In Pictures: Wilmington Gardens exemplifies community focused design
The Sugar House neighborhood in Salt Lake City already has abundant open space, including the City’s largest park and multiple public plazas. The neighborhood is setting the standard for incorporating open space with private development. The Wilmington Gardens development, on the 1200 East block of Wilmington Avenue, shows how private development can enhance the surrounding neighborhood through good design and providing public amenities.
At the center of the recently completed, development is a public plaza that connects Wilmington Avenue to Hidden Hollow.
The Sugar House project includes two mixed-use buildings that are two and seven-stories respectively, 212 residential units, ground floor retail, administration and academic space for Westminster College and modern town-homes fronting Hidden Hollow park.
Wilmington Gardens is not the monochromatic box that Salt Lake has become accustomed too for mid-density projects. The project has various elevations that break up the space while using exterior materials like brick and metal instead of beige stucco.
The residential units will be a mix of market rate apartments and student housing. The plaza increases accessibility to both Hidden Hollow and Sugar House Park via the Sugar House Draw. The new connection also provides a more direct route for pedestrians and cyclists using the S-Line to get to Sugar House Park.
