Commission approves large mixed-use downtown project
The 200 West block of 200 South is one of the least vibrant in downtown Salt Lake. The block is dominated by dead space: surface parking, suburban style-storage facility, several vacant buildings and an aging office building that is significantly set back from the street level. On Wednesday, the Salt Lake City Planning Commission approved a conditional site design review (CSDR) for a project that could significantly enhance the vibrancy along this stretch of 200 South.
PEG Development plans to build an eight-story boutique hotel and seven-story mixed-use apartment building on the northeast corner of the block near the 200 West and 200 South intersection. The project will take up a significant portion of the block. The project area is zoned D-4 (Secondary Central Business District) which allows heights up to 75 feet outright and up to 120 feet through the CSDR process.
The hotel will have a height of 109 feet, while the apartment building will have a height of 84 feet. The project area consists of 11 parcels and all but one of the buildings will be demolished to make way for the development. The 105-year-old Sweet Candy Company building, at 224 S 200 West, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and will be incorporated into the project.
The boutique hotel will occupy the northeast corner of the block fronting both 200 West and 200 South. The 95,000 square-foot hotel will be under the AC Marriott Hotels brand. The hotel will include 164 guest rooms that will occupy floors two through eight. The ground level along 200 South will house the lobby and reception desk as well as a lounge, breakfast area and outdoor patio. Meeting space will occupy the 200 West portion.
The apartment building will be located mid-block, directly west of the AC hotel. The building will include 182 residential units, with 30 studio units, 74 one bedroom units and 78 two-bedroom units. On the ground floor will be street-oriented retail and the residence lobby. All of the units will be market rate.
According to the developers, the apartment building, and the hotel will be connected by a plaza that “will serve as the hub of activity for the development.” The plaza will allow vehicular traffic, but the developers promise that it will be designed for the pedestrian with “bicycle storage, benches and planters will enhance this plaza and add human scale” that will give the pedestrian priority.
The apartment building will wrap around a 339-stall parking structure that will provide parking for the two new buildings and the existing Sweet building. Just under 100, surface parking stalls will surround the Sweet building.
