(ABC 4 News)
Reported by: Annie Cutler
Last Update: 3/27 11:24 pm
SOUTH SALT LAKE , Utah (ABC 4 News) - If downtown is rising, well, so is South Salt Lake . A huge development project, named "Market Station" is underway on 2100 South and Main Street . Those involved boast that this development will change the face of not just South Salt Lake , but the entire valley. Developers says they're confident that once it's completed, the new community will rival Downtown.
Of course it won't all be built at once. Rather, the whole project will be done in phases over the next five to seven years. When all is said and done words like “run down” and “dangerous” won't be part of the description. Driving near 2100 South between Main and State Streets, you’ll see abandoned buildings with blown out windows, graffiti tagged walls, and overall wreckage of an area long neglected.
By 2015, that area will look completely different. “Market Station,” a 500 million dollar project will create - for the first time in decades - a community with residential housing, office buildings and retail space. Developer Steve Aste says, “We're taking blighted, run down older buildings, vacant lots, and turning it into a high density urban village if you will.” This project will offer more than just brand new state of the art buildings with luxuries like rooftop tennis courts, pools, and gardens.
The hope for this development is that it will change how we all think of South Salt Lake . Aste says, “What we're trying to create is a community where people can live , work, recreate, never have to get in their car if they choose not to.” City officials say the timing for something like this right, and the need has been here for years. South Salt Lake Mayor Robert Gray says, “We used to have an old saying that you couldn't buy a shirt in South Salt Lake and that was true, we couldn't, there was no retail to speak of at all and this is gonna change that whole outlook.”
It's no fluke that this particular area was chosen for such a project. Being a stone's throw away from I-80 and I-15, it will even have a commuter tram that will shuttle residents to and from TRAX and Sugarhouse. "Market Station" has the potential to be a hub for those of us already there, and those who want a taste of the action. Gray says, “This is gonna change the entire image of the city and it's way better than what the image used to be.”
Perhaps no one knows about image better than the agents at Elite Model Management, an internationally known talent agency that's making their new home across the street from the planned project.
Stacey Eastman, Partner of Elite Model Management says, “In conjunction with the project that's going on, the development, the growth of this community, we want to be able to place a stronghold and have a presence of our world famous brand within this market.” This world famous company is just a glimpse of what this project is expected to attract into South Salt Lake , and our Beehive state.
Eastman says, “ South Salt Lake 's where it's at, it's the future.” "Market Station" will also be a great place for those of us who love the outdoors. The site will have direct access to both the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and Jordan River Parkway Trail. Developers say the project is sure to bring in thousands of new jobs and millions in tax revenue that will help improve the area's schools and other public service agencies.
