Salt Lake City, Intermountain near development agreement decision for old Sears block

SALT LAKE CITY — After about 18 months of public discussions, it appears Salt Lake City is inching closer to voting on a proposal that would bring an “urban hospital” close to downtown.

The Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to forward a recommendation that the city adopt a development agreement with Intermountain Health over its plan for 754 S. State, along with some additional recommendations. Its decision comes less than a week before the Salt Lake City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter.

The agreement would be an additional document between Salt Lake City and Intermountain Health over the health care provider’s plan to transform the site of an old Sears department store in the city. The City Council is also weighing Intermountain Health’s petition to rezone the property from downtown support district (D-2) to central business district (D-1) and amend the D-1 language to permit normal hospital functions.

“I think it’s going to be a really tremendous addition to the community,” said Commissioner Bree Scheer shortly before the vote, adding that there are some concerns that she believes will be hammered out as the project moves forward.

Wednesday’s vote was the latest update since Intermountain Health purchased the Salt Lake City property in 2021, three years after the long-standing Sears department store closed. It filed paperwork to turn the block into a new hospital site in late 2022 before engaging with the city on key logistics.

Those discussions picked up after officials presented a more detailed plan to the Salt Lake City Council in June. City leaders have been generally supportive of the measure, but they also have expressed concerns over ways to “activate” the first floor of the property between the downtown and Central Ninth neighborhoods.

Intermountain’s plan would include a food truck park, midblock walkways and an acre of open space. Amanda Roman, an urban designer for the Salt Lake City Planning Division, said a food truck park normally wouldn’t be considered an active use in a mixed-use development, but it would draw people to the block for uses outside of the property’s primary use.

The current plan is a compromise between what was initially requested and the feedback the company has received from the city, Bentley Peay, senior director of real estate for Intermountain Health, explained to the commission.

Peay said that the biggest hurdle has been figuring out how to add the city’s activation needs to a plan that centers around a hospital type that doesn’t exist within the company’s portfolio because of the smaller lot size. Salt Lake City leaders ultimately asked for a development agreement after about 18 months of negotiations and compromises.

The document includes language that active ground-floor uses exist within at least 50% of all four roads surrounding the property, including at least 70% of Main Street and 79% of State Street. It also requires the acre of landscaped open space included in the plan, while there is at least 150 linear feet of space for the food truck park along State Street.

The hospital, in turn, is “not subject to the maximum building façade length” in city code, among other terms. Peay said it basically aims to ensure that Intermountain Health sticks to its plan.

He added the company was “comfortable” with the plan enough that it agreed to it, especially since officials entered the process knowing that the facility would be “a different hospital from anything we’ve ever built.”

“Really, throughout the process, we haven’t heard a lot of concerns over the actual upzone to a D-1, or the height, or having the hospital as a permitted use,” he said. “It’s really been focused on: How do we ensure that Intermountain will do what it says it will do?”

Scheer said she appreciated that Intermountain was willing to listen to community concerns and amend its design to incorporate them. However, she still had issues with logistics tied to the front entrance of the building — something that could be clarified once the project is ready for a design review before construction.

The commission’s recommendation also included language recommending that Intermountain Health offer “transparency” with its ground-floor glass throughout the project planning process. Commissioner Amy Barry and others said it could help improve the visibility of the ground-floor uses in the space.

The City Council will hold a hearing during its meeting on Tuesday before it eventually votes on whether to adopt the development agreement, proposed zoning map, and text amendments. Once the project gets underway, any buildings over 200 feet will undergo an additional design review process.

Heather Wall, president of LDS Hospital, said in June that Intermountain Health was still reviewing options for what services the urban hospital would provide and what that would mean for the future of LDS Hospital in the Avenues. No updates were provided on that Wednesday evening.