Square). On occasion, however, public entities have speculated with private developers to create a more vibrant downtown using private resources that are more ready and robust than what is available in municipal coffers. The search for affordable housing and the now ubiquitous automobile literally drove people into the suburbs during the 1950s and 1960s. Prior to that, the city’s abundance of government centers, business, retail, entertainment, education, apartment complexes and, of course, the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, kept people on the streets day and often at night. Then, as people wanted to shop and work closer to where they lived, downtown became less attractive. City leaders recognized this exodus could leave the capital city hollow and derelict and looked for new ways to attract people downtown. The Second City Plan was a detailed plan devised by downtown leaders and Utah’s Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture to drive more people downtown (see “The Salt Lake City Second City Plan” on page 16). The report suggested building a convention-cultural center (including a 2,500 seat music hall), a performing arts theatre, a visitor center, a transportation center for public transportation, a merchandise mart, a farmers’ market, hotels and motels, and parking. At that point, the LDS Church complex was under construction. Since then, many of those recommended improvements have been built and rebuilt. There have been several major large-scale developments to transform parts of the City’s center. From the late 60s to the 80s, they included: 1. Salt Palace Convention Center: First built in the late 1960s, and remodeled and expanded when the Delta Center was built in the 1990s. The Convention Center has had several additions and adjustments. 2. Bicentennial Art Center: Included Abravanel Hall, UMOCA and a refurbishment of the Capitol Theatre funded by Salt Lake County and the Utah State Legislature and completed in 1978. 3. Crossroad Plaza and ZCMI Center Malls: Built in the 1980s to attract suburban shoppers back downtown. 4. Triad Center: Adnan Kashoggi’s 1980s three-phase grand scheme called for 43-story skyscrapers and 25-story residential towers. Clearly, some of these projects have been more successful long‑term than others. The Salt Lake Convention Center thrived, but at the expense of an historic district with businesses operated by people of color. The Salt Palace construction took down most of Japantown, a vigorous center of Asian-run businesses by eminent domain, declaring the area blighted. The Triad Center went bankrupt after two phases. In 1988, AIA Utah worked with the national AIA to bring in a Regional/Urban Design and Assistance Team (R/UDAT). A group of nationally recognized architects and urban designers teamed with local design professionals, city leaders and businesspeople to analyze the condition and the potential of Salt Lake’s Downtown. In its Executive Summary, the authors wrote that the city had “lost the critical mass necessary to a vital downtown.” The report included many recommendations including building a 20,000-seat arena, a 750-seat theater, historic preservation controls, a parking management plan, light rail, judicial/government center and large public plaza. A Retail District, a Convention, Cultural & Sports District, and an Arts and Entertainment District were called out. Several of these projects were realized through public finding, and other projects were initiated by private interests: 1. Delta Center: Built in 1991 by Larry H. Miller Companies to accommodate the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake Golden Eagles. The land belongs to Salt Lake City. 2. Gallivan Center: 3.65-acre urban plaza, including amphitheater and ice-skating rink opened in the 1990s. 3. The Gateway: Just prior to the 2002 Olympics, the Gateway Shopping Center was built with taxpayer assistance by the Boyer Company. The open-air mall nudged people to come further west around the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Railroad Depots. 4. City Creek Center: In 2012, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ development arm replaced the Crossroads and ZCMI malls with an inward facing high end retail center. 5. Utah Theatre and its property on Main Street: In 2021, Hines Development negotiated an agreement with the SLC RDA to purchase, for free, the Utah Theatre and its property on Main Street, demolish the theatre and build a 31-story residential mixed-use project, that is to include a parking garage with publicly accessible rooftop 24 REFLEXION
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