

Salt Lake City could convince the Ogden Raptors to move to Salt Lake City and rename them the Utah Raptors.

I’ve worked with and gotten to know the Raptors and the Lindquist’s. They’ll never leave Ogden, believe me.

[bob rulz]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

Will there be any kind of video of the Rio Grande event? I can't make it but I would love to still be able to watch it later.

This got buried at the end of the last page so I'm going to just ask again if there is any recording of the event available?

[Blah_Amazing]

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/hyatt-regency-salt-lake-city/

The Points Guy reviewed the new Hyatt Regency downtown...let's just say it didn't go too well.

[TheGeographer]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/hyatt-regency-salt-lake-city/

The Points Guy reviewed the new Hyatt Regency downtown...let's just say it didn't go too well.

This Points Guy for sure doesn’t have kids if he’s noticing things like the shower dripping for 10 min after shutting it off or the loud air conditioning fan. That’s the only way I sleep with kids is with my fan on blast haha. Hyatt looks top tier to me but then again I haven’t experienced top tier as an average person so what do I know

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by TheGeographer

This Points Guy for sure doesn’t have kids if he’s noticing things like the shower dripping for 10 min after shutting it off or the loud air conditioning fan. That’s the only way I sleep with kids is with my fan on blast haha. Hyatt looks top tier to me but then again I haven’t experienced top tier as an average person so what do I know

lol of course, he's probably hyper-focused on that stuff anyway due to reviewing places.

[airhero]

I also attended the Bury the Rails event and it was a great environment, despite some of the technical issues. It was great to see a couple city council members there and very vocal in their support.

Originally Posted by bob rulz

This got buried at the end of the last page so I'm going to just ask again if there is any recording of the event available?

I was at the event and they took video of the whole thing. I think one of the organizers said on Reddit they would post the video somewhere. The sound may not be good though.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

https://thepointsguy.com/reviews/hyatt-regency-salt-lake-city/

The Points Guy reviewed the new Hyatt Regency downtown...let's just say it didn't go too well.

Not going too well for those leaving google reviews either (4.1 rating so far) and posters are noting some of the same problems. I'm sure he is hyper focused but it's one of if not the highest priced hotels in SLC, it should have good quality and service. They're charging the same as Grand America (4.7 on google reviews) right now.

[delts145]

Right now is an extremely difficult time to find experienced qualified employees of the type that would be used to this type of points system, and a long list of Hyatt-specific loyalty perks. I'm sure they've had to recruit from a large pool of experienced but general hotel staff, probably not quite at a 4-star plus level. Most of the complaints seem to deal with just giving the staff enough time to settle into the Hyatt Regency-specific rules and standards. Give the staff a few more weeks to settle into their routine and there won't be so many miscommunications. The same goes for the physical kinks of the Hotel itself.

[delts145]

U. engineering school gets $50 million and a new name
New building and scholarships are coming to the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/01/10/u-engineering-school-gets-50/

Utah philanthropists John and Marcia Price put the University of Utah’s College of Engineering in the driver’s seat Tuesday with a $50 million donation that will fuel scholarships and a new building.

The Utah businessman and his wife had earlier committed $15 million from the Price Family Foundation toward construction of a new building for its nationally recognized computer science school. That later grew to be the largest donation the engineering school has ever received, and one of the largest ever on the U. campus...

.

[WalkSLC]

Astra, 255 State, and Worthington 1/28/23:

• Video Link

[wrendog]

astra gonna be a beast

[Paniolo Man]

[SLCHenry]

Excited for Astra, but I would love to see a 500+ footer soon. That will help SLC not look like a sea of small highrises.

[Atlas]

Some new buildings are coming at the U.

John & Marcia Price Computing & Engineering Building

This six-story, 253,000-square-foot building, which is expected to begin construction in 2024, will enable the college to grow the number of graduates to an additional 500 per year and feed more highly qualified engineers into Utah’s workforce for the state’s rapidly growing engineering and computing sectors.

William Stewart Building for Applied Sciences (construction underway)

This project is important to the University and will provide new and updated space to serve the University of Utah’s educational and research mission. It will serve as the new home for the Departments of Physics & Astronomy and Atmospheric Sciences, focusing on aerospace, semiconductor technology, biotechnology, data science, hazardous weather forecasting, and air quality. Together, the two departments teach more than 5,600 students.

New construction will provide a 56 percent increase in experimental and computer lab capacity. There will be 40,700 square feet of renovated space in the historic Stewart Building and a 100,00 square foot new addition.

Stena Center for Financial Technology (announced today)

The university, in partnership with the Stena Foundation and founders Steve and Jana Smith, will create the Stena Center for Financial Technology. The foundation has orchestrated total funds of up to $65 million over the next 10 years to support the center, including industry-sponsored labs, a start-up incubator, venture funds and fintech-focused degrees and certificates. Reinvestments from the venture funds are ultimately expected to fund the center in perpetuity.