Utah prison guard tower demolished
Aug 30, 2023, 2:22 PM
DRAPER, UTAH – The last guard tower at Utah’s old prison was demolished Wednesday morning.
The prison site will be turned into a development called The Point. Plans call for a bustling place to work and play. Also, retail, dining, park trails, and more are also planned.
The senior project manager said The Point is ahead of schedule.
Where the last guard tower stood, there was blank space to make space for something new.
Caleb Townes, Senior Project Manager, said, “Ninety percent of the demolition is done.”
According to Townes, the guard tower that came down Wednesday marked the last part of the men’s side of the prison to be demolished.
The chapel is the one place that will stay the same as it was preserved at the old prison site.
With all the rubble surrounding it, there is a second life; “Most people think demolition’s boom and go, just come in, knock it down, and send it to the landfill, and that’s not really the case,” Townes said.
BOOM! 💥
The last guard tower at the old prison site is toppling down…
Stay with us on @KSL5TV as we show you demo day & what’s next next for the site. 🦺🚧 pic.twitter.com/4ET3LTHnNS
— Karah Brackin (@kbontv) August 30, 2023
So far, more than 157,000 tons of material have been recycled.
“Whether it’s the concrete that gets crushed into a road-based material, asphalt gets crushed into that same material, the steel gets shredded and turned back into new steel,” Townes said.
This laid the groundwork for the next phase.
Alan Matheson, Executive Director of The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority said, “We’re going to start putting in infrastructure next spring, and that’ll be the roads and the water and the cable.”
Matheson said the development of Phase One will lead to The Point which will become something Utah has not seen before.
“Entertainment centers, on-street dining, shopping, retail,” Matheson said.
He added while it will take a of couple years for them to become occupied, people will start seeing buildings go up in 2025.
