There’s a new affordable apartment complex in SLC and it offers ... wait for it ... affordable child care

Upward of 700 people could find a thriving new life on Salt Lake City’s North Temple after Wednesday’s opening of the SPARK Apartments, an affordable housing complex aimed at families.

The mid-rise, $99 million residential and retail development at 1490 W. North Temple will make 200 mixed-income apartments available along the rapid-transit corridor between downtown and the Salt Lake City International Airport.

It‘s unusually large for a project of its kind — and brings an unusual pairing of affordable rentals and child care offered on-site at sliding fee scales. Utah-based nonprofit Neighborhood House will provide those child care and education services inside SPARK, in what will be its first satellite preschool location.

“We help hardworking families climb the economic ladder,” said Jennifer Nuttall, its executive director, “and build strong, happy futures.”

Thanks to major government and housing subsidies, 48 of SPARK’s units will be deeply affordable, meaning they could be accessible to families earning between 20% and 30% of the area’s median income.

The multistory SPARK complex is located across North Temple from soon-to-be transformed Rocky Mountain Power industrial yards, on the former site of the charred Overniter Motel.

Much of that bland utility land across the street from SPARK is now envisioned as part of the Power District, a 100-acre new stadium and commercial development by Larry H. Miller Co., with aspirations of landing a Major League Baseball team.

The old motel had deteriorated and caught fire twice, officials said, before it was ultimately demolished.

An incarnation of the popular Star of India restaurant, relocated from North Temple and Redwood Road, is now open on SPARK’s ground floor. That‘s in addition to another recently opened location for the authentic Indian eatery at 1000 S. Main.

SPARK boasts two outdoor playgrounds among its many family-friendly features.

Polishing ‘a diamond’

At a gala Wednesday morning in SPARK’s shiny inner courtyard, transforming what was formerly a pocket of blight into beautifully designed, accessible and healthful residential spaces was clearly a source of civic pride.

Mayor Erin Mendenhall, City Council member Darin Mano and other officials praised the project as a milestone in the city’s objectives toward resilient and equitable community building with affordable homes.

“We believe in the uniqueness of what it looks like when you plan for people,” Mendenhall said, “not just for a lot, not just for what the zoning can be, but when you plan for families.”

City officials; the project‘s developer, Illinois-based Brinshore Development; and its general contractor, Wadman Corp., headquartered in Ogden, all faced challenges to get it done. Not least of those was amassing 11 sources of government and private funding to keep the project‘s dwellings affordable, including $1 million from Salt Lake City coffers and another $14.5 million from its main revitalization arm.

Danny Walz, who directs what‘s now called the city’s Community Reinvestment Agency, thanked Brinshore and scores of other project supporters, public financing experts, lenders, construction executives and elected officials.

“You probably felt at times you took this diamond in the rough,” Walz told Brinshore founder and principal David Brint, “and you were polishing it a million times as the project proceeded.”

Brinshore is also the developer behind The Aster, a public-private housing project located at 255 S. State St. That site languished for years as an unsightly and graffiti-scarred hole before being transformed into two high-rise residential buildings with 190 affordable living options.