I'm Back

Well, I'm back to blogging about Salt Lake.  I don't know why I stopped for a year.  Anyway, a lot is happening with the new Courthouse, the many apartments, condos, office, etc going in downtown, most who have not been around for a while would have a tough time recognizing the place.  That brings me to this photo I took on Main Street a few months back.  In the photo, everything from the Montgomery Ward and to the south (right) of it are slated for demolition.  This would also take out the Prudential Building which people either really like or really hate.  The Prudential is the one with the spires on top of it.  The Montgomery Ward building is the red brick one.  Future plans call for a 20-25 story office tower where the Montgomery Ward building is and then from the Prudential building and the little one's next to it a "Broadway Style" theater that would seat about 2,400.  The theater is sorely needed in this city as Capitol Theater just can't support the shows or the numbers of people that want to see the shows anymore.  I imagine that in the next couple of years this block should look drastically different.

Skybridge

Downtown Salt Lake City now has a skybridge.  I went downtown Saturday evening at about 11:30PM and set-up the camera.  I set-up at the head of Main Street on South Temple.  Not a lot of people there.  I guess most everyone else was on 100 South looking at it from the other direction.  They started raising the bridge around 12:15AM and I finally left at around 1:40AM.  It was really cool to see those big cranes lift this bridge and then swing it into place.  The top and sides will be in glass with a concrete base.

Goldman Sachs on Main Street

Great news today for downtown Salt Lake City as Goldman Sachs made the announcement that they are moving into the newly completed 222 S Main highrise on Main Street.  They currently have 700 employees in their Salt Lake City office and plan on growing it to 1,150 employees in downtown.  They have signed a lease to take floors 7-14.  This is awesome because that means 222 S Main is now about half full with the attorney's on the upper floors and CBRE Richard Ellis moving in as well.  At this rate, it is time to get another skyscraper going downtown.  Now if only, downtown can start getting some of the companies out in the burbs to come downtown where the real action is.

Also, if you are a company that is looking to move to Salt Lake City or need more office space, you have got to check out this building.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Right in the heart of everything.  TRAX trains at your front door.  City Creek Center is only a block away and in a couple of years you will be able to TRAX straight from here to the airport.  It doesn't get much better than this.

Living Downtown

     Well, downtown Salt Lake City is not only rising, but like a phoenix is coming back from the ashes.  As we watched the old ZCMI and Crossroads Malls slowly deteriorate into a not so welcome place to go, we now have City Creek Center getting closer to completion.  Granted, there are still 2 years until completely finished but with parts of it coming online, I think people are getting more excited about this project.  The difference that this has with the old malls is the integration of people living downtown. 
     Also, a huge concern with people is that it would trap people inside the development.  That the skybridge would also detract people from going down to Main Street.  However, I think that with the interaction that all of these buildings have with the street, that will not be an issue.  There are also many access points into this development from all directions.
     Check out all of the housing that will be in this development.  The first picture shows the apartments that will be above retail on the west side of Main Street.

Here is The Regent, which is a 20 story condo tower.  Sorry everyone, but all 4 penthouse units have been sold or reserved.

Next you have Richards Court which stand right across from Temple Square.  Both buildings are 10 story's tall.  Here is a picture of the east building.  Lower level retail with condos on top.

Finally we have tower 1, which the word is that it will be called The Promontory.  30 story's of condos.  Beautiful all brick building which stands where The Inn on Temple Square used to be.  You can see it below right between the Kearns Building and the Tribune building in the picture.

It sure is fun to watch downtown come back to life. 

Deseret Book Flagship Store

I was downtown taking photos of the City Creek Center and when I went past the Richards Court towers on South Temple, I saw the large sign in the window saying that it will be the flagship store for Deseret Book and that it will be opening conference weekend on April 2nd and 3rd.  Very exciting to see parts of this project coming on line.  Below you will see where the new Deseret Book will be located along with the courtyard area between the two towers.  This location used to be the old entrance to Crossroads Mall.  What a change that has taken place?

ZCMI No More

The changes to downtown Salt Lake City have been amazing these last 3 years to say the least.  For those of you who remember downtown with Crossroads Mall and ZCMI Mall, it is definitely a thing of the past.  Welcome to City Creek Center.  This has been amazing to watch and will take our downtown to a whole new level.  I am excited to see all of these new condos come online and add people to downtown.  Below is a picture of The Regent.  It's a 20 story condo tower on 100 South between Main Street and State Street.  The glass is beautiful and changes its look quite a bit depending on the lighting.  You can photograph it in the early morning and it has a greenish look to it from one angle and then you see it from a different angle and it looks dark blue.  I can't wait for it to all come online.  It should creat a lot of fun areas to take pictures.

Tower 1 Topping Out

Tower 1 at the City Creek Center is topping out in Salt Lake City.  This photo is taken from Temple Square in downtown.  This condo tower will have amazing views of the Salt Lake Temple.  It has been awesome to read in the news lately about how well all of the condos are selling.  The current plan is to have Tower 2 be capped at 3 levels which will house the retail and then when the demand is there, build the remaining 17 stories.  Not that my opinion matters to them much, but I think it much wiser to build the tower now.  You don't have to finish the interior but at the very least build the shell and have it ready to go.  Building materials right now are soooo much cheaper than they were and I only think they will go up from here as the recession fades.  Here is Tower 1 towering over Temple Square.