Blog

Note: Our summer intern, Nate Russell, is heading east to attend Syracuse U for graduate work in architecture.  While at our offices, he worked on the schematic design for an interactive web design firm that is relocating to a renovated historic building in the downtown area of Salt Lake.  Here are Nate’s thoughts on the area:

I walk down Floral Street (roughly 50 E and 250 S) and look at all the historical remnants  that have the feeling of a back alleyway. Ornate lion heads now blackened and worn look down on me from several stories above. An old water tower watches over the area from the top a building. It makes me feel like I have stepped back to the turn of the 19^th century. New graffiti battles for room with old advertisements painted on the sides of the aged brick exterior walls and I wonder what the future is for such an interesting place.

Salt Lake City is taking great steps toward breathing life back into the downtown area. After WWII many people moved from the city to the suburbs. Many historical buildings were removed to make room for parking areas and newer, bigger buildings. Salt Lake is now making efforts to build housing in the downtown core to energize the city in the evening and nighttime. Streets that were dormant for decades are coming back to life because of these efforts in recent years. Creative new owners on the mid-block streets of Edison and Floral are revitalizing historic buildings and adapting them for new uses.

The Redevelopment Agency is working with private developers to revitalize the area between Floral Avenue and State Street. The renovation will include housing, retail shops, restaurants and even a small theater that historically occupied the site. An inside walkway will lead from State Street to Floral Street, lined with shops and restaurants, and will terminate with a large outdoor plaza on the Floral Street side. This will make it possible to travel from the Gallivan Center to the Broadway Center without having to cross any intersections.

Bringing back these important mid-block streets will help make the city a more walkable and enjoyable place like it was almost a century ago.