This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Crews began demolishing the Arrow Press Square building in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
The building was erected in 1908 and was home to various businesses, including restaurants, a radio station and the Dead Goat Saloon.
The site's owner, Salt Lake City-based InterNet Properties, secured a demolition permit for the site Dec. 1. The structure, according to InterNet Properties founder and principal Vasilios Priskos, was structurally damaged, prone to vandalism and vagrancy and not financially viable for historic renovation.
"It would have cost us a fortune to save that building," Priskos said. "It was beyond repair."
InterNet Properties has yet to specify what will ultimately replace the torn-down structure, according to Orion Goff, building official with Salt Lake City. The landowner has 18 months to file subsequent plans, Goff said.
Priskos said he has proposed a small park for the site as an interim use, while awaiting information during the next year and a half that could lead to other projects.
"I believe something will happen within the 18 months," he said.
Priskos has developed two sets of designs for a new hotel tower on the property, with 250 and 600 rooms, respectively, but the property could also be eligible as the site for a large, Salt Lake County-backed convention hotel to built somewhere within 1,000 feet of the Salt Palace Convention Center.
"We are not going to be sitting on this piece of property for long," Priskos said.
Arrow Press Square was the scene of a fictional demolition in March. Pyrotechnics were detonated outside the building as part of a forthcoming film staring Steven Seagal.