An Illinois-based developer has told Salt Lake City officials it is withdrawing plans to build an innovative tower up to 22 stories high on a prominent corner in Sugar House.
Abandoning its pursuit of a custom zone that would have let it construct a mass-timber structure 305 feet tall on the northwest corner of 1100 East and 2100 South, Harbor Bay Ventures has told city planners it will instead work within the rules of an new zoning assigned to the property last fall.
That means the tower Harbor Bay had envisioned for that corner, where a vacant Wells Fargo bank now stands, could instead rise to no more than 125 feet, or about 10 to 12 stories. Anything over 75 feet still would require city design review. It’ll also means the developer would have to rework and resubmit its plans to proceed, which, according to city documents, it intends to do.
No new application for the property had been filed at City Hall as of Thursday.
The shift to more mid-rise ambitions after nearly two years — and two rejected petitions at City Hall seeking to go higher — was confirmed via a Nov. 3 email from the firm’s CEO, Mark Bell.
Bell said the company was “looking forward to working with you” — i.e., city planners — on adopting tower plans to a new flavor of mixed-use zoning, called MU-11, the city has since assigned to the property.
Harbor Bay Ventures’ most recent change in direction was first reported by the development news site Building Salt Lake.
Attempts by The Salt Lake Tribune to reach company officials for comment were not immediately successful.
Why build with timber
The company’s initial rezoning application for that high-profile 1.22-acre corner lot in Sugar House sought to create a tailor-made zone that, among other things, would have enshrined key development benefits for Harbor Bay regarding its decision to build the proposed tower out of mass timber.
Wood construction of this type deploys cross-laminated structural pieces stronger than regular lumber to build eco-friendly structures that reduce carbon emissions, construction time and labor costs. They can also allow for buildings as tall as 25 stories, without reliance on more climate-intensive materials such as steel or concrete.
More than 1,600 mass-timber buildings have been completed, are under construction or are proposed in the United States.
The zoning that the Northbrook, Illinois-based firm initially sought to create would have let it build the tower taller than under existing city code, create more living units and streamline parking requirements.
‘Reworking’ the design
Harbor Bay revised its plans after that initial application got turned down. Though endorsed by city planners amid heavy pushback from neighbors, a second and revised proposal from the company for a 14-story apartment tower on that corner also got rejected by the city’s planning commission.
The project was then put on hold while the city sorted through a major streamlining and consolidating of its rules for 26 existing commercial and mixed-use zoning districts, boiling those down to six new mixed-use districts.
That overhaul, which took effect in October, also delivered what is called MU-11 zoning for the Wells Fargo bank site that Harbor Bay Ventures now owns — with a 125-foot limit.
A senior city planner wrote in early November that the team at Harbor Bay Ventures was “reworking” its initial concept, while continuing to pursue its intentions to redevelop the property.
“We look forward to seeing the redesign,” city planner Amanda Roman wrote to the firm’s CEO in early November, “and I’m sure the project will be a great addition to the Sugar House community.”
It’s unclear if Harbor Bay’s change in plans will also mean abandoning mass timber, though that appears unlikely. The company bills itself as one of the foremost developers of mixed-use buildings using the advanced building technique and as “leading a new wave of thoughtful, sustainable development.”