| General Description
Previously the Union Pacific Railroad had primarily use and ownership of this 40-acre site. The tracks were installed in the late 1800s and the passenger and train depot being built in about 1902. Union Pacific and affiliated railroad companies were the principal landowners over the 100-year period. During this time-period, Salt Lake City was the only sizable settlement between Omaha and Sacramento. During the late 1950s, Union Pacific constructed an office building on the corner of South Temple and 400 West. In the late 1990s, as part of the reconstruction of I-15, Salt Lake City was able to work with the Utah Department of Transportation and rail users in the Salt Lake Gateway District to shorten the 500 and 600 South off ramps. The shortening of the off ramps required severing the rail lines from 700 South to 300 North along the 500 West corridor. Once severed, Union Pacific Railroad was in a position to declare the railyard behind the Union Pacific Depot as surplus and sell the property. The Gateway site was acquired in 1999 by Gateway Associates, Ltd., a company owned by The Boyer Company, a Utah based real estate development firm. Approximately two acres of the southwest corner of the property was privately owned. The buildings located within this quadrant being used in the past as a boarding house, police substation, tavern, location of a local cab company, a machine shop, a plumbing contractor, an auto repair shop, a jewelry shop, a bakery, Salt Lake City Corporations weights and measures operation, and other various light industrial uses. This property was acquired by the Redevelopment Agency in 1999. A portion of it later being sold to Gateway Associates, Ltd. Prior to acquisition of the property from Union Pacific Railroad, both the Agency and Gateway Associates participated in an extensive Phase II Environmental Testing project. Results from this test indicated that the soil was contaminated with surface oil/gas and creosote along the existing rail lines. The majority of the testing was provided by a Targeted Brownfields Assessment from the EPA, in which $100,000 was granted from the Brownfields Showcase Community grant. Because of the potential risk of RDA owned property being contaminated beyond what was discovered during the Phase II Environmental Testing, the Agency purchased environmental insurance to protect against undiscovered environmental problems, which could surface during the construction phase of both the Park Blocks Project as well as during the Gateway Associates Project. The Park Blocks Project began as part of this development to improve existing infrastructure, which suffered from severely deferred maintenance of public streets and utilities. Remediation of these contaminates took place while Gateway Associates excavated approximately 40 feet in depth to prepare for underground parking structures including three parking garages and over 2,500 underground parking stalls. Remediation occurred by removing the contaminated soil from the site to an approved location, as well as removal of contaminated topsoil where excavations did not occur. This development, now known as The Gateway, is a two-phase mixed-use development of retail (650,000 square feet), office (650,000 square feet), residential (at least 350 apartment and 150 condominium units, of which 135 units will be Affordable Housing Units), and cultural space. It includes the 500 West infrastructure, entertainment and restaurant improvements with structured and underground parking, the public plaza improvements, the Right-of-Way improvements, and the North Temple Frontage Easement. This development also includes the renovation of the Union Pacific Depot. The project is a pedestrian-oriented outdoor lifestyle project with restaurants, shops, and entertainment opportunities. It also includes a state-of-the-art Planetarium along with a new IMAX theater and contains a 12-screen multiplex theater. The Gateway is home to the Olympic Legacy Plaza. The Plaza commemorates the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games with a $3 million dollar Olympic fountain, the Wall of Honor, and the Olympic Pavers. The biggest challenge of this project had been managing the complex nature of this $300 million mixed-use development. This was not a project that could be built one building at a time, but instead required the establishment of a critical mass from the beginning to make it successful. Coordination of the entitlements, leasing, construction, and operations of retail space, office space, apartment and condominium units, restoration of the historic Union Pacific Depot, and construction of several streets and plaza areas was particularly challenging with a less than two-year timeline. The project was completed before the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, providing a positive pressure to get the development finished on schedule. Top Funding Remediation and testing costs, in the amount of $50,000, were covered by the EPA Brownfields Pilot Grant. The Agency also paid approximately $8,000 for environmental insurance for the street portion of the project. However, the developer absorbed all environmental costs as part of the excavation for three levels of underground parking. Because the Agencys Depot District Redevelopment Project Area was created in 1998, relatively little tax increment was available to assist in the construction of the project. However, once completed, the project would create a larger tax increment in this area. The Agency was able to use these future tax increments as incentives and assistance for the project. By signing a participation agreement, with the Agency and the Gateway Associates, Gateway Associates will receive reimbursements for parking stalls related to the housing units; right of way improvements along 100 South, 200 South, 500 West, and Rio Grande Streets extension; the construction of a public plaza, and renovation of the historic Union Pacific Depot building. In this agreement, the Agency was also able to set a cap on the reimbursement at $16,500,000, as well as receiving the assurance of disincentives added that would discourage the leasing of retail space in the project to retail merchants already located on Main Street, or leasing space for larger retail establishments (no more than 45,000 square feet to be leased to any single retail facility). The intentions to create a viable project without taking away from other project areas, as well as encouraging the development of small and medium-sized retail establishments within the Depot District. Below is a list of the tax increment reimbursements as well as its description: Right-of-Way Reimbursement: These include Right-of-Way improvements (including construction management fees and design fees but excluding any monis expended by the Developer for upgrades above the Citys minimum standards). $2,778,861 Public Plaza Reimbursement: Public Plaza improvements excluding the costs of the land on which the Plaza is located. $4,461,511 Depot Preservation Reimbursement: Money expended by Developer for the Union Pacific Depot improvements and renovation. $5,957,791 500 West Infrastructure Reimbursement: Park Blocks construction management fees and design fees. $122,251 Housing Building Improvements Reimbursement: Housing units with 1 or 2 bedrooms completed and served by a underground housing unit parking stall. $1,620,000 Housing units with 1 or 2 bedrooms completed and served by a structured and enclosed housing unit parking stall. $270,000 Total initial reimbursements authorized to date: $15,210,414 Total Project Costs are as follows: The Retail/Office/Housing Project: $375,000,000 Street Portion of the project $18,600,000 Total Project Costs $493,600,000 Top |
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| URA UTAH REDEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION |
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| GATEWAY ASSOCIATES PROJECT |
| Project Description
Located in the Depot District Project Area The Gateway Associates Project consists of 40-acres previously used as a rail yard and passenger station Development is comprised of a $300 million mixed-use, mixed-income development that incorporates the renovated historic Union Pacific Railroad Depot. This project includes 2.5 million square feet of space for retail and entertainment, office, cultural facilities, a public plaza, underground and structured parking and 500 residential units (135 of which are designated as affordable housing) and a hotel Pedestrian-oriented infill development project that encourages mixed-use, affordable housing, Brownfields Showcase revitalization, and stimulates economically blighted areas within the Depot District Project Area |
| Parties Involved
The Redevelopment Agency (RDA) The Boyer Company and parent company of Gateway Associates (Developer) The Jerde Partnership International, Inc (Architect) MHTN Architects, Inc. (Architect) The Foy Bradford Company Dames & Moore Environmental Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Union Pacific Railroad Economic Development Administration Department of Housing and Urban Development Carian Wills & Associates Colliers CRG |