This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Utah Transit Authority announced Wednesday that it has finalized an operating agreement for its first "transit-oriented development" project partnership with a developer — and then immediately formally approved sites for four others.
The UTA will be a limited liability partner with Boulder Ventures to build a retail-housing-office project on 36 acres of UTA-owned land in West Jordan. It will be near the Jordan Valley station, about 3200 West and 9000 South, on the Mid-Jordan TRAX line, which is under construction.
The 1.8 million-square-foot project is designed to eventually include 1,400 residential units, about 35,000 square feet of retail space and the same amount of office space. The intent is to encourage more frequent use of TRAX and mass transit.
The Legislature this year authorized UTA to participate in five such projects as an experiment to spur ridership by offering public lands around stations for partnerships with private developers. Once complete, the land will become the property of the partnership and subject to local property taxes.
UTA had also announced previously that it is working on a similar agreement for a project at the TRAX Meadowbrook Station on 3900 South. UTA has 4.1 acres there, and has said the project would include 88 apartments and a Salt Lake Community College office and classroom building.
The UTA board also passed a resolution Wednesday declaring where it intends to build three other transit-oriented projects: near a TRAX station at the Sandy Civic Center; near a FrontRunner station in Clearfield; and near a to-be-constructed streetcar line in Sugar House.
But if they are delayed or do not materialize, the board approved six alternative sites that could be substituted: near planned FrontRunner stations in Provo and Orem, and at the Orem Intermodal Hub; at the Salt Lake Central Station; on North Temple in Salt Lake City near an under-construction TRAX line; and at 7200 South.