Great cities are often built along great rivers.
The Thames. The Seine. The Danube. The San Antonio, the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Hudson.
Utah’s Jordan River may not feel like something that would belong on that list. But the developers behind Salt Lake City’s Power District are going to give it their all. Others should watch, and learn.
The Larry H. Miller Company is well underway in redeveloping the area along North Temple Street, connecting downtown to the Salt Lake City International Airport, into what’s to be known as The Power District. It’s a commercial and entertainment project that, if everything falls into place, could be crowned with the stadium for the city’s new Major League Baseball stadium.
Insiders tell us that the chances for Salt Lake City landing such a team are strong, given the success of its NBA and NHL franchises and how much money and work have already been poured into the project.
Baseball or no, what’s most encouraging about the vision for the area is that it includes a clean-up and redevelopment of the Jordan River, giving the whole project the cache of a major city’s riverfront.
To work, of course, the attention paid to the river can’t be limited to the stretch of it that runs by the ballpark, with kayaks afloat awaiting the next home run ball. The river flows through three counties and 15 cities, through or bordering the large and growing communities of West Valley City, West Jordan, South Jordan and Sandy.
With proper attention, the Jordan can shed its image as a dirty waterway, full of trash and attractive to encampments for the homeless. But the effort will have to go beyond even the $3.5 billion in spending expected from the Miller family and the $900 million in public money for the ballpark project.
Other communities along the river will have to do their bit. And the gentrification of the Power District and all along the waterway will require public responses to ensure that the development does not just create more homeless people and build more out-of-reach luxury housing.
Still, we can feel fortunate that the Millers chose this sight, near downtown, at the entrance to the city, ripe for an upgrade, which can only bring not just style, but political pull, to a part of the city that hasn’t had very much influence in recent decades.
Play ball!
Editorials represent the opinions of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom.