Salt Lake County wants to rebuild Salt Palace at a $1 billion price tag
Nov 8, 2024, 9:50 PM | Updated: Nov 11, 2024, 6:29 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson is looking to divert millions of dollars to knock down and rebuild the Salt Palace Convention Center, which could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.
“The downtown development offers an opportunity to supercharge our convention center. However, we need to rebuild it,” said Andrew Roberts, chief of staff for Mayor Wilson.
The move is geared toward the revitalization plan of downtown Salt Lake City with Smith Entertainment Group.
“You’ve still got the Salt Palace sitting there in the middle of the footprint,” Roberts said. “We’re talking about a convention center that generates, this year, $100M in tax revenue. There’s an opportunity on the table to not just rebuild what we have but rebuild it better so that we can attract even bigger and better conventions and hopefully grow that revenue stream by tens of millions of dollars more [annually].”
According to Roberts, the recent Salt Lake City sales tax increase is earmarked for renovations at the Delta Center and modifications to the downtown district so funding for the Salt Palace, which is owned by the county, needs to come from another source of revenue.
Roberts said the project could cost “$1.1 billion or more.”
Wilson is eyeing money from what is known as the 4th Quarter Transportation Fund, a 0.25% local option sales tax for transportation, as a possible source of money.
An aerial view of the Salt Place Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City. (Chopper 5)
On Tuesday, the County Council voted, 7-2, in favor of setting aside some of the unused millions in the fund to “explore their options.” The county would need permission from the legislature to divert the funds away from their intended purpose for transportation needs.
Roberts said tapping into the fund seems “most feasible” because traditionally, not all the money raised is spent, which has resulted in a cumulative $58 million in the fund.
According to Roberts, the plan is to take about half of the $58 million and put it towards a 20- to 30-year bond or whatever is necessary to finance the project. While the council voted to “authorize [the County] to explore utilizing” the fund, no final decisions have been made.
“Right now, we’re exploring utilization of this fund. We would still need to talk to the legislature, get the legislature to authorize this as an appropriate use. There’s a lot of other steps along the road here,” Roberts said.
Councilman David Alvord, who represents Salt Lake County’s west side in district 2, is against tapping into the 4th Quarter fund, arguing that it should remain for its intended use of funding transportation needs within cities.
“We shouldn’t say that the tax is for one thing and then spend it on something else,” Alvord said. “I also felt the vote was putting the cart before the horse, meaning we thought we could use this for something else, but we have not yet had legal permission to do that.”
In recent years, the fund has been used to fund “active transportation projects” such as bike lanes or hiking trails that are “shovel ready,” resulting in what Alvord described as a “restriction that has led to surpluses” that the county has “hoarded.”
With more latitude, Alvord said the funds could be used for other transportation projects, including his desire to see litter cleared from highways.
“Our freeways and highways are really getting inundated with litter and debris,” Alvord said.
