Redevelopment is a gift. We are grateful to residents, businesses and other sectors for their continued confidence and investment in our city.

Redevelopment breathes new life into specific project areas in need of revitalization, economic development and new opportunity. It helps small businesses by revitalizing downtown and injecting new life and economic activity into older retail and downtown shopping districts. It repairs rundown or blighted neighborhoods, which can help reduce crime and increase opportunity. It helps build or rehabilitate housing for working families, infrastructure and community centers.   And so much more.

Communities cannot be sustainable unless they are places where people want to live. But can communities be both livable and sustainable? We believe so. Salt Lake City planners and policymakers are working to make it happen.

Here’s a list of some of the redevelopment and livability resources in our city right now:

  1. City Owned Land – Salt Lake City intends to expand housing, economic development, and civic opportunities through the redevelopment of city-owned land. The involvement of city-owned land can increase the financial feasibility of a project while improving the usage of underutilized parcels. The Division of Housing and Neighborhood Development will work collaboratively with City and community partners to evaluate redevelopment opportunities.
  2. Land Banking – Landbanking is the practice of acquiring and improving contiguous parcels of land. Local governments can use landbanking to put together more desirable development sites for business, industry, and even for housing. Once a development site has been secured, local governments can then develop the site on its own or coordinate/facilitate in developing the site with others. https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/LandBankingBasics.pdf
  3. Salt Lake City Capital Improvement Program (CIP) – Salt Lake City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP), is an orderly plan for meeting the community’s needs for physical infrastructure facilities such as streets, parks, and public buildings. The CIP is a comprehensive schedule of capital improvements needed within the City and establishes a program to accomplish those needs within the City’s ability to pay. Phone: (801) 535-7712
  4. Salt Lake City Housing Trust Fund – The Housing Trust Fund Advisory Board strives to address the health, safety and welfare of the City’s citizens by providing assistance for affordable and special needs housing within the City. Eligible activities include acquisition, new construction, and rehabilitation of both multi-family rental properties and single-family homeownership. Phone: (801) 535-7712
  5. Shop Steading  – This option entails purchasing vacant and/or abandoned commercial facilities and selling them at a below market rates to businesses willing to renovate them and then operate their business there. This is a tool that can be used address the problem of vacant commercial property. In order for this option to be successful, a shopsteading business must have an identifiable market for its goods and services. The shopsteading business must also provide evidence of existing equity capital and must submit detailed specifications for the rehabilitation of the property. Example:  http://www.cityofwilliamsport.org/Development_Loans.php
  6. Speculative Buildings – Speculative buildings are “shell” buildings where the interiors are left mostly unfinished until a tenant is found. Local governments can construct and use these speculative buildings as a marketing tool to attract firms to an area or retain existing firms that are looking to expand. Example: http://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/5/title5sec13120-N.html
  7. RDA – Provides forgivable loans to encourage the reuse and revitalization of the Granary District’s unique stock of warehouse and industrial buildings. The mission of the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA) is to improve blighted areas of Salt Lake City, encourage economic development of Salt Lake City, encourage the development of housing for low and moderate income households within Salt Lake City and encourage compliance with and implementation of the Salt Lake City master plan. Lara Fritts, Chief Executive Officer 801.535.7240
  8. Salt Lake City Economic Development and Main Street America  -In Spring 2017, Salt Lake City won 2 Main Street America designations  – one for the Granary District and the other for State Street. The Main Street approach, a coordinated management initiative in downtown revitalization, focuses its image-building structure around four key issues — design, promotion, economic restructuring, and organization.  Contact Salt Lake City Economic Development for more information – ed@slcgov.com or 801-535-7200.

From all of us at Salt Lake City Economic Development, enjoy your holiday!