I grew up a few blocks from the old Roosevelt Junior High on Lincoln Street, now Rowland Hall’s campus near 9th and 9th. Built in 1921, it is a contributing building in the National Register’s East Side Historic District and an anchor of the neighborhood.
The campus is under contract with Landmark Properties, a student-housing developer out of Athens, Georgia. No plans have been announced, and that is exactly why I’m writing now. Too often, we learn what will happen to a historic building we love only when an application is filed, and far too often that application is for demolition. By then the decisions have been made, and it is usually too late to work together to save anything.
This beautiful building is ripe for reuse. Rehabilitating it as rental housing could qualify for both the 20% federal historic tax credit and Utah’s 20% state credit, and roughly three acres would remain for new construction or open space, to the benefit of new residents and the community. Housing and history don’t have to be a trade-off. Choosing both is a decision we need to make more often as our city grows and changes.
I’m asking Landmark to be the kind of developer Salt Lake City residents are eager to work with, one that saves the building, benefits from the credits, and brings neighbors in early as partners toward a common goal. A developer that preserves a piece of our city’s history will find a community ready to support it rather than fight it.
Casey O’Brien McDonough, Salt Lake City