A developer has pitched a plan to replace a surface parking lot and shuttered restaurant on 400 South with 20 for-sale townhomes, according to new plans submitted to the city this week.
The proposal calls to replace the former Village Inn restaurant with large attached single-family homes in three buildings at 910 E. 400 S., in the East Central neighborhood.
The project is unique for multiple reasons, including that it sits within the Transit Station Area zone but would include less density than the buildings that have recently been added to the corridor that leads up to the University of Utah. It is also one of the relatively few for-sale projects entering the pipeline.
Because the project sits within the TSA zone and the units include two-car garages it falls well short of the requirements for fast-track approval. Instead, it will go through the city’s more stringent design review process at the Planning Commission.
Jarod Hall, owner of Di’velpt Design and the lead architect on the project, said the development team is waiting to create more advanced renderings for the project until it enters the design review process.
City staff will review the existing TSA application, confirm that it falls short of the score necessary for fast-track approval, and the team will submit full renderings.
“You have to have the rejected TSA points before you can submit for design review,” said Hall, whose firm is an advertiser on Building Salt Lake.
Development Details
- Owner: Kensington Home Company
- Architect: Di’velept Design
- Civil Engineering: Wilding Engineering
- Landscape Architecture: Landform Design Group
If built, the townhomes envisioned by the project would likely fetch a high price point, given the likely cost of acquiring the property.
The 0.76-acre property hit the market last May for $5.7 million. At 20 townhomes, that would represent a land cost of $285,000 per home. That could put each townhome north of $1.4 million.
The homes planned are also large and range from 2,697 square feet to 4,376 square feet.
It’s not clear what the project owner, Kensington Home Company, may have agreed to pay for the property. County records show the Florence J. Gillmor Foundation hasn’t sold the property, indicating Kensington has it under contract pending city approval for the project.
Hall declined to discuss Kensington Home Company. An address for the company is the same one as the development firm Urban Alfandre, a Building Salt Lake advertiser that has also been moving to grow its for-sale development offerings.
Urban Alfandre didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
It will likely take up to a month for the city to review the TSA application before staffers confirm the project must go through the design review process.
“The transition zone is a great zone for townhomes. It’s just, it also allows a lot more so the land price is generally too high to do them,” Hall said. “This owner hasn’t talked specifically about it other than just like every apartment owner they’re struggling to put stuff new together. They think this can happen in the current environment and still not lose money.”
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