Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[i-215]

I'm starting to worry about your new governor. The last two were reasonably good.

Read the article. It isn't horrible, considering the legislature he has to deal with.

[delts145]

Originally Posted by meman

Drove by 95 State tonight, the lobby appears almost open and the video screen was playing, It looks really neat!!!! Huge Screen!!

Pics somebody please!!!

Originally Posted by meman

I think the new Boise residential tower looks a hell of a lot better than our

Liberty Sky.

Maybe so, and that's why I'm glad Cowboy Partners has nothing to do with the upcoming half a dozen or more residential Salt Lake towers, all of which are much better looking than the Liberty Sky or Boise Tower. I swear, Cowboy Partners seems to do a bait and switch on almost all of their projects.

[BretUtah]

Here are a few pic updates.

[scottharding]

I said this over on the reddit page, but I think the look of Liberty Sky would be improved substantially if the exposed concrete vertical slabs were converted to (covered in?) green walls.

[StevenF]

Originally Posted by scottharding

I said this over on the reddit page, but I think the look of Liberty Sky would be improved substantially if the exposed concrete vertical slabs were converted to (covered in?) green walls.

We should start referring to it as The Bunker or Soviet Tower and see how Cowboy Partners reacts to the name.

[Boz]

Originally Posted by BretUtah

Here are a few pic updates.

Great shots. Thanks for sharing.

[Atlas]

Thanks for the photos, BretUtah! The lobby of 95 State looks great.

Also, good to see SevenO2 nearing completion. Thanks RC14! Hopefully Midtown can keep up the momentum!

Here's a recent video showing some of the projects in that area:

• Video Link

Originally Posted by Orlando

Have any of you looked at the recent proposed budget by Governor Cox? He's got $140 million going towards infrastructure development by the Point of the Mountain/former state prison land. But, nothing for infrastructure improvement in the capital city. I wish we even something like $20 million for the Grand Boulevards, or improvement of infrastructure in the Granary. But, no. This is the same old Utah politician preference...sprawl development. Is there a way to petition the Governor and congress people to get money for the Grand Boulevards project?

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/12...t-lake-drought

Yeah, it seems clear that the state wants to emphasize the POM development and Silicon Slopes over the capital. Disappointing but not unexpected at this point, I guess. The infrastructure money for the POM is mostly for the BRT line, correct?

[bob rulz]

I'm pretty salty about the horrible church facade on 95 State. It really ruins the sleek look of the rest of the tower. I walked down there today and it's not very welcoming at ground level. I don't recall it being in any of the renderings.

Compare the glass corner to the church portion - it's a night and day difference in feel. Even Social Hall Plaza doesn't feel particularly open with the concrete facade along the side.

[airhero]

I agree guys, Liberty Sky is an abomination. Is there a way we can permanently ban and exile Cowboy Partners from Salt Lake? I am more optimistic about some of the upcoming highrise projects.

I wish I had gotten pictures today but was at the Gateway and I love the visual impact The West Quarter has in that part of town. I'm gonna reserve final judgment for when it's finished but I'm happy local developers like Ritchie Group and Lowe Property Group are stepping up a bit and building quality stuff.

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I'm pretty salty about the horrible church facade on 95 State. It really ruins the sleek look of the rest of the tower. I walked down there today and it's not very welcoming at ground level. I don't recall it being in any of the renderings.

Compare the glass corner to the church portion - it's a night and day difference in feel. Even Social Hall Plaza doesn't feel particularly open with the concrete facade along the side.

It's ugly. The Church of ... builds a lot of great stuff but their chapels are underwhelming and this one is no exception. On the bright side it will be the one place bustling Sunday downtown for 5 minutes 4 times a day.

[allh]

Originally Posted by StevenF

We should start referring to it as The Bunker or Soviet Tower and see how Cowboy Partners reacts to the name.

I lol'd so hard at this. It's like they knew the Astra was going to overshadow them, so they gave up on the design.

[rockies]

It sucks that it's a church regardless but I think I might've preferred the original rendering. I am excited for the tunnel though.


I think this is the current rendering? I wonder when steeple will be finished

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I'm pretty salty about the horrible church facade on 95 State. It really ruins the sleek look of the rest of the tower. I walked down there today and it's not very welcoming at ground level. I don't recall it being in any of the renderings.

Compare the glass corner to the church portion - it's a night and day difference in feel. Even Social Hall Plaza doesn't feel particularly open with the concrete facade along the side.

I think the stonework or precast work is actually pretty good. There's some neat detailing and chamfering. I do think, though, that they should have had more glass on the ground floor. I get that they need privacy for church stuff, but they could have used opaque or translucent glass along there. Most City's have a 'glazing percentage requirement' at street level, but maybe SLC doesn't have one for State Street. Anybody care to get some close-ups of this portion? especially from the northwest corner?

[Always Sunny in SLC]

Originally Posted by Orlando

I think the stonework or precast work is actually pretty good. There's some neat detailing and chamfering. I do think, though, that they should have had more glass on the ground floor. I get that they need privacy for church stuff, but they could have used opaque or translucent glass along there. Most City's have a 'glazing percentage requirement' at street level, but maybe SLC doesn't have one for State Street. Anybody care to get some close-ups of this portion? especially from the northwest corner?

Agreed. The stone work is high quality and nice, but of course street engagement is dreadful.

[i2theSKY]

This is an earlier up close photo of the north side taken by BretUtah. The stone work is high quality and very attractive. I think it makes for an interesting contrast next to the tower glass. I do agree with those saying the street level portion would've looked more engaging with more glass however. Overall I think it's a very attractive tower. I just wish it were closer to 500' than 400'.

[Atlas]

I like the stone, tbh. I don't like that the building frontage on State street is basically a wall with no engagement but the material itself is really nice.

Thinking about it, white stone/paneling is one of the few things I can think of that could develop into a "signature" architectural design element for buildings in SLC. It's evocative of historical buildings in SLC like the Temple and Hotel Utah (and the COB...) as well as the white of the Salt Flats and (less directly) the GSL. This may be part of the reason we are seeing it show up in projects like Astra and WQ Phase II. Or maybe I'm just staring at ink blots and seeing patterns.

The other facade material that would give our buildings a more regional character is copper, and we are already seeing that in the Convexity Tower. SLC with a bunch of copper and white towers gleaming in the sunset will be gorgeous.

[mstar]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

I'm pretty salty about the horrible church facade on 95 State. It really ruins the sleek look of the rest of the tower. I walked down there today and it's not very welcoming at ground level. I don't recall it being in any of the renderings.

Compare the glass corner to the church portion - it's a night and day difference in feel. Even Social Hall Plaza doesn't feel particularly open with the concrete facade along the side.

I was downtown on Saturday at City Creek and I got a good look at the finished 95 S. State. I may be weird, but I really loved it. I like the contrast between the white stone and dark glass. I think it turned out to be a beautiful project and a great asset to the city. As for the Liberty Sky . . . . . .not so much!

[JohnGalt]

Here are a few more pics of 95 State I just took a few minutes ago. The fencing on the sidewalk was just taken down over the weekend. It looks like the lobby is open as well.

[TMoneySLC]

Originally Posted by Atlas

I like the stone, tbh. I don't like that the building frontage on State street is basically a wall with no engagement but the material itself is really nice.

Thinking about it, white stone/paneling is one of the few things I can think of that could develop into a "signature" architectural design element for buildings in SLC. It's evocative of historical buildings in SLC like the Temple and Hotel Utah (and the COB...) as well as the white of the Salt Flats and (less directly) the GSL. This may be part of the reason we are seeing it show up in projects like Astra and WQ Phase II. Or maybe I'm just staring at ink blots and seeing patterns.

The other facade material that would give our buildings a more regional character is copper, and we are already seeing that in the Convexity Tower. SLC with a bunch of copper and white towers gleaming in the sunset will be gorgeous.

I really like this idea. I think generally buildings using more local/local appearing materials would lend a greater context to the built environment. To that end, I think that RES’s use of sandstone on towers was a giant whiff. Perhaps more suited to southern utah, but it seems out of place up here.

That said, I’m not the biggest fan of the Jeckyl/Hyde look on the bottom of 95 State. I’m holding out judgement on Liberty Sky until Astra is in and there’s a little bit more context to hold it against. It does seem like a bit of an outlier at the moment though. What I specifically do not enjoy about Liberty Sky is the blue lighting on top at night. I feel as though our skyline is being overrun with neon blue (Liberty Sky, Wells Fargo, Walker (on clear nights). It just seems a bit much for me. I with they would have gone with something a little more… subdued or subtle to highlight the nice lines on the rooftop club house. As is, it really just seems garish to me.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by TMoneySLC

I really like this idea. I think generally buildings using more local/local appearing materials would lend a greater context to the built environment. To that end, I think that RES’s use of sandstone on towers was a giant whiff. Perhaps more suited to southern utah, but it seems out of place up here.

That said, I’m not the biggest fan of the Jeckyl/Hyde look on the bottom of 95 State. I’m holding out judgement on Liberty Sky until Astra is in and there’s a little bit more context to hold it against. It does seem like a bit of an outlier at the moment though. What I specifically do not enjoy about Liberty Sky is the blue lighting on top at night. I feel as though our skyline is being overrun with neon blue (Liberty Sky, Wells Fargo, Walker (on clear nights). It just seems a bit much for me. I with they would have gone with something a little more… subdued or subtle to highlight the nice lines on the rooftop club house. As is, it really just seems garish to me.

To be fair, the hills behind the U actually have quite a bit of reddish sand/stone. It's actually pretty interesting how different the soil color is there when you compare it to adjacent areas. Plus the school color is red. But I agree, definitely not the kind of red stone you see in southern Utah.

I've said this before but Liberty Sky is quite literally a copy/paste job from a design that's been used in a bunch of other cities. I'm glad we will have the new units downtown but it's certainly not a beautiful or unique building.

[TMoneySLC]

Originally Posted by Atlas

To be fair, the hills behind the U actually have quite a bit of reddish sand/stone. It's actually pretty interesting how different the soil color is there when you compare it to adjacent areas. Plus the school color is red. But I agree, definitely not the kind of red stone you see in southern Utah.
.

If memory serves me I believe they actually got that sandstone from India?