Distillery and restaurant to open on Salt Lake City’s West Side
Food and beverage options on Salt Lake City’s West Side are about to get a big boost. A new distillery and restaurant/bar in the Euclid neighborhood is putting its final financing pieces in place.
Congregation Spirits Distillery and Standard Candle Bar & Grill have purchased property on 900 West just north of the Union Pacific tracks at 23 – 37 North.
The Redevelopment Agency Board is set to approve a $850,000 loan of “gap financing” on the $3.6 million project at its Tuesday meeting this week.
The project will rehab the 12,000-square-foot Utah Quality Service building (photo above) and demolish two homes. It will refashion the noteworthy wrought iron entrance and include a patio fronting the street, a bottle shop for sale to the public, and a fruit orchard.
The principals of the project are Sean Neves, a co-owner of Water Witch in Central Ninth, and Bryan Wrigley, owner of Lotus Companies, a mid-sized development firm with a wide portfolio including food and beverage investments.
Neves will be joined by his partners at Water Witch, Scott Gardner and Matt Pfohl, on the operations side.
RDA Loan
Terms of their RDA loan include a series of discounts for meeting RDA policy goals. The RDA’s standard fee is the US Treasury’s 10-year interest rate plus 3%.
The Congregation project achieved reductions of 0.5% each for meeting RDA criteria for sustainability, public amenities, adaptive reuse, permanent job creation (32), transit alternatives, and economic impact. That results in a 3% discount for a 2.37% interest rate for the first five years of a 10-year note, raised 2% to 4.37% for the last 5 years of the term.
Project Context
The most common land use in this area of 900 West is auto-service businesses. The project is a block north of the RDA’s Folsom Corridor. It’s an area of manufacturing, light-industrial, and neighborhood service uses, including a number of Latino-owned businesses.
The Folsom Trail, an off-street walking and biking trail along the corridor is set to receive its first stage of construction funding in this year’s city budget.
Across 900 West from the Congregation Distillery site is a Dollar General and The Red Tree Room. Red Iguana 2, the sister location of the renowned Red Iguana three blocks to the northeast on North Temple, is just steps to the east along South Temple and the UP tracks.
