Downtown Rising.

It's the rage! Well, not yet anyway. The Downtown Alliance, along with the Salt Lake Chamber, have created a new development plan to help spur development in the business center of Salt Lake. While nothing has really been drawn up by the plans, there is a great article in the Tribune about the possibilities. These plans have been done by college students from around North America (yes, even Canada is involved, too!) and most had positive things to say about downtown Salt Lake's potential.

You can read the plan here.

Here's some excerpts I found interesting.

Using City Creek is a must, the students said. The city is already talking about bringing the river - now entombed in a culvert between City Creek Canyon and the Jordan River - to the surface west of The Gateway. The students suggest freeing it earlier, from City Creek Park, and placing it atop North Temple to link Temple Square to what will be the LDS Church's educational campus three blocks away at the Triad Center, where LDS Business College and a BYU Extension is moving.

I've always thought downtown Salt Lake City lacked any real natural environment. Some cities don't have the luxury of being built next to a creek/river, Salt Lake City not only had that luxury, but decided to force the creek under ground. That was a stupid idea and hopefully the city actually resurrects it, because I believe it could be a much needed benefit to downtown Salt Lake. The creek is small, but I don't think many can deny it would beautify downtown.

Since 100 South isn't traffic-heavy now - it terminates at the Salt Palace - the students proposed eliminating some traffic lanes between West Temple and State Street and making it pedestrian-oriented with wide sidewalks and trees. "A place where people want to go," pitched Aaron Nelson, a University of Utah graduate. They proposed something similar for 300 South - eliminating some traffic lanes and adding small buildings to the middle of the street for delis, cafes, flower shops.

I like this plan, too! Salt Lake is very unique because of its wide streets, so anything that narrows them, at least downtown, is ok by me. I think 100 South from State Street and Main is rather unexciting, so it definitely would be a benefit to the city if they try and inject some liveliness into the area.

Finally, I found this to be interesting as well.

They suggested seven districts, including a Main Street District, known for its historic buildings, a Broadway District on 300 South, renowned as "restaurant row," and City Creek District, an "urban oasis."

I can't help but love the term urban oasis, something that I don't think anyone would use to describe downtown Salt Lake City. Though with good planning, smart leadership and wise development, Salt Lake very well could turn into that, at least I hope so. It also probably doesn't hurt that Salt Lake has a nice, condensed downtown. Most of the development is built around two main thoroughfares, Main and State. There's a starting point, now let's hope the city initiates its plan and sees it through.

As for what I would do to downtown, here's my ideas.

• I think it's important that the city connects Gateway with Main Street. Currently downtown is expanding westward and that means there's more and more development west of the Gateway. However there's still a lot of work to be done, but I do think the potential (there's that word again) is strong for this area. Firstly, west of Main and around the Gateway needs to be an entertainment/residential district. With the Delta Center and Gateway Shopping Center, you've got a great starting point. Clubs, bars restaurants and most importantly PEOPLE need to be the crux of this area. You do that by building residential lofts, condos and apartments throughout the neighborhood and all this development will start showing on its own. It will also bridge the gap between the central core and the Gateway.
• A trolley loop. No need to go into detail here.
• 400 South light rail development. 400 South is a key part of downtown and with the light rail line heading east up it, this area should be ripe for development. And I'm not talking about the suburban cookie cutter strip malls that have become more and more common on that street, either. High density, urban housing should work its way up toward the University of Utah campus. The city needs to take full advantage of the light rail line and that means putting residents right at the foot of it. 400 South is in a perfect location, right between the main core of downtown and the University of Utah.
• Mixed-use development sprinkled throughout the core. Gateway and eastern downtown have their share of residential development, but central business district does not. Outside of the American Towers and a few smaller condos, downtown is still lacking in this category. The LDS Church's plans are a giant leap in the right direction, but we can't stop there. We need more mixed-use development to anchor the southern area of Main Street (how about the parking lot where the old Newhouse Hotel once stood?) and we also need this kind of development on State as well. The more people that live downtown, the more lively it will become. Downtown Salt Lake should be a 24 hour city and currently, it's only an 9-5 city.

Currently that's all I have, but maybe I'll update my list later. Downtown's future is bright, but that's the same thing they said in the 1960s, and we all know how that turned out.

The Salt Lake Bungalow.

Salt Lake City, for being a western city, has an awful lot of bungalows in its central core. Back at the turn of the century, architectural styles changed from the Victorian to smaller homes and the bungalows were the obvious choice. Since a bulk of Salt Lake's growth happened from 1900-1960, bungalows are one of the most prominent housing stocks in Salt Lake, especially around the Liberty Wells and SugarHouse neighborhoods.

Bungalows are not a style, rather a type. There are different styles of bungalows, mostly relating to the regional area of the city. Most famously, there's the Chicago bungalow, which is rather compact and boxy. Typically these structures lack a porch and are dominated by the front of the house with the entrance being tucked away off to the side. These bungalows are non-existent in Salt Lake City.

The other most known bungalow is the California bungalow, which of course is related to the region of California. These are more common in the western US than most any other style of bungalow, especially in the southwest and, of course, California cities. California bungalows are characterized by their dominate porches, sloping roofs, stucco exteriors and have 1 to 1 1/2 stories. Though there aren't many in Salt Lake City, typically they can be found in the western part of the area, especially around 900 South in the Glendale and Rose Park neighborhoods.

The style in Salt Lake wasn't widely popular throughout the west and the brick style is in stark contrast to that of the stucco style of California bungalows. Typically, like the California bungalow, Salt Lake bungalows have a dominate porch, sloping roofs and have 1 to 1 1/2 stories. The Salt Lake bungalow is referred to as an Prairie-style bungalow. This style was actually developed to reflect the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright and also shares some influence with Japanese prints. This style isn't widely used throughout the west and can be found mostly in the midwestern area of the United States.

Another bungalow style in Salt Lake, though not nearly as much as the Praire-style, is the Foursquare Bungalow. This is often noted as the transition style between Victorians and bungalows, which explains their bulky, boxy shape. Foursquare bungalows have mostly 2 to 2 1/2 floors, wide porches and have low-pitched hipped roofs. The Avenues neighborhood, as well as the South Temple Historical District, offer the best example of this style of bungalow.

The best area to spot bungalows in Salt Lake is south of downtown throughout the Liberty Park neighborhoods of East Central South, Liberty Wells, East Liberty and West Liberty.
Here's an aerial view of a typical "bungalow" hood in Salt Lake City. This area is located just off of State Street and about 1100 South:

And here's some photos of some of Salt Lake's bungalow neighborhoods.

California Bungalows:

Salt Lake City Council looks to stop McMansion growth.

The Salt Lake City Council has approved a height limit for housing in historical neighborhoods at 23 feet high. I want to applaud the Salt Lake Council for taking a progressive, historically preserving action when it comes to retaining many of Salt Lake's historical neighborhoods. The rules also state that secondary structures cannot be larger than 480 square feet or 50% of the house size.

The Avenues Community Council however is proposing the secondary structure limit be raised to 600 square feet, telling the Salt Lake Tribune that they [Avenues Community Council] don't want people building 1,200 square-foot homes just to get the 600 square-foot garage. I agree with the community council, as this could create larger structures instead of curbing that type of development.

The Salt Lake City Council obviously feels that this is a pressing need and they are right. But we need to make sure there aren't many loopholes that actually deters the ordinance’s significance in the first place. Salt Lake has too many historical neighborhoods to allow McMansion development within them, especially when not many western cities can boast about the architectural housing stock throughout the city.

The Salt Lake Tribune article can be read here: SLC's new limits on rebuilding older homes taking shape.

Legaspi Company eyeing western Salt Lake. Gigante USA grocery superstore may anchor the Redwood Road site.

The Deseret News is reporting that the Legaspi Company is asking the Salt Lake City Council for a $2.25 million loan to help spur their efforts in building a shopping center on the city's west side. The shopping center would be located at Redwood Road and North Temple and the Legaspi Company is hoping to lure Gigante USA grocery superstore to the area.

The money, if given to the group, will come from the city's revolving business funds, which is replenished as past businesses repay their loans back. Gigante USA currently has stores in California, but has been looking to tap into the Salt Lake market for quite some time.

Gigante USA is an offshoot of Gigante Mexico, one of the largest supermarkets in Mexico.

Bush to Katrina evacuee: "Were you the only black man in Salt Lake City?"

Time Magazine has a great article on Pres. Bush's visit to New Orleans last week. In it, Bush is quoted as saying the following:

Touring New Orleans last week, he met a man who had survived for days on canned goods before being evacuated to Utah. "Were you the only black man in Salt Lake City?" Bush asked.

Apparently, the first thing Bush thought to ask this man was whether or not SLC had any black people. This guy probably saw his entire life uprooted by a hurricane, God knows if he lost any family members and Pres. Bush wants to know whether he was the only black guy in Salt Lake.

But that shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Bush pretty much said the same thing while in Brazil (he was surprised that Brazil had black people, too). How out of touch is this president? And what possesses someone to ask such an inane question?

For what it's worth, Mr. President, Salt Lake City does have a black population. Yes it may be small when compared to many other large populations, but it does exist. Maybe someone needs to forward the following links to the White House.

NAACP Salt Lake Branch.
Rep. Duane E. Bourdeaux (D - Salt Lake City)
Utah Jazz Roster
Calvary Baptist Church
Article on Somalian Refugees in Salt Lake City.

Idiot of the week update!

Yes, I have updated the slog idiot of the week. Go view it, read it and enjoy it!

LDS Church to SLC: No information is good information!

Yesterday the Salt Lake Tribune reported updated information on the downtown Salt Lake City malls. Except there really was no update and the article was mostly quotes from annoyed business owners who have been left in the dark over the entire redevelopment.

I can't fault the Tribune, maybe the prodding will finally get the LDS Church to release information on the development. Probably wishful thinking on my part, but hey it doesn't hurt to pretend, right? Like let's pretend Salt Lake City will get a new tallest out of this and the architecture won't conform to the typical blandness of past LDS office buildings (I'm looking in your direction LDS Office Building).

Maybe we should all just sit at the foot of the LDS Office Building and throw one long temper tantrum until the LDS Church finally reveals the details of this project. It could be fun, we can call it a Tantrum Sit In. Hey it works for toddlers, why not us?

I'm rambling, so here's some samples of the great update.

Many shops in the malls have moved or closed. And Taubman Centers Inc., the Michigan-based company working on the redevelopment with the LDS Church, hoped to begin a major overhaul on what it is calling The Shops at City Square. Didn't happen. Will it this year? The LDS Church isn't saying.

Well of course the LDS Church isn't saying anything. They haven't said anything since releasing their plans in the fall of 2003. Why would we expect them to change their tune now? I mean we're only going on three years this October, but who's counting?

"We don't know where we'll be, where we're going or a timetable," said Bart Stringham, president of Utah Woolen Mills, 59 W. South Temple. "We thought we would know something last year, by the end of last year. We keep expecting. . . . The rumor that we've heard is it could be as much as a year before anything gets going." Utah Woolen Mills is an important piece in the puzzle because it has a long-term lease and owns property on the Crossroads block. The church must figure out where to place the shop before proceeding.

Well isn't that nice. Even Utah Woolen Mills has no freaking idea what's going on. This either means Bart Stringham will look up one day to the sound of a wrecking ball entering the side of his store, or the LDS Church is still not ready to move on their plans. Now while I might be tortured by the current development actions of the LDS Church, I'm guessing they're not that sadistic to start construction without informing Mr. Stringham.

Bruce Reading, with the law firm Scalley & Reading, said his 40 employees are moving this week from KeyBank to Gateway Tower West, 15 W. South Temple, and he said other KeyBank tenants are emptying out. He noted that the church wanted to pull down the tower last fall. He hasn't been told a new deadline.

I'm starting to think that I'll wake up one day, take a stroll downtown and notice that the Key Bank Tower was cleanly demolished the night before. Hey, they're keeping us in the dark, who'd be surprised if they worked in the dark?

He said he would be "floored" if the buildings aren't demolished this spring. Louis Zunguze, director of the city's Community Development Department, said planners are ready when the church is. The city has not issued any building or demolition permits related to the malls, he said. "Something is about to happen sometime. We are ready. We're just waiting for their word."

Yeah and Pat Robertson is waiting for The Rapture to happen, too. Doesn't mean we'll be seeing good Christian folk disappear into thin air anytime soon. Ooh, that might be a great bet in Vegas. What are the odds the LDS Church actually develops the malls before The Rapture begins (well that is if you actually believe in it)? Hm, at this moment I'm inclined to say the odds are 1,000 to 1 that we see development before the end of times. Prove me wrong LDS Church, prove me wrong!

Construction seduction!

Interesting, a trailer has been moved to the old Social Hall site. Now this doesn't mean construction is about to start, but it does give me something to speculate about!

In my ever endless search of trying to discover the unprinted, unknown development news I came across this little gem (or is it just hardened mud?). Either way, it's more fuel for the fire!

The Downtown Alliance has a nice little pdf file on upcoming downtown development. While dated August of 2005, it does give us a little information on an office project located at 48 South, State Street. This project also happens to neighbor the old Social Hall site where the current trailer now sits. Proof that development is about to begin on an office building? Well, who knows, but something is definitely up at that site. Stay tuned for any updates on this mysterious trailer! Quick, someone call the X-Files.

In other development news, I noticed this project a few weeks ago around St. Mark's Cathedral. I looked up the construction company (Culp Construction) and found out they're expanding the cathedral, which is cool I guess as it develops the block even more.

I guess this proves God loves construction, too!