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Developer Wood Partners has announced it is on track with construction of a 277-unit luxury apartment complex just west of The Gateway shopping center in Salt Lake City.

Months after initial work began on the site at 100 South and 500 West, the Atlanta-based company said Monday it expected to offer dwellings for lease by fall 2016 in what it is calling Alta Gateway.

The multistory apartment complex — one of several new residential projects rising in downtown Salt Lake City's west end — is being built by Draper-based Rimrock Construction.

Wood Partners is aiming Alta Gateway at high-income renters, saying the development's amenities "will be significantly more than those offered by other luxury apartment communities in the area."

Features will include a spacious rooftop deck and swimming pool, community clubroom, private fitness center, cyber-cafe, a dog park and, the company said in a release, "even a wine cellar for resident connoisseurs."

Wood Partners is betting on demand from young professionals and couples "who want to live an active urban lifestyle," said Clay Iman, director of the Alta Gateway development.

While Iman characterized the city's housing market as traditionally suburban, "we believe job growth and infill development have fueled a strong demand for housing downtown, and capital is available to fund it."

A national developer of multifamily and mixed-use projects across the country, Wood Partners owns some 75 U.S properties for a total of more than 21,000 apartments.

Alta Gateway will be its first project in Utah — but not its last, according to Tim McEntee, one of Wood Partners' regional directors.

"We are absolutely interested in building a stronger presence in this market," said McEntee, a Utah native and a University of Utah graduate, "and becoming an active part of the community my family has called home for over 50 years."

Tony Semerad