Salt Lake City: Official Development News Thread - Part 5

[grasscom]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I disagree. The problems in the Rio Grand area has and does effect development. Besides that I don’t think there is enough going on in Salt Lake to warrent a separate thread. So until that happens I’m not going to accommodate your request... Sorry. Please feel free to ignore my post or block me if you feel the need.

I personally already think we Salt Lakers get all thread happy already. We have the Salt Lake thread, the Salt Lake Msa thread, sugar house thread, transportation thread, airport thread, Ogden thread, Provo thread, Utah valley thread, university of Utah thread, st George thread, and so on....

All of those can easily be condensed into three threads. And even then there still doesn't seem to be enough development going on around this puny little city to even sustain any of those threads except maybe only Salt Lake.

[brankrom]

This is why I laughed at the way SLC declared victory over homelessness in 2015 to national acclaim.

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100...cent-heres-how

With that said SLC is not unique I travel to many large cities and every city has a dangerous homeless area. i was in LA a few months back and ventured through the blocks and blocks of tents along the sidewalk in the Fashion District south east of downtown LA.

Homelessness is a direct result of America's complete lack of empathy and me first at at all cost ,trickle down clap trap and bargain basement education of the last 40 years. Europe (especially much lauded Scandinavian countries) largely has a much larger social consciousness and better safety net and I might also add a better quality of life and happier denizens.

[Makid]

Originally Posted by San Diego-Honolulu

I've been hearing rumors that there will be a new development announced in Salt Lake City on Friday. It's sounding like it will be a mid-rise development. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.

While I haven't heard anything directly, I did some digging and did find the following:

Utah Surgical, Interventional and Medical Simulation Center

http://utahsimscenter.com/index.html

From what I can tell, Utah SIMS @ 650 will take 2 complete floors (based on the floorplans).

This is what I have found so far. I haven't seen anything in the news yet about this but should expect it soon with it opening in just over 2 years.

So while not a big story, this is development related...

[FullCircle]

We had heard of the development, but it sounds like this is a secured major tenant, which always seems to be a hurdle for office construction. So yeah, maybe the announcement Friday is for the groundbreaking, which would be nice, as I'm pretty sure there is currently no office development under construction right now in the CBD.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Poor attempt at photography. University of Utah

[jubguy3]

Originally Posted by Liberty Wellsian

Poor attempt at photography. University of Utah

What building is that?

[stayinginformed]

Originally Posted by jubguy3

What building is that?

It is the new OSH, going to be named after Kem Gardner.

[ajiuO]

They still haven’t started taking down the temporary building from the ODR. I wonder what the situation with that is?

They put the glass up on the Vivint front area. It doesn’t have the white dividers like the rest of the building... I think it looks better though. They should remove them from the rest of the building... would update the look a bit.

[TonyAnderson]

Originally Posted by Makid

While I haven't heard anything directly, I did some digging and did find the following:

Utah Surgical, Interventional and Medical Simulation Center

http://utahsimscenter.com/index.html

From what I can tell, Utah SIMS @ 650 will take 2 complete floors (based on the floorplans).

This is what I have found so far. I haven't seen anything in the news yet about this but should expect it soon with it opening in just over 2 years.

So while not a big story, this is development related...

Nice find. Big if true - that's a much needed development.

[Liberty Wellsian]

Originally Posted by TonyAnderson

Nice find. Big if true - that's a much needed development.

I can envision our downtown extending south to envelop sears. It's early but what is happening /supposedly happening south of 400 is definitely exciting.

[bob rulz]

That Sears building is one of the ugliest buildings in Salt Lake. Sears is struggling big time, it's only a matter of time before that location closes. That's a big lot that can be redeveloped.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by bob rulz

That Sears building is one of the ugliest buildings in Salt Lake. Sears is struggling big time, it's only a matter of time before that location closes. That's a big lot that can be redeveloped.

I would rather see the Block north of little America developed before that... but it’s owned by the Mormon foundation and they mostly just like to buy property and sit on it with no intention of ever devolving it.

I think the city should implement some sort of sizable tax on surface parking, empty lots and abandoned buildings that are not in usable condition. That way it would be very expensive to land bank.

[jtrent77]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

I would rather see the Block north of little America developed before that... but it’s owned by the Mormon foundation and they mostly just like to buy property and sit on it with no intention of ever devolving it.

I think the city should implement some sort of sizable tax on surface parking, empty lots and abandoned buildings that are not in usable condition. That way it would be very expensive to land bank.

Yeah it's crazy that they developed one of the largest construction projects in the country during the downturn of the economy to give us City Creek Center. We should totally punish them.

[Orlando]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

Yeah it's crazy that they developed one of the largest construction projects in the country during the downturn of the economy to give us City Creek Center. We should totally punish them.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by jtrent77

Yeah it's crazy that they developed one of the largest construction projects in the country during the downturn of the economy to give us City Creek Center. We should totally punish them.

There are some huge difference with that situation.

1) That was not the development of unused land that the church had been sitting on for years.

2) They were pressured in to redeveloping the malls because gateway had stollen most of the business away and stores were leaving. Nordstrom wanted to relocate to gateway but the church got their way and the city would not allow it. Nordstrom threatened to close all of its Utah stores if some sort of acomidation was not made... That is one of the reasons that the church acted. They did not want an abandoned mall right across the street from their property. Also, the city probably would have allowed Nordstrom to move to gateway before they let them close all of their stores.

3) No one ever said that the LDS church doesn’t have the ability to to put up some amazing developments. They have gotten plenty of praise for the work they have done.

4) The fact that the church has done something good dose not excuse them from other bad behavior. They have been buying up land for years, and just sitting on it. They have ripped down buildings and left us with surface parking and vacant land. They actually have buildings that where once nice businesses for the community, and are now used for storage closets. The corner of West Temple and 200 West basically looks like a junk yard. So yeah, if the church is doing somthing bad they should be punished... just like anyone else should.

5) I never said anything about specificity punishing the church... I actually suggested making laws that makes land banking expensive. That includes all land bankers... It must be pretty obvious that the church is by far the biggest land banker in downtown Salt Lake if you were so easily able to form such assumptions.

[Jiffy]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

5) I never said anything about specificity punishing the church... I actually suggested making laws that makes land banking expensive. That includes all land bankers... It must be pretty obvious that the church is by far the biggest land banker in downtown Salt Lake if you were so easily able to form such assumptions.

I've heard this from many other people on this forum but if it wasn't for the church your downtown would be probably a lot more like downtown Albuquerque or Tucson. Be happy with everything they have done. They are the only ones who are keeping you guys somewhat relevant. Even if the church tried selling all their land for development use- there isn't even close to enough demand for office or residential use in Salt Lake to even develop the land, making them stay parking lots. So someone might as well own them and make a good investment out of them. There is no point in penalizing someone for owning land that can't sell for development.

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Jiffy

I've heard this from many other people on this forum but if it wasn't for the church your downtown would be probably a lot more like downtown Albuquerque or Tucson. Be happy with everything they have done. They are the only ones who are keeping you guys somewhat relevant. Even if the church tried selling all their land for development use- there isn't even close to enough demand for office or residential use in Salt Lake to even develop the land, making them stay parking lots. So someone might as well own them and make a good investment out of them. There is no point in penalizing someone for owning land that can't sell for development.

You don’t know what you are talking about... There is a huge demand for residential in Salt Lake. They are building apartment buildings anywhere that they can put them and they are filling up fast. Apartments in the building that I live in are often leased before people even move out of them. The high demand for living space and short supply are causing rent rates to go through the roof.

As far as I know office space fills up pretty quick here as well. I actually think it’s a shame that they didn’t build 111 10 stories higher because they would have leased it pretty quick.

Pretty much all of the land that the church owns could easily sell for development.... all the vacant land along third W. and second south is disappearing fast.

[Jiffy]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

You don’t know what you are talking about... There is a huge demand for residential in Salt Lake. They are building apartment buildings anywhere that they can put them and they are filling up fast. Apartments in the building that I live in are often leased before people even move out of them. The high demand for living space and short supply are causing rent rates to go through the roof.

As far as I know office space fills up pretty quick here as well. I actually think it’s a shame that they didn’t build 111 10 stories higher because they would have leased it pretty quick.

Pretty much all of the land that the church owns could easily sell for development.... all the vacant land along third W. and second south is disappearing fast.

Obviously nothing significant. Otherwise you guys would be talking about it on here. This is a developmental page and yet when was the last time you guys ever really talked a lot about downtown development? I come on this page to get away from all the development talk from all the other pages just to see what weird crap you all come up with to talk about today! Its quite amusing to follow! But there is no way if you penalize all the land bankers for holding land to sell all at once that I bet not even half of them would sell for quite a few years. Therefore penalizing all the land owners for something much out of their control without being able to sell for years. So your rudely penalizing someone for years for absolutely nothing then.

They will sell eventually- but not until the market dictates it. Why would they sell if there is still plenty of parking lots and empty lots that still need to be developed?

[ajiuO]

Originally Posted by Jiffy

Obviously nothing significant. Otherwise you guys would be talking about it on here. This is a developmental page and yet when was the last time you guys ever really talked a lot about downtown development? I come on this page to get away from all the development talk from all the other pages just to see what weird crap you all come up with to talk about today! Its quite amusing to follow! But there is no way if you penalize all the land bankers for holding land to sell all at once that I bet not even half of them would sell for quite a few years. Therefore penalizing all the land owners for something much out of their control without being able to sell for years. So your rudely penalizing someone for years for absolutely nothing then.

They will sell eventually- but not until the market dictates it. Why would they sell if there is still plenty of parking lots and empty lots that still need to be developed?

Maybe it’s not proper to call the LDS church land bankers. They mostly buy up property to hold on to for their own development 20-50 years down the road, maybe... but it’s still just as bad, if not worse... because if they were not doing that, somone else would be developing on the land... in order for somone to develop they need land. There are plenty of developers willing to build apartment buildings, they just need to acquire the land to do it, and when the church is buying it all up for he’ll know what in the future, that is tough, and that’s why I want to make it hard for them to do that. We do talk about the apartment building going up, but it’s not like there is a lot to talk about. It’s pret much the same process with every stucco apartment building that they put up around here.... but it’s still beter then parking lots, and moving more people down town will create a greater demand for business. Besides all that salt Lake is not a huge city.

[nushiof]

Originally Posted by ajiuO

Maybe it’s not proper to call the LDS church land bankers. They mostly buy up property to hold on to for their own development 20-50 years down the road, maybe... but it’s still just as bad, if not worse... because if they were not doing that, somone else would be developing on the land... in order for somone to develop they need land. There are plenty of developers willing to build apartment buildings, they just need to acquire the land to do it, and when the church is buying it all up for he’ll know what in the future, that is tough, and that’s why I want to make it hard for them to do that. We do talk about the apartment building going up, but it’s not like there is a lot to talk about. It’s pret much the same process with every stucco apartment building that they put up around here.... but it’s still beter then parking lots, and moving more people down town will create a greater demand for business. Besides all that salt Lake is not a huge city.

I was in Calgary a couple week ago. Calgary, population wise, is very similar to SL Valley, and an example of what SLC could aspire to be. Calgary has a great downtown. Lots of cool restaurants and vibrancy. I think they have strong banking and energy sectors in Calgary which lend themselves well to high rise office buildings. Calgary also has lots of tall condo towers. The problem with SL Valley is the mini suburban office parks that are exploding in Sandy, South Jordan, Draper etc. It's a shame SLC did not incorporate the whole valley because now you have these competing townships building cheap office space and even taking the RSL stadium away from the CBD in SLC. I was impressed with Calgary's downtown and love how is the central hub in that area. The way our valley is set up into townships disincentivizes centralized development in downtown SLC. Creating these secondary "downtowns" in Sandy is pathetic. There is no history or soul in car centric office parks.

Rant over.