New designs are under review for a cluster of 20 high-end town homes to be built along Salt Lake City’s busy 400 South corridor.
City planners are recommending approval for a developer’s proposal to construct the attached single-family units on a roughly 0.75-acre plot currently occupied by a closed Village Inn restaurant and parking lot at 900 East and 400 South.
The units would be for sale and spread over three buildings.
New renderings show the town homes standing between 32 and 45 feet — up to four stories tall — on that prominent corner, with historic-style brick and stone facades, arched entrances, private balconies and what appear to be ample rooftop spaces and amenities.
Blueprints indicate the homes would have footprints on the larger size for town homes, each with a dedicated two-car garage.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Traffic on 400 South in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021.
If approved, the homes will make for a unique addition to that portion of 400 South, which has hundreds of multistory apartments adjacent to a TRAX light rail line but few options for homeownership.
The latest designs have been submitted for approval by Jarod Hall, a Salt Lake City architect with Di’velept Design. Hall is working on behalf of the developer, a firm called Urban Alfandre, and its subsidiary, Kensington Home Company.
Hall said in the application that making the town homes for sale will “offer a distinct advantage by providing opportunities for individuals and families to own their property and build long-term equity.”
A review for the designs goes before the city’s planning commission on Wednesday.
Property records show the land is owned by the nonprofit Florence J. Gillmor Foundation, which public tax filings indicate is a charitable group located in Salt Lake City, with net assets exceeding $46 million in 2023.
The four parcels in question also fall within the eastern edge of a corridor of special city transit-oriented zoning that extends roughly from 200 East to 900 East along the north and south sides of 400 South, straddling the Utah Transit Authority’s TRAX Red Line.
That so-called Transit Station Area zoning, put in place over a decade ago, has spurred hundreds of apartment units and other mixed-use developments along the heavily trafficked corridor linking downtown and the University of Utah, a street also called University Boulevard.
City documents indicate the developer is asking for several zoning exceptions for the project, including reduced setbacks from adjacent properties and a waiver for building some of the units tucked behind the others, without direct public street access.