Quote:
Originally Posted by Blah_Amazing
All this being said, I think in future we all do need to stop constantly trying to compare Salt Lake to other cities, especially ones far, far larger. Cause your just setting yourself up for disappointment.
I think it is important for people to remember that up until now, Salt Lake has been little more than a minor regional capital that was (and still frankly is) relatively obscure to the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world. That is slowly (I emphasize slowly) changing, but many of you seem to think the city should somehow go from the depths of obscurity to a world capital overnight. It just doesn't work that way.
You all keep bringing up examples of 1,000 ft+ tall towers that cost $500 million+ each asking 'why SLC isn't getting something like this?' It's cause Salt Lake is not Brooklyn, New York.
I do believe the future is bright, and I think the 2020s will be Downtown Salt Lake's greatest decade yet.
But this whining about why every tower doesn't look like it was designed for the rich in a place like Dubai or apartments towers for billionaires in New York needs to stop. Saying a slight design change or addition here or there is one thing, comparing our early days developments or our skyline to buildings (like 9 dekalb avenue) and cities much larger (like Phoenix) is getting ridiculous.
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Since I have a little more time, I thought I would expand a little on what I was saying a few days ago.
*I apologize in advance for the post's length and I recommend strongly watching at least the Salt Lake City on the Edge documentary below - its great.*
WHERE WE WERE
One of the main reasons why I'm not super fond of comparing Salt Lake to other metros is because every city's urban story is different.
Some cities never saw a sharp decline in their downtowns in the mid-twentieth century. Other downtowns completely collapsed. The vast majority, including Salt Lake City, landed in between.
Depending on how early a city started to revitalize itself and to what degree those efforts were successful really determines what stage that city is at right now. It should also be noted that the way a city was initially designed and built has an impact as well. Salt Lake, with its special wide blocks and roads was designed with perfect agricultural living in mind, not urban. This still impacts the city to this day, making it difficult to recreate the same 'cozy' feel that eastern cities have.
In the 1989 KUTV documentary series (3 part series below) '
Salt Lake City on the Edge' we see just how bad the urban decay in Salt Lake City had become.
• Video Link
• Video Link
• Video Link
This is could be seen as particularly shocking because the 1980s was Salt Lake City's greatest tower building decade.
I made this chart for the
List of tallest buildings in Salt Lake City Wikipedia page.
However, my theory is that Salt Lake City was so focused on the development of towers that too little focus was being paid to what was actually happening at groundlevel. Salt Lake as a place people live and wanted to be as pedestrians was collapsing even as large (mostly) office towers geared towards commuters were being built. Even with the construction of the Salt Palace and other cultural draws, the city was falling into sharp decline as people moved to the suburbs.
The documentary above is so important because it shows exactly how Salt Lake City planners, the RDA, other city officials, and developers started to switch their priorities heading into the 1990s and beyond. Namely:
- moving away from tower promotion and construction and towards mid-density restoration and redevelopment
- focusing on fixing the declining downtown shopping malls and 'raising city creek to be above ground' (the city creek part only kinda happened with an artificial creek).
- Improving the quality of city controlled streets at street level - we see the plans for the revitalization of Main Street. This also includes the promotion of mid-block accesses and walkways.
This change in focus is the primary reason why Salt Lake City's downtown is not as filled with towers as many of us would like. However,
it is the reason why downtown Salt Lake City is much more livable than it was at the height of our 1980s tower construction.
It is no coincidence that after the early 1990s tower construction tapered off until the completion of City Creek and 222 Main in the late 2000s and 2010s.
In fact, it is directly because of these changes in priorities and policies in the 1990s that resulted in City Creek Center and the urban renaissance we are currently experiencing today.
For reference, below is an amazing 2012 documentary on the history of the two blocks that became City Creek.
• Video Link
The success of mostly LDS funded City Creek, 222, and 111 as well as dozens of mid-density apartment developments in the 2010s has lead us to where we are now.
WHERE WE ARE NOW
We now sit at what I really consider is the very beginning of Salt Lake City's true renaissance. City Creek helped stop the bleeding, clear out much of the infection, and set us on an initial path of revitalization that we have experienced in the 2010s.
Now though we are starting to see all that work really pay off with a dozen towers either planned or under construction. Over a hundred mid-density projects are either planned or under construction either downtown or throughout the city.
Just as important, Salt Lake is starting to see foreign (non-Utah) developers and investors take an interest in the city for the first time in its history.
All of this is AMAZING for Salt Lake.
But it is still just the start. This is where I think frustrations seem to be occurring.
Yes, Salt Lake is behind some cities, but it is also ahead of others as well.
I think it is important to remember that City Creek, really the catalyst that truely kicked off our downtown revitalization opened only a decade ago and into the aftermath of financial crisis as well.
Comparing Salt Lake's 10 year old revitization to cities that are 30 or 40 years into theirs isn't being fair at all. Today we are starting to really reap the benefits of the past decade of successes, but we are still young in our rebirth.
However, the future is VERY bright.
WHERE WE ARE GOING
Now we enter my speculations. Obviously the projects that are currently under construction as well as the vast majority of projects planned will happen, adding thousands of residents to downtown Salt Lake and tens of thousands to Salt Lake City in general.
What is happening right now with Astra Tower and Worthington is out of state developers are essentially 'testing the waters' so to speak. They are trying to see whether or not the Salt Lake market can take tower developments of their type, size, and price. The success or failure of these towers will likely shape the next thirty years of development in the city.
If the current set of planned towers are successful, I suspect by mid-2020s Salt Lake City will start to truly EXPLODE. With proven successes, more foreign (non-Utah) developers will feel comfortable building even larger and grander projects. This is why it is imperative these projects are successful if we ever want to see Salt Lake rise to much more impressive heights.
I think, barring some economic or social collapse, we will see a period of about 30 years where Salt Lake City will always have at least 1 tower under construction at any time - more likely many more. My prediction is we will have a skyscraper by 2030 and multiple skyscrapers by 2040.
We may be behind on towers now, but I think we will catch up really fast. I think in about 20 years downtown Salt Lake will be nearly unrecognizable. I would even go as far as to predict that by around 2040-2045 not one tower that is currently announced or exists today will be in the city's top ten tallest buildings.
So to those of you who are concerned by our lack of towers and skyscrapers all I can say is: patience. They will come.
SUMMARY
Salt Lake, just like every other city, has had its own path to revitalization. Ironically, I think the RDA's hyper focus on tower building in the 1970s and 1980s really set us back because it was helping to paper over the overall decline the city was experiencing. While I don't blame them, this did set Salt Lake behind other cities (often the cities y'all like to compare SLC too) that seemed to identify the problems and solutions earlier on.
I summarize the decades like this:
1980s - Hidden decline - Intense RDA sponsored tower development but declining downtown population, retail, and livability
1990s - A shift in policy - Salt Lake started focusing on developing plans to revitalize downtown with a focus on mid-density redevelopment, increased walkability, planning for the Olympics, public transit, etc.
2000s - City Creek - The planning and construction of City Creek, clearing out the two blighted downtown malls really set the stage for Salt Lake's renaissance.
2010s - Post-City Creek boom - Initially set back because of the lingering impacts of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, the overall success of City Creek breathed new life into the downtown area. Downtown felt safer, cleaner, and more livable than before. This resulted in the start of the residential boom we are still experiencing today.
Speculations:
2020-2025 - testing the waters - Salt Lake's boom enters a new phase, as we gather more out of state developers interested in the city, including new towers. The success of these projects will determine SLCs longer-term prospects as a 'Great American City.'
2025-beyond - Skyward we go - with easily developable land becoming scarce, even for mid-density - developers have no choice but to start going skywards. It is in this time Salt Lake starts acquiring legit skyscrapers, downtown starts to spill out into other areas, and ascends to new heights.
Again I would just like to reiterate that we are still at a very early stage in our redevelopment era, spanning really only back a decade or so.
This is why I think it is folly to compare Salt Lake to cities that are much further along their own path. Can we learn from them and work to improve? Sure! But we are NOT them. We are at where we are at. Wishing us further along doesn't make it so.
I think the city's future is only going to get brighter. The skyscrapers will come in time. Frankly, with the population growing and land becoming more scarce, its basically inevitable. So just be patient.
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The condo with that view is for-sale at that link for 900k, by the way.
There are innumerable tower tops around that Salt Lake City should emulate to spice things up a bit but still remain timeless and elegant without being boring.
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