A unanimous Salt Lake City Council voted Tuesday to reject a change in zoning that would have effectively allowed a seven-story hotel to be built on the northwest corner to Sugar House Park.

Holladay-based Magnus Commercial Properties had sought the zoning change to permit construction of a 145-room boutique hotel at 2100 South and 1300 East, with potential to rise 90 feet high next to the park.

Sarah Young, whose District 7 centers on the Sugar House area, led opposition on the council to the rezone and spoke out after casting her no vote in unison with her six colleagues.

She called the 110-acre park a landmark and “one of our community’s most valued public spaces,” representing “a shared identity and point of pride for the area.”

Young added that her vote against the upzoning reflected concern over setting a precedent for expanding Sugar House’s business district beyond the bounds already written into the neighborhood’s community plan.

“We’ve not yet seen the full potential of development within the existing business core,” Young said, referring to a series of reforms to the city’s mixed-use zoning scheme enacted since October.

“We should allow that work to take shape,” Young said, “before considering expansions of the business district that could have long-term implications for Sugar House.”

She said the public process since June that led to Tuesday’s vote — including extensive and thoughtful two-minute pitches from residents at a series of hearings — had “demonstrated how much our residents value the future of our city and especially cherished public spaces like Sugar House Park.”

Council Chair Alejandro Puy echoed that praise for scores of Sugar House residents and park users for their input.

Where to from here

John Potter, CEO of Magnus Hotel Management, said early Wednesday that the development firm was “still digesting” how its plans might evolve after Tuesday’s vote.

Existing zoning, Potter noted, not only doesn’t allow a hotel use, the current permitted density is also low relative to the size of property — with no prospect of adding to the site’s footprint from surrounding government-owned land.

“I’m not sure if any project is possible there, which is something we have shared with the city,” Potter said in an interview. “So while we’re officially ‘to be determined’ on what we’re going to do, our current plan is probably no project.”

The 0.8-acre property is privately owned and was to be leased by the hotel developers, following unsuccessful and behind-the-scenes efforts by city officials to purchase the land. Potter said with “no options for a viable development,” the firm is likely to surrender its option on that ground lease, “as we have a right to do.”

Magnus, a Utah-based developer, had submitted initial designs at City Hall in pursuit of the zoning change for a mid-rise hotel with a pool, ground floor shops, a 180-stall underground parking garage and a restaurant on the hotel’s upper floors.

The proposed rezone — from the property’s current mixed-use, or MU-3 zoning, to a more dense MU-8 zoning — would have effectively allowed a hotel as a land use on that property and nearly doubled the potential building height, up from 40 feet to 90 feet tall, pending city review and approval.

Potter and other Magnus executives said at several public meetings the project was to be its own landmark, called Sugar House Hotel and operated as part of the Hilton chain’s Tapestry Collection. The brand includes nearly 150 boutique hotels and resorts worldwide.

The hotel developers, according to Potter, also intended the Sugar House property to include a signature restaurant and to serve as an amenity to area residents as well as visitors.

Despite Tuesday’s rejection, Young, speaking after her vote, thanked the would-be hotel builders for “their professionalism and collaboration,” calling them “a class act.”

Opposition from residents and park users

Neighbors and members of the Sugar House Community Council had spoken out repeatedly since plans for the mid-rise hotel were revealed, largely in opposition to the zoning change and the building height it could enable. In addition to traffic, parking and environmental impacts, their concerns have focused on the hotel’s impact on the park, which is among the city’s largest and most heavily used.

The property at 2111 S. 1300 East, was the site of a vacant Sizzler restaurant for many years, until that familiar building on the edge of the Sugar House business district got demolished in 2024.

The storied spot has been eyed for a mid-rise apartment building and a Kum & Go convenience store and gas station. Planners rejected the gas station idea in 2023, citing worries of its potential impact on ground water supplies and nearby Parleys Creek.

The city’s planners said this latest proposed zoning change matched wider planning goals while also supporting redevelopment of an underused parcel and the expansion of the Sugar House business district as the neighborhood’s population continues to grow.

Along with city planners, the city’s planning commission, on a 7-to-1 vote in October, recommended the council’s passage of the zoning change, despite submitted comments and public testimony from scores of residents in opposition.

Update: April 8, 11 a.m. • This story has been updated with comments from John Potter, CEO of Magnus Hotel Management.