Farewell, Green Loop. Hello, Civic Center.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall announced Tuesday she will press for $2.2 million in this year’s budget to create construction plans for a major overhaul and greening beautification of the space connecting Library Square across 200 East to City Hall.
That will now be more of a centerpiece to the Mendenhall administration’s strategies for infusing the city with more trees, pedestrian corridors and open spaces — as opposed to leading with the $250 million-plus Green Loop as a whole.
(GNN, via Salt Lake City) A view of the entrance to Salt Lake City's Main Library and a rendering of a proposed remodel under the city's new Civic Center vision.
Dubbed the future Salt Lake City Civic Center, the two-block area east of Washington Square that annually hosts gatherings such as the Utah Arts Festival will be made into a more shaded, walkable and nature-filled plaza to serve, the mayor said, as “our front yard.”
It will be the “heart of our civic life,” Mendenhall promised of the campus, as well as a possible locus for Olympic celebrations and a new social draw in an enlivened downtown.
Renderings show the verdant quality of Washington Square opening up eastward and replacing much of the concrete around the Main Library, designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie and opened in 2003.
(GNN, via Salt Lake City) A view from the east of Salt Lake City's Main Library and a rendering of a proposed remodel under the city's new Civic Center vision.
That stretch of 200 East between the library and City Hall would be closed to cars only during permitted special events, as it is today, according to city officials.
The concept also calls for renovating some of The Leonardo’s aging features to create new city offices, an improved home for Ken Sanders Rare Books, and a host of arts and other programs.
The revamped Leonardo could be called “City Hall East,” the mayor said in Tuesday’s State of the City address — unless a wealthy patron comes forward to invest millions in the new project. In that case, Mendenhall joked, “you can call it whatever you want.”
‘Piling on’ for some city taxpayers
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Council Chair Alejandro Puy.
City Council Chair Alejandro Puy said his colleagues will carefully vet the $2.2 million request for the Civic Center in light of other financial demands and concerns from residents about overall affordability.
Mendenhall has also said the city might not be able to avoid a property tax increase this year, Puy noted, “but ultimately the council is to decide if there is one or not.”
The mayor said Tuesday this $2.2 million would come from capital budgets, not from any tax hike. But Puy said the council would look at the bigger picture, noting that any increase would come on top of rises in some city utility fees, a Salt Lake County tax boost and another potential tax bump to fund libraries.
“I have a track record of supporting infrastructure funding in the city,” he said. “But it does feel sometimes to many of my neighbors that they’re on the brink of not making their rent or mortgage — and that this is pilling on them.”
Rebranding the Green Loop?
(Salt Lake City) A rendering shows what the Green Loop could look like along its eastern boundary, 200 East.
There’s another political dynamic afoot.
The Civic Center will be the new focus in what had been a multiyear campaign to create an interlinked 5.5-mile greenway out of segments of 900 South, 500 West, the North Temple and South Temple corridors and 200 East, referred to since 2022 or so as the Green Loop.
“Chances are,” the mayor said, “you won’t hear me using that phrase much going forward. But what you will hear is what we’re actually doing — and what we want to see in our streets and neighborhoods.”
Instead, the city will treat each of the Green Loop’s four corridors as its own pursuit, she said, as part of a wider strategy of beautifying portions of downtown with refreshed streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, trail connections and trees.
“This won’t happen all at once,” the mayor said. “It’ll move block by block, shaped by the character of each place, and the people who live and work there.”
That change in emphasis follows pushback from the council and some residents over the hundreds of millions in capital costs associated with the Green Loop as a package. Some Utah lawmakers also have grimaced over the possible effects of road changes on traffic flows.
The council dialed back a budget ask from the mayor in 2024 for $10 million for the Green Loop in favor of putting $3 million into finishing designs for 500 West.
Refreshing 900 South, 500 West and South Temple
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A cyclist rides the 9 Line Trail along 900 South in July 2024.
There are signs this won’t derail the idea of freshening pieces of the former Green Loop. The mayor confirmed Tuesday that as beautifying work on 900 South continues, the city is starting public input and design work on 500 West.
And without offering more detail, Mendenhall said Tuesday that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to talks on refurbishing portions of South Temple, once its open house for the renovated Salt Lake Temple is complete in 2027.
City officials are highlighting the success of work on the 9 Line Trail — a refashioned rail corridor along 900 South from Redwood Road to 200 West — with portions now featuring buffered bike lanes and trail segments.
“We can carry that same energy across downtown,” the mayor said, “transforming barren sidewalks and asphalt to create shaded, green corridors that invite people in and bring us together.”
Cooling down Library Square a major goal
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) The crowd trickles in at the Utah Arts Festival at Library Square in 2021.
Blake Thomas, Mendenhall’s senior adviser on downtown projects, said hundreds of residents weighed in on the city’s vision for the new civic campus. The verdict was all but unanimous:
The heat-island effect from all those now-deteriorating paved surfaces around the library can be overwhelmingly hot and uncomfortable in summer months. Residents want something that is friendlier, shadier, more useful and in better repair, with more amenities for daily use.
“We want it to be more accessible,” Thomas said, “more lush, with an urban canopy you can enjoy.”
Plans developed by the city’s consultant — landscape architecture firm GGN based in Seattle — show those two blocks transformed with mature trees, a potential water feature, patio seating, playgrounds and other family-friendly features.
Pending council approval of Mendenhall’s $2.2 million request for Civic Center construction documents, Thomas said, that work could start by 2027.
Bringing The Leonardo back to life
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Leonardo and the Salt Lake City Library last May.
The council, meanwhile, is already considering budget changes to pay for renovations to The Leonardo, the city’s 61-year-old former library at the corner of 200 East and 500 South. The converted science and art museum closed indefinitely last year for sorely needed repairs to its elevators, escalators and plumbing, though Ken Sanders’ bookstore has stayed open on the ground floor.
New maintenance started in September, and there’s $195,000 in spending planned for security access and camera installations on the building. As part of a larger request, the mayor is seeking $5.5 million for renovations to the former library and two other city buildings, which includes upgrades to The Leonardo’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, along with elevator repairs.
Mendenhall said the city would then breathe new life into The Leonardo by moving staff from three departments onto its renovated first and third floors, while the Arts Council and Utah Division of Arts & Museums would offer displays, lectures, classes and gallery strolls on the second floor.
In so doing, the mayor said, the city would “use what we already have” — and avoid spending taxpayer funds to construct another major administrative building.