Photos and video: A five-story apartment building in Ogden gets demolished before it’s finished

Crews worked to demolish the unfinished Union Walk building on Ogden’s 25th Street on Friday — nine months after the city ordered construction halted on the five-story apartment and retail complex.

Work on the building was stopped in March after city inspectors found untreated lumber in the structure, a violation of the fire code. At the time, the project’s developer, Summa Terra Ventures, blamed the contractor, Makers Line, for the bad lumber, according to Ogden’s Standard-Examiner. A second inspection found bigger structural issues.

Summa Terra opted to tear down the building and applied for a demolition permit in early December. Workers had been removing salvageable items, such as the windows, before razing the building itself. Major demolition is expected to continue Tuesday, after the New Year’s Day holiday.

Makers Line and its related entities — all under the umbrella of Q Factor, an “integrated suite of companies” owned by married couple Jason and Ellen Winkler — are in the midst of more than a dozen still-active lawsuits, filed by subcontractors who say they haven’t been paid for labor and equipment.

Makers Line had made a name for itself as a developer in 2020, when it turned an old building in Salt Lake City’s Granary District into a hip new office building, INDUSTRY SLC. Building Salt Lake first reported Makers Line’s potential demise in late October; an attorney confirmed the company was “no longer doing business” in early November, according to court documents.

The contractor is attached to at least eight ongoing projects in Salt Lake City, according to city records, and more than a dozen across the Wasatch Front. The fate of its unfinished projects remains uncertain.