May 2024 | Urban Utah Homes and Estates

Creative Wards

May 25, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

I went to a friend’s new office at 95 South State Street-you know, the all-glass 25 story building that sits on the corner of 100 South and State, just west of Harmons. It’s a beautiful building inside but what really impressed me is the fact there is a four story meeting house for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at the base of the tower. Frankly, upon learning this, I did a palm-to-forehead slap and said to myself, ‘Brilliant!’. You can tell when walking or driving by that building that the first four floors look much different than the glass tower sprouting up from the new Wards inside. Look closer and you’ll see a church steeple not on top of the glass tower but coming up from the street in between the building (heading north on State Street) and the canopy covering the tunnel entrance under State Street on historic Social Hall Avenue. The original Social Hall for gatherings was there and used until 1922.

Many forward-thinking developers like to see a variety of uses in a project and many cities require joint-use spaces in their zoning rules and regulations. For example, it’s common to have retail on the main street level of high rises to cater to pedestrian traffic such as restaurants, bars, convenience stores, boutiques, etc. This building currently hosts six congregations (Wards) for their weekly worship meetings, one of them for Young Single Adults and another one for Spanish-speaking members. There are two chapels which can host two congregations at the same time as well. This meeting house was built to accommodate all the saints who are renting downtown in the new apartment buildings that have gone up recently and to promote a walkable community. If you’re familiar with downtown Salt Lake City think for a minute…where are the Wards and Stakes? There are very few of these buildings for worshippers in the heart of the city, so it only makes sense to have a mixed use for business and worshippers in the same space. During nice weather there’s a roof terrace for office tenants during the day and for Church groups at night and on the weekends, a Sunday School room and a place for the Relief Society to meet.

This isn’t unique for the Church itself to capitalize on mixed-use. Due to high rents, they have created joint-use spaces in Viginia, Alexandria, Brussels, London, and New York. The office towers provide revenue for the meeting houses. The Church has stated that tithes were not used to construct the office tower and was developed via City Creek Reserve, the real estate arm of the Church. FYI, the Manhattan location at 125 Columbus Avenue is under renovation and members will be sharing space in the beautiful and historic West End Collegiate Church on the corner of West End Avenue and 77^th Street for the next few years.

The Creepies

May 9, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

I recently had a new client to the area wonder about sex offenders that were located in a neighborhood where she wanted to purchase a new home. Her concerns were especially strong as she has two very young children and wants a safe neighborhood to live in upon closing escrow. She Googled a particular address and found there were over 30 offenders living within a few miles of the home. No surprise to me as I get this question a lot, and frankly I was surprised there weren’t more noted on the site she was using. There are a tons of websites that may lead you to the information but the best one of all in Utah is the Utah Department of Corrections which uses OffenderWatch®, the nation’s leading registered sex offender management and community notification tool. It’s updated instantaneously throughout the day with offender addresses and other information. All you do is enter an address in the State of Utah and you will see real-time info on the publishable offenders within a specific radium of the address you enter.

For example, I entered a random address of 125 So. State Street, which is where the Federal building is located downtown. The site found 12 offenders in 10 locations. I clicked on the numbered dots on the map and instantly find a photo, name, age, height and weight, eye and hair color and address of the offender. As examples, one lives on 2^nd Avenue and was found guilty of ‘lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor under 16’, convicted in 1998. Another, living in Farmington but showing up on the downtown map was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child in 2008 and was released in 2013. When I changed the address to Westminster University on 1300 East and 1700 South, 10 offenders came up. Seven offenders were listed within a mile surrounding BYU’s Provo campus, 4 within a mile of Utah State University in Logan, and 3 within a mile of Utah Tech University in St. George.

A convicted sex offender can remain on the list for a long, long time. If a person is convicted of a sex crime and was required to registered as a sex offender, then granted a pardon by the Board of Pardons, they qualify for removal from the state registry. They can be on the registry for 10 years or for life depending on the seriousness of the crime. Hell, getting caught pissing in public can land you on the site as a sex offender! Offenders also cannot live near daycares, preschools, public pools, public or private schools, parks, or playgrounds.

Want to know where the creepies live in your hood? Start with the Utah Department of Corrections website for the most up to date information and you can even register for email alerts if one moves nearby.

Fences and Potholes

May 2, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

In the past six weeks I’ve had three flat tires from driving around downtown. Each time my hero ‘Joey’ at Burt Brothers tires has pulled out a long sheet rock screw out of my tire. This maddening fact is due to the massive amount of construction downtown, and between the awful potholes and the detritus on the streets from all the construction going on in Salt Lake City I might want to tell you all to AVOID the area!

Yes, the Temple is under construction and the east and west sides of the block are ingress and egress for supply trucks, cranes and a myriad of workers. The previous visitors’ centers been torn down and the area where the North Visitors Center was located is going to be turned into a reflective garden and the South Visitors Center on Temple Square is becoming an all new above-and below-ground facility for new guest experiences. Go east a block and you’ll see that the Lion House is fenced off as it is now having some upgrades to address structural deficiencies, preserve aging finishes, and replacement of outdated mechanical systems. It’s been closed since 2020 and the Beehive House will close April 8. The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is also undergoing similar work and all three buildings will re-open in 2025. The Church Office Building Plaza and neighboring Main Street Plaza are also being fluffed up. The Beehive House (yup, there’s a beehive sculpture on the top of the building) was built in 1854 as Brigham Young’s primary residence until his death in 1877. The same year the Beehive House was finished, Young began construction on another home next door where he installed a 1,200-pound stone sculpture of a lion (thus the name).

As for driving, here’s the streets going under the bulldozer this summer: 300 North (300 West to 1000 West), 2100 South Reconstruction (700 East to 1300 East), Virginia Street Reconstruction (South Temple to 11th Avenue), West Temple Reconstruction (North Temple to 400 South), 1300 East (2100 South to 3300 South). Most of the streets need ADA ramps, better bike lanes, new curbs, gutters and sidewalks. I’m not sure how the City will update Virginia Street as it’s pretty narrow, but the plan is to have a continuous sidewalk on the west side, uphill bike lanes to, traffic calming elements and improved bus stops.

Finally, remember it’s Spring in Utah! That means you can golf or bike to the Great Salt Lake one day in sunny weather or the next day it will snow and you’ll be heading to the slopes. Spring brings out the WORST potholes throughout our town and we will all be cursing what they do to our cars and bikes until they are filled. The City likes to spend about three weeks each spring having a ‘Potlhole Palooza’ to put extra focus toward repairing these street holes.