1 week Ago
Today, the south side of North Temple between the Jordan River and Redwood Road is a desolate swath of concrete. Within the five-block stretch, the towering Gadsby Power Plant sits near Rocky Mountain Power’s aging brick office building, the now-empty Ramada hotel and its surviving tasty tenant, Star of India. But starting early next year, the opening salvo of a $3.
5 billion redevelopment project will get underway here. The reimagination of the Power District, as it’s known, will radically transition this part of Salt Lake City from a largely industrial area bereft of community amenities to a gleaming, mixed-use area hosting corporate headquarters, new housing and, if a group of powerful Utahns gets its way , a Major League Baseball stadium. That shimmering new development would create a sharp contrast with what sits just across the main west-side drag: the Salt Lake City KOA, a next-door recreational vehicle and mobile home park, and another mobile home community for those older than 55, called All Seasons.
The properties make up some of the few-remaining affordable housing options in a city that has faced a steep increase in housing costs . Critics worry that the redevelopment plans could drive out that affordable housing and gentrify the surrounding Fairpark neighborhood. Amid the uncertainty, Salt Lake City Council Chair Victoria Petro said she’s losing sleep over making sure those living nearby can still reside here once the area has a new sheen.
“This opportunity can bring improved services; that element of gentrification is fine,” Petro said. “But my mantra has been, ‘Not one neighbor is disposable for this kind of development, not one person who lives in that mobile home park, not one business that’s been there surviving despite the stigma.’ Displacement is an absolutely unacceptable possibility for me.
” The planned district got the nod from state lawmakers last winter when they created the boundaries of the district and committed at least $900 million in taxpayer money to the construction of the ballpark and other Power District destinations, such as bars, restaurants and hotels. The Larry H. Miller Co.
is leading the redevelopment effort and investing an additional $3.5 billion in the project. There’s no existing housing within the confines of the district, despite plans in recent years to turn the Ramada into affordable apartments for Utahns experiencing homelessness.
( LHM has since purchased the dilapidated hotel. ) Amanda Covington, a spokesperson for the company, said the redevelopment of the Power District will include “additional opportunities for housing,” and that LHM has “heard from the community that they would like to see a mix of affordable and market-rate housing options.” Covington did not respond to questions about whether LHM has plans to prevent displacement in the wider neighborhood, or if the company wants to avoid such displacement.
Gentrification and displacement (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Housing and a power station in Salt Lake City's soon-to-be-redeveloped Power District on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. Gentrification, at the most basic level, starts when an influx of money comes into a lower-income neighborhood.
The resulting domino effect can lead to the displacement of both people and beloved businesses as the neighborhood becomes more desirable. “There’s a reason why those trailer home parks and the KOA are there,” said Alessandro Rigolon, a city planning professor at the University of Utah . “It’s because they’re across the street from a power plant and so, historically, those very inexpensive forms of housing have been located in sites where the land is cheap.
And the sites where the land is cheap tends to coincide with proximity to environmental disamenities, like a power plant and the pollution that comes with it.” Rigolon anticipates Fairpark will be gentrified, especially if a ballpark is built. “I would expect some effect, because you’re substituting land that is not very nice to be around or to live nearby with something that, despite the sort of on-and-off nature [of baseball games] and the traffic influx, may be more of an amenity than it is now.
” As people look to live in or nearby the Power District amid redevelopment, property values will likely rise, Rigolon said, raising property taxes along with them. Mobile home and RV park owners are unlikely to be willing to swallow those higher taxes on their own and may pass on those costs to renters living on their properties, raising rates, he said. Property owners in the neighborhood could also decide to sell to a developer willing to pay big bucks for the opportunity to build more expensive apartments and places for new businesses.
All Seasons mobile home park, however, is not for sale, property manager Teri Alvarado said, adding that she’s been getting calls daily from would-be buyers. Most of the park’s residents live on fixed incomes and would struggle to relocate, Alvarado said. “In Salt Lake City, the mobile home market is really hard,” she said.
“You’re not going to find an empty space; it’s really, really hard to do that. So, most of my people would have to walk away from their homes. Some of these homes can’t be moved; you get them out on the road and they’ll fall apart.
It would be just them having to walk away, which is sad, because it would be devastating for most of my tenants.” Alvarado estimated about 240 people live in the community. Most residents own their mobile homes but rent the land on which they sit.
The entrance to All Seasons is on Redwood Road, slightly northwest of the Power District and tucked behind the KOA. Alvarado hopes that distance means the property’s value won’t escalate too much. She also sets rental rates based on what other mobile home parks in the Salt Lake Valley are charging, and does not take into account what apartments or other housing options nearby cost.
Alvarado hopes those two factors will keep the cost of living low and the park in business despite potential rent spikes nearby. Anti-displacement tools (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Recreational vehicles near Salt Lake City's soon-to-be-redeveloped Power District on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024.
Salt Lake City doesn’t have any tenant assistance programs that specifically target those who live in mobile homes or RV parks, even though moving out of those communities can be complicated. Petro is pushing for the city to partner with a developer to build a new manufactured or modular housing development on city-owned land along Redwood Road. She, then, would give people who have been displaced by new construction first dibs on living in the proposed community.
If they are displaced, those who live at the existing parks could take advantage of new tenant-focused programs, like relocation assistance funds and a soon-to-open city-run tenant resource center. The city is also looking to boost the supply of affordable units across Utah’s capital. The Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency allocated $17.
7 million in March to build over 1,500 new units. The city recently introduced a policy that requires a developer looking to increase housing density on a property to negotiate with city officials on including some community benefits in the final project. For example, if a developer did buy the All Seasons and wanted to build a market-rate apartment complex there, city officials could require the project to include some affordable units or create new park space.
That policy only comes into play if a rezone is required, though. The KOA is already zoned for higher-density housing so it’s possible a developer would not have to go through that process, depending on the project’s specifics. The All Seasons and parts of the Power District would need a rezone if the property owners wanted to build more or new housing.
Hopes for new west-side amenities Despite fears of displacement, Petro and others believe the development of the Power District can be managed with Fairpark residents in mind and could bring additional community benefits. Petro hopes the project can encourage other Salt Lake City residents to cross the east-west divide and spend money at longtime west-side businesses. She also wants a higher level of maintenance on city roads, sidewalks and in parks.
Others in the city are advocating for new assets on the west side of town, which lacks bars, boutiques and other fun destinations. At a Rose Park Community Council meeting in the spring, one resident said she’d love to see a grocery store open in the district — a popular request among west-siders . City officials are pushing for the inclusion of a community center and a transportation hub in the redevelopment, according to Ruedigar Matthes, policy and program manager in the city’s Department of Community and Neighborhoods.
Matthes wants to make sure Fairpark residents still feel at home in their own neighborhood as redevelopment happens. “We don’t want to say we want to make it vibrant, because it already is vibrant,” he said. “But we acknowledge that there are issues with crime.
We acknowledge there are issues with unsheltered homelessness that we need to mitigate, and part of that is creating more housing, part of that is greater street activation ...
We’d love to have it be culturally contextual so that the folks who currently live on the corridor or in the adjacent neighborhoods don’t feel like what’s happened isn’t for them.” Construction is set to start on Rocky Mountain Power’s new corporate headquarters in early 2025. LHM officials are still deciding what other kinds of buildings and destinations they’ll construct in the new district.
In order to access hotel tax dollars for the construction of the ballpark, LHM must have an expansion agreement in place with Major League Baseball by 2032, the same year Rocky Mountain Power is planning to retire the Gadsby plant. With the giant new investment — ballpark or not — on the way, Petro wants to preserve the culture of the west side, and make sure its people can stay, too. “Keep the west side, the west side,” Petro said.
“What’s happening over here is great.” Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.
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