Salt Lake City is poised to sell the old public safety building to a developer willing to create a mix of housing and commercial space. They also want to preserve the buildings historic significance.
The city has released a request for proposals for the development of the 2.5-acre-site at 300 east and 200 south. It’s part of Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker’s goal of providing 5,000 new affordable housing units over five years.
“We’ll get public lands back on the private tax rolls,” Becker says. “And we’re providing good development opportunities for what we know is a critical need in our city."
Becker says he was surprised to learn of the historic significance of the building. It’s in the international architectural style born in the 1920’s and 30’s. Michael Akerlow is director of housing and neighborhood development for Salt Lake City.
“One of the first components of this is that we see this building preserved,” Akerlow says. “It’s a historic building and we want to see a developer come in here and renovate it and preserve it. It’s a great treasure for our city.”
The city is requesting the chosen developer include a minimum of 50 permanent supportive housing units for the chronically homeless and a mix of low income and market rate housing.
The property was appraised at just over $10 million. They’ll choose a developer in November.
