City lists downtown Parry Block for sale – with some conditions
John Rogers
Salt Lake Business Journal
A prime chunk of downtown Salt Lake City real estate has hit the market at a reasonable price. But if you want to develop it, you have to do so according to the vision for the area by the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA).
The parcel, which CRA calls the Parry Block, is located on 100 South between 600 West and Dansie Drive, along I-15 and the FrontRunner rail line. Located in Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande District, the site is listed at 2.33 acres and priced at $12.175 million, The property “gives developers a chance to shape one of the city’s quickly transforming neighborhoods,” the listing says.
But shaping the neighborhood comes with some conditions. Developers must build at least 116 housing units, with half of those being condominiums for sale. The design for the development must also include a minimum of 10,000 leasable square feet for “arts uses” and 1.5 percent of the hard costs of development must be spent on “public art.”
The agency will also require sustainable design with all-electric buildings that will earn an Energy Star score of 90 or greater and net-zero electric operations using on-site or off-site renewable generation. The bulk of parking spaces for the development must be other than ground-level.
Parry Block is currently zoned as Gateway-Mixed Use (G-MU), which allows building heights up to 180 feet with a minimum height of 75 feet. The land is currently mostly vacant with the exception of a vacant house, a vacant barn and a self-storage building. The area was once the home to a Wasatch Community Gardens urban farm.
“Parry Block offers convenient access to so much of what downtown Salt Lake City has to offer,” the listing on commercial real estate site crexi.com says. “It is just one block from The Gateway and two blocks from the Delta Center. It is only two blocks away from UTA’s Salt Lake Central and North Temple stations which provide frequent service to SLC International Airport, Park City and the entire I-15 corridor from Provo to Ogden.”
When plans for Parry Block were announced last year, CRA said the land would be sold to help cover the cost of needed infrastructure in the Rio Grande District. Previous agency policy had called for long-term ground leases for lots owned by the city
The CRA said it will accept proposals for the land until May 15.
This may not be the only city land becoming available for purchase and development in the Rio Grande District. The city council voted in a meeting late in March to rezone 32 parcels of land between 200 and 300 South and between 500 and 600 West. The proposed upzone would change the designation to Downtown Secondary Central Business District usage, likely opening the way for the CRA to seek additional requests for proposals for the area from developers. In addition to city ownership, some of the 32 parcels are owned by the University of Utah.