This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The eastern half of the large parking lot at the TRAX Meadowbrook Station, near 3900 South and West Temple, is about to become a commercial and residential project.
The Utah Transit Authority Board gave permission Wednesday for UTA staff to negotiate a lease with Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake and Columbus Group to create a "transit oriented development" on 2.8 acres there.
However, it also said it is about to allow others to make proposals for the site because of a ruling by the Federal Transit Administration this week that found that the proposal from the housing authority and Columbus Group was unsolicited by UTA, and that it should allow others to bid if desired.
Steve Meyer, UTA's chief development officer, said the parking lot was made extra large originally to help handle crowds using TRAX for the 2002 Olympics. He said UTA has deemed the eastern half of the parking lot as surplus to current and future needs.
The proposal by the housing authority and Columbus Group, Meyer said, would include 156 mixed-income, multifamily units and a mixture of office and retail facilities.
Developers are pursuing a small neighborhood-scale grocer there, he said, because the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department has deemed the area a "food desert" for lack of nearby stores.
Jayme Blakesley, UTA's general counsel, said the development is subject to approval by the Federal Transit Authority because federal money was used to buy the parking lot.
According to Blakesley, the FTA this week said it considers the proposal as unsolicited by UTA, so it is requiring UTA to "make the basic details of this project available to the public and allow [other] proposals to be received and evaluated."
Such transit-oriented developments, UTA said, are part of effort to increase ridership, reduce rider subsidies and make it easier for residents to reach transit stops. UTA says it would receive annual payments from the lease.