The re-urbanization of 200 South
The 200 South corridor in Salt Lake is a street finding its identity. The stretch between the depot district street fluctuates between dead zones, homeless services, mixed-use shopping centers, public plazas, boutique hotels, a growing nightlife scene and urban decay. Even among the street’s diversity, one block feels decidedly out of place, the 300 East block of 200 South, a largely vacant block directly adjacent to downtown Salt Lake.
The block’s tenants include a drive-through burger joint, a big-box store with the large surface parking lot, an abandoned storage facility and a large surface lot surrounding the blocks most urban resident, the Northwest Pipeline building (the former public safety building).
But of all the blocks along 200 South, it is this block that could set a new standard for growth while it transitions from the most suburban block to one of the most urban outside of downtown.
Just before Christmas, the city announced that they selected Cowboy Partners and Form Development to build a mixed-use, mixed-income project at the Northwest Pipeline site.
The project includes the adaptive reuse of the Pipeline building as well as the construction of two adjacent residential buildings and a parking structure. The project will consist of a combined 248 residential units. The project will include 11,200 square feet of commercial space and 1,210 square feet of rent-free space for businesses that employ the chronically homeless. The residential units will be a mix of affordable and 155 market-rate units with 65 units reserved for permanent supportive housing and 28 units reserved for residents earning 40-60 percent of the area median income (AMI).
According to the current site plan, the supportive housing will occupy the Magnolia, a 71-foot six-story building that will front 300 East. The Magnolia will feature a community kitchen, clinic and the 1,210 square-feet of commercial space intended to provide employment opportunities for the building’s residents.
The Northwest Pipeline building will include residential units above a ground floor restaurant, leasing office and lobby. The restaurant will occupy most of the first floor with outdoor dining space on both 300 East and 200 South.
The market and affordable housing units will occupy the Liberty Uptown, a 66-foot five-story mixed-use building that will front 200 South and Arnold Place, a small street that will be rebuilt off of 300 East. Liberty Uptown will share a public plaza with the Pipeline Building on 200 South. The ground floor will include two commercial spaces that one fronting 200 South and the other accessed from the plaza.
The Northwest Pipeline development could be the first of several new projects on the 300 East block of 200 South. The federal government has offered the vacant, 1.54 acre, Salt Lake Motor Pool property at 330 East 200 South in exchange for renovation work of the James V. Hansen Federal Building at 324 25th St. in Ogden. That property fronts both 200 and 300 South and could accommodate a large mixed-use project.
Another potential project is at the site of the 801 Labs, a two-story office building between Crown Burger and the Twilight Lounge. That property also includes an adjacent surface lot. The parcel has been listed for sale for months and could accommodate a small to medium scale project.
The block is also adjacent to both suggested routes for the proposed downtown streetcar. The current preferred route has the streetcar running north/south on 300 East from 100 South before heading west at 200 South. The original proposed route would have the eastside portion of streetcar run it entirely on 200 South.
