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Date: September 26,
2004 Funding: Projects in downtown SLC will be ongoing, but not everyone agrees the Redevelopment Agency is the way to go; Issues of SLC redevelopment under debate Heather May The Salt Lake Tribune Nordstrom is staying. College
students are coming. The downtown malls will get a makeover. And there is
talk of a new office tower rising on Main Street. Yes, things are looking up, but
downtown Salt Lake City apparently still needs help.
The city's Redevelopment Agency (RDA) wants more time and more
money -- hundreds of millions more -- to lure more development downtown.
The City Council, which governs the RDA, is seeking to continue
diverting some property taxes generated downtown by extending the Central
Business District through 2040. That could mean up to $17 million a year
for new projects -- from loans and grants to private businesses to
building public infrastructure -- starting in 2015. That amounts to $425
million over 25 years, though the exact figure is still being negotiated.
"Our downtown is something that is continually evolving and is in
need of continuous investment," RDA Director Dave Oka said. "RDAs are one
of the few tools we have that are effective for economic development."
Extension of the Central Business District doesn't involve a
property tax increase, Oka said. Instead, under one proposal, half the
extra property taxes generated by future development would be diverted
from the city, library, school district, Salt Lake County and other taxing
entities. Representatives of each of those groups make up a committee that
will vote next month on the extension. If the panel votes no, city leaders
might go to the Legislature -- an avenue they don't want to pursue because
of Mayor Rocky Anderson's sometimes-frosty relations with lawmakers.
The city isn't naming any one project for the RDA money. But
leaders lately have discussed a handful of ideas. There is affordable
housing. The Salt Lake Chamber -- whose leaders support the extension --
wants to turn a downtown block into an arts district that would include a
$68 million face-lift for the Utah Theatre as well as
construction of satellite museums and smaller performing-arts theaters.
Chamber leaders also want to move homeless-service providers
farther south, away from The Gateway shopping center, and perhaps provide
temporary and transitional housing at the new location.
Plus, a Major League Soccer team will want a new stadium by 2006 --
possibly near downtown Salt Lake City. Murray, West Jordan and Sandy also
are vying for the stadium.
There are old ideas the council hasn't supported but Anderson is
pushing, including a $6 million renovation of Pioneer Park and a $2.1
million fix-up of 300 South to make the midblock parking stalls permanent
and add landscaping and entrance markers.
The city doesn't expect the LDS Church to ask for public money when
it redevelops the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls or when it brings
two college campuses -- Brigham Young University Salt Lake Center and LDS
Business College -- to the Triad Center for a combined cost of
approximately $500 million.
The Central Business District -- created in 1969 to contend with
suburbanization -- expires in 2007, though the RDA will continue to
collect money through 2015. But most of that ($15 million a year) will go
toward paying off past projects -- such as the Delta Center and Franklin
Covey Field -- leaving about $4 million a year through 2015 for other
projects. The RDA now spends about $16 million downtown.
Tony Weller, owner of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore on Main Street
who has received some RDA money, supports the extension. He wants the
money to go toward free parking garages to end the perception there is no
downtown parking.
"If they could put [up] three sizable municipal parking lots," he
said, "I'd be happy to throw the whole lump at it."
Still, he recognizes what some view as problems of RDAs. For one,
that the RDA created competition for Main Street by investing in The
Gateway and Sugar House Commons.
And Weller said developers take advantage of the RDA system,
letting their properties deteriorate and then asking for government money
to fix them. People have pointed to the Utah Theatre --
which has languished for years -- as an example. Owner Rick Howa has said
he tried to develop the property in the past but there wasn't a market.
"When the community gets desperate enough about a screwed up
neighborhood, they turn to government for solutions. That's the proper
role of government," Weller said. "It's played to its maximum value by
developers and land speculators."
The "cannibalization" between RDA districts is part of the reason
the Utah Taxpayers Association opposes the RDA extension, as well as RDAs
in general.
Vice President Mike Jerman said funding public education should be
a higher priority than other public projects. He plans to lobby the taxing
entities to oppose the extension, believing it doesn't spur economic
development because the redevelopment might have happened without RDA
assistance.
But an RDA-commissioned study shows its $177 million investment in
the Central Business District since its 1969 birth generated a $715
million spending spree by private groups and other public agencies. Oka
anticipates the same level of investment in the future.
McKell Withers -- superintendent of the Salt Lake City School
District, whose support is critical to the RDA extension -- believes the
state should require RDAs to be funded differently instead of "on the
backs of kids."
Even so, he might support the plan if more money came to the
schools and less to the RDA. Under his proposal, the RDA would get around
$340 million over 25 years. The RDA may be amenable.
"We agree downtown Salt Lake City will probably need redevelopment
money forever," Withers said. "It's just what you do in an urban center."
hmay@sltrib.com
What the Redevelopment Agency has done
In Salt Lake City's Central Business District, the RDA:
* Spent $59.3 million in the 1980s and '90s to build the Gallivan
Center and associated parking garage and streets.
* Put $20.4 million toward the $80 million Delta Center in 1990,
helping buy land, build a public plaza and reconstruct 400 West.
* Sold land near Gallivan Center in 1996 for $2.15 million to a
developer to build Marriott City Center Hotel.
* Loaned $1 million in 1999 to turn the Continental Bank Building
into the Hotel Monaco, a $17 million project.
* Spent $24 million in 1998 for Main Street beautification.
* Funneled $5.2 million in loans and grants toward the $16 million
renovation of the Brooks Arcade building in 2002.
* Loaned $2.8 million to bring KUTV Channel 2 to Main Street in
2003.
* Granted $360,000 to existing and new Main Street businesses in
2003 and 2004.
* Loaned $2.5 million toward the $5.6 million purchase by Salt Lake
Community College of 115 S. Main St. for the college's Metro
Campus.
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