Final demolition at The Point makes way for 'pure opportunity'
Brice Wallace
With a powerful nudge, a couple of pieces of heavy equipment recently toppled what once was a guard tower at the former Utah State Prison site. Now the focus is on what will rise there.
Demolition work at Point of the Mountain in Draper is nearing completion, making way for The Point, a mixed-use development on 600 acres of state-owned land that is envisioned to be the core of development on the surrounding property.
During the tower-toppling ceremony, Draper Mayor Troy Walker said the site symbolizes “pure opportunity.” Alan Matheson, executive director of the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority, said it will be something that Utahns “can be very proud of and enjoy for generations to come.”
Jordan Teuscher, a state legislator and a co-chair of authority board, noted that the prison’s razor wire and guard towers in place for over 70 years are virtually gone, “and this site that was previously isolated, closed and restricted will become open and accessible for all Utahns to enjoy.”
“The concrete that once constrained the inmates who were here,” Matheson said, “is pretty much gone, leaving a blank canvas that we’ll be using to build a future-focused community — one emphasizing innovation and livability, a place where people can live, work, recreate and visit in the future. … So, in a very literal and figurative sense, we’re transforming this old prison site from a place of restraint to a place of innovation and opportunity and hope and growth.”
Demolition is more than 90 percent complete, likely to be finished in October, less than a year after it began. Even before infrastructure is completed, the building of Phase 1 — what Matheson described as “the sweet spot of this project” — will begin on 100 acres in the heart of the development. It will feature shopping, retail and dining options and an Innovation District designed to nurture and generate ideas and create businesses.
Buildings there will rise as soon as 2025, Matheson said.
Teuscher said completion of Phase 1 will offer Utahns the opportunity to bike, walk, take transit or drive; to enjoy parks, trails, sporting events and picnics; choose from a range of housing options; to shop at a mix of global and local companies; and to work at high-quality jobs in high-end office space.
“Additionally, as Utah’s innovation community, The Point will serve as an ecosphere that will advance cutting-edge technological innovation,” he said. “It will foster a startup environment and facilitate meaningful relationships among universities, businesses and entrepreneurs, with the goal of helping to solve some of Utah’s biggest challenges.”
Matheson said more than 16,000 people have been involved in providing input on The Point. “And what we’re proposing to build here,” Walker said, “is exactly what the people said they wanted, and I’m excited for it. It’s going to be amazing.”
But first, the demolition needs to be finished. More than three-fourths of the materials will be reused or recycled. A temporary crushing facility at the site will result in concrete to be used for road bases and building foundations at The Point.
Caleb Townes, Grant Mackay Demolition Co.’s senior project manager, said over 157,000 tons of material has been repurposed or reused. The amount of concrete that has been recycled could build 1,000 homes. The recycled steel is equivalent to 66 four-story structures. Over five miles of road could be built with the asphalt that has been recycled. Recycled rebar is enough to build 541 cars.
The only surviving structure will be a prison chapel built by inmates.
Infrastructure development for Phase 1 will include the installation of major utilities, a trail system and rights of way for transit.
“I know that talking about infrastructure doesn’t get the blood boiling,” Matheson acknowledged, “but it is important for us as really the literal laying of the groundwork for this project to happen.”
Walker said the day of the tower-topping was “a great day.”
“I can’t think of another day, in my political life, that’s more symbolic of work and effort and planning and forward thinking than this project. … I think as this goes forward, you’re going to see that it’s going to be one of the great, great investments for Utah and our future, and it’s going to benefit this entire state in a way that we won’t even know for a long time.”