Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I'm tired of everything being brown, gray and white. These earth tones colors are just bland as fuck. In fact, Salt Lake has to have some of the most uninspired, boring developments per capita of any city.

I just want diversity and we're not getting it. Literally everything is just a copy of the last development, with minor changes. In 50 years, I wonder if people will look back on this era of development and think we must have been the most boring mother fuckers alive.

You mean you wanted the 33 floor Social Hall building proposal from the early 2000s?

[allh]

Went to downtown Sac a few months ago. Wasn't too impressed except for a couple modern high-rises. Wait a few years Comrade and that opinion might change about SLC's skyline. Half the high-rises will be modern by that point.

[Atlas]

Granted, our skyline isn't very impressive but it's also not ugly. Like I've said before, none of the current proposals are "signature" towers but they are all pretty good-looking. They are bulking up the skyline in a good way and setting the stage for something bigger and better eventually.

[Layrasm]

I think our skyline is great for it's size, small and boxy but pretty. I think there's plenty of color variation between the blues, grays, and whatever else. But what makes our skyline really standout IMO is the way the west side reflects the sun during golden hour/dusk. This was taken before CCH too obviously, which will have the same effect. Wait until we get some signature towers and it will be incredible with the mountain backdrop.

[Future__Mayor]

Signature tower? Blah, blah, blah. I’ve been following this thread/forum for 12+ years and the mention of Salt Lake getting a signature tower has become a joke. Never going to happen. In order to even have a signature tower it would most likely need to be 250-300 meters and there’s no way in hell that Salt Lake would approve something of that height. Keep dreaming. OKC’s Devon Energy tower and Austin’s under construction Guadalupe are both barely 250 meters to give you an idea of the height of what I signature tower would need to be in Salt Lake.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by Future__Mayor

Signature tower? Blah, blah, blah. I’ve been following this thread/forum for 12+ years and the mention of Salt Lake getting a signature tower has become a joke. Never going to happen. In order to even have a signature tower it would most likely need to be 250-300 meters and there’s no way in hell that Salt Lake would approve something of that height. Keep dreaming. OKC’s Devon Energy tower and Austin’s under construction Guadalupe are both barely 250 meters to give you an idea of the height of what I signature tower would need to be in Salt Lake.

In regards to the bold section above. SLC would approve a building that tall in less than a heart beat if it was proposed in the CBD/D1 area.

SLC has never really pushed back and blocked a proposal in the D1 area, be it a corner or mid block lot. In fact, I think the City has been quick to approve most height requests within the D1 area.

The areas where there has been large push back and blocking by the City have been outside of the D1 zones.

The only thing holding SLC back is the large company with a matching ego. If any of Podium, Pluralsight, Overstock, SoFI, Domo, or Adobe had built in the CBD/D1 area, we would have had the signature tower by now.

We have seen increased interest in companies moving and/or expanding in the CBD area. Because of this, I do think that we will see taller buildings coming to the CBD but I do think the growth will be a gradual increase in height. Without a high ego developer or company, there just isn't a reason to push the building height up 350' or more over the current tallest in a single bound.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by Future__Mayor

Signature tower? Blah, blah, blah. I’ve been following this thread/forum for 12+ years and the mention of Salt Lake getting a signature tower has become a joke. Never going to happen. In order to even have a signature tower it would most likely need to be 250-300 meters and there’s no way in hell that Salt Lake would approve something of that height. Keep dreaming. OKC’s Devon Energy tower and Austin’s under construction Guadalupe are both barely 250 meters to give you an idea of the height of what I signature tower would need to be in Salt Lake.

I don’t know why you think a tower has to be 820-984 feet, essentially double the height of any other tower in the city, in order to be considered ‘signature.’ That’s nocking on being a super-tall. Virtually no other city’s signature tower is that much taller than the rest of their skyline, since it would look more ridiculous than signature.

At 300 meters, it would also make it one the the 30 tallest buildings in America, in line with cities 5-10 times the size as SLC, like Chicago or New York.

In fact, the only cities with towers that tall are New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Houston. Essentially the largest cities in the country!

I think a tower with a well thought out crown, color, material, and design in the 550-600 foot range or so would be perfect. It could be a little shorter or a little taller. But 820 to almost 1,000 feet would be very unlikely. Denver has had one planned for a couple years, but even they are struggling to get theirs off the ground. I think that size is very unlikely to happen here any time soon, if ever.

[SLC Ute]

I have heard rumors that RWP (including the post office) will be empty at the end of April. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

[Atlas]

I agree Layrasm, SLC is absolutely gorgeous at twilight.

I've said this before but I think SLC is on a trajectory similar to Edmonton, where until recently their skyline looked rather similar to SLC but with a few more 100m-150m towers. Here's a pic from 2013:



In the last few years, with the addition of a few taller scrapers and the 250m Stantec Tower, I think they have one of the best-looking skylines on the continent:



Density around the tallest buildings is the key to looking like Edmonton instead of OKC, imo. All of these 100-150m towers in the works for SLC are going compliment an eventual 150-200m tower really nicely.

[DJ Mentat]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I'm tired of everything being brown, gray and white. These earth tones colors are just bland as fuck. In fact, Salt Lake has to have some of the most uninspired, boring developments per capita of any city.

I just want diversity and we're not getting it. Literally everything is just a copy of the last development, with minor changes. In 50 years, I wonder if people will look back on this era of development and think we must have been the most boring mother fuckers alive.

I think Comrade's point was more in relation to the 4- to 7-story developments that have been popping up like dandelions over the past several years. And I completely agree. In the short amount of time that I've been in Utah, I've realized that this state and its metropolitan areas are very heavily influenced by market forces (more so than many other states). As a result, developers do their very best to build things quickly and cheaply, so as to keep up with the market.

By itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but with the international building code and various municipal codes dictating what and how something can be built, these market forces often pigeon-hole developers into a very standard type of development. Add in material prices, and you end up with the typical stucco, metal and brick boxes like the 800 West Apartments that Blah_Amazing just posted about.

Of course, even though our market forces, building, and municipal codes lead a developer to build a 5-over-1 or 5-over-2 ninety percent of the time, these buildings don't have to be ugly. Unfortunately, there just aren't very many architectural firms in the valley that are actually trying to design these buildings well.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by SLC Ute

I have heard rumors that RWP (including the post office) will be empty at the end of April. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

I too would like to know.

[Future__Mayor]

Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing

I too would like to know.

I can confirm this is true, it will be vacant but look for it to happen in May. I have a close source with ties to the future development of the property.

[Makid]

Sounds like Phase 2 for The West Quarter, may be moving faster than originally thought.

From the original plan, I think they were looking to have RWP clearing out in early 2022. With it happening around May 2021, this could mean that the overall timing has sped up.

I do think it would be nice to have 3+ projects undergoing excavation at the same time. It is this that probably lead to the speed up of Phase 2. This will allow the current workers to shift from Phase 1 to Phase 2.

I do wonder how many towers we will see continue above the Phase 2 podium. Will we see all 3 towers, just the Residential and Hotel, or just the Residential. Pre-Covid, the plan was for the Residential and the Hotel to go up immediately and the Commercial tower to be added once demand was there. Does anyone know if this is still the plan or if we may see all 3 towers rise simultaneously?

[Atlas]

Liberty Sky (March 21)


Source

Some great shots of the Hyatt Regency from March 26:





Source (and more photos)

[Old&New]

• Video Link

The Utah Pantages Theater is specifically named in the 2016 downtown master plan, adopted by the city council after much public input, as a building to be preserved and restored...

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Here's a view of the West Quarter that I had never seen before. It's from an online listing for the retail spaces in Phase I. A PDF with higher res versions of these is available there.

Originally Posted by scottharding

I got a mailer this week about the post office relocating. They're taking public opinion on where they should move, but my big take-away was that the lease is about up.

The news about the Post Office reminded me of these two posts from a month ago.

If the post office really is moving out in the next month or so, they may very well start demolition on that building this year and...dare I say...construction on Phase II?

In the online listing advertisement Atlas had posted, it states they plan on a Summer 2024 opening of Phase II, indicating they likely would have to start construction this year for a project that large. I hadn't thought they would start until Phase I was complete, so I didn't think Summer 2024 was doable.

However, with the news the post office will be leaving soon, they may indeed be planning to move ahead this year after all.

[Blah_Amazing]

Originally Posted by jedikermit

This has probably already been shared by Old&New or someone else, but if not, this is a 3D virtual tour of the Pantages Utah Theater: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=Fd4vp2gieEv

I thought I'd reshare this post from jedikermit with the 3D Virtual tour of Pantages.

I'm sad that I never had the opportunity to go in person, but I'm glad this exists at least. What amazes me is how stunning that lobby still looks. Yes its crumbling in some spots (particularly the west side), but the detail on that ceiling and the walls is just spectacular!

Gosh how I wish I could see a wonderful play or event there. I would have taken this theater any day over Capitol Theater, which is pretty but nowhere near the opulence this one has.

I know we are all trying to make peace with its planned demolition (and I am excited for a new tower), but I think this will be something our city will regret forever.

[Blah_Amazing]

https://citizenportal.slcgov.com/Cit...howInspection=

Another project has filed with the city in the North Temple/ Euclid Neighborhood area. This one will be replacing two houses at 811 and 815 West and 100 South.

The townhouse project called 'Folsom Row' will include two buildings with 5 units each = 10 total residential units.

[Atlas]

Very exciting to see West Quarter Phase II going forward. Walking from Main Street along 200 S, Block 67 feels so impenetrable right now. It's really going to be a nice urban gateway to the Vivint Arena when it's done, not to mention it may have a massive impact on the skyline. Right now, SLC doesn't have any towers that are more than a block or so from Main Street.

Anyone know what happened to the 95 State/Liberty Sky webcam stream? It's been down for a couple weeks now.

[Future__Mayor]

Bad news coming in from the Royal Woods plaza. Stay tuned.