In late April, while the roughly 60 members of the Utah Symphony Orchestra were taking a break during rehearsals for Massenet’s opera “Thais,” the organization’s chief executive, Steve Broswick, told Abravanel Hall, where County is their world. He calmly announced that he was considering demolishing the building. – Built the famous mansion as part of a plan to redevelop downtown Salt Lake City.
The musicians were in shock. How can this happen? Built with gilded bridges, crystal chandeliers, and the best acoustics in the country, Abravanel Hall has been hosting symphonies for 45 years.
“We were very depressed,” said Lori Weick, the symphony orchestra’s principal bassoonist. “And we started organizing.”
This is how Wike, 47, with no experience in local government, stepped into the edgy world of politics. She joined a small but vocal group of musicians to take on mayors, congressmen and the billionaire owners of two major professional sports teams that play in downtown Salt Lake City.
The musicians combed through planning regulations, attended council meetings and launched a media campaign to promote their cause. They enlisted the help of architects, opposition politicians, and legendary composer John Williams, who composed the scores for classic films such as Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The task was a difficult one. City and county leaders, primarily at the direction of Ryan Smith, owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz and a newly acquired NHL team that will soon play in downtown Salt Lake City, are planning to take up to 100 acres of downtown Salt Lake City. An ambitious plan was underway to rebuild it. , and two professional soccer franchises of which he is a minority owner.
The plan includes relocating part of the ungainly Salt Palace Convention Center to create a corridor linking the neighborhood to the east and west, filling it with gathering space, housing, bars, restaurants and shops, and adding space for the Winter Olympics. It includes things that will be a highlight when you return. It also calls for renovations to the Delta Center, the home arena for the Jazz and hockey teams.
Smith and Mike Maughan, an executive with Smith’s umbrella group SEG and project leader for the downtown redevelopment, have said they want Abravanel Hall to remain in the district. However, there remained the possibility that the county, which owns the hall, would demolish it in order to rebuild it on a site suitable for a plaza. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson told the symphony board in May that the most cost-effective option was to rebuild the hall, but for months said she had not yet reached a decision on the hall’s fate. spent.
Five months later, musicians have finally received some encouraging news. At a public meeting last month, Wilson said the county intended to renovate the hall rather than tear it down and rebuild.
Wike said she was “cautiously elated” after watching the Sept. 17 meeting, but like her fellow musicians, she knew the promise could be broken. On October 1, the City Council approved an extensive plan for the district that includes $900 million in new taxes.
For decades, sports owners have dangled the possibility of relocating their franchises in order to garner subsidies from politicians and fans who want to keep their teams. Economists say these deals, sometimes worth billions of dollars, rarely recoup the promised tax revenue.
No longer satisfied with updating arenas and stadiums, sports owners are using their buildings as bases for large-scale real estate developments that generate revenue that doesn’t need to be shared with other teams. Salt Lake City’s plan is unique in that it involves civic assets such as concert halls that are beloved by a small but influential group of voters, and who determine the fundamental character of the city center. There is a question as to whether this is the case.
“Anyone who believes that oversized, glitzy sports centers fueled by jumbotrons won’t become relics in need of renovation in less than 20 years needs to turn off the VCR and join the real world. “There is,” said architect and planning member Bree Scheer. The commission said it did not have enough information to properly evaluate the district’s plan.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall said critics of the plan underestimated the risks of doing nothing. Smith, who owns more than 100 acres in Sandy, about a 30-minute drive south of Salt Lake City, could build an arena there. (He is building a training center there for a hockey team.) Mendenhall and other local politicians see the downtown’s woes as a dire image of what Salt Lake City will become if the team leaves. Citing another city.
“Losing the Utah Jazz is not an option,” Mendenhall said in an interview. “We’re trying to make sure we leave no stone unturned” to keep the team.
On a recent walk through the area, Smith and Mendenhall, both wearing Utah Jazz caps, noted that in a city with statutorily designated thoroughfares, the convention center is a jumble of loading docks and high walls. He noted that it was blocking traffic and impeding pedestrians. It was wide enough for Brigham Young’s team of oxen to make a U-turn.
Smith and local officials say the Salt Palace lacks the character that newer buildings have. Abravanel Hall and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art are adjacent but mismatched appendages. To the west, a Japanese church and a Buddhist temple stand alone. There are several hotels nearby, but most convention attendees leave the area for beer and food.
“I think we as a city can do a better job of curating that experience,” Smith said. “And this is a great opportunity to do that.”
SEG will receive $900 million from the new half-penny city sales tax, of which SEG plans to spend $525 million on improvements to Delta Center, including making it more hockey-friendly. (The team’s first season begins Tuesday.) The rest will go toward district development. SEG also said it would invest $3 billion in the district, but it was not required to do so. Funding for the remaining projects, including the renovation of the music hall, has not been announced.
The county also hasn’t said how it plans to relocate the convention center and other buildings.
Salt Lake City opponents say time and money spent on a for-profit entertainment district could be used to address more pressing needs, such as helping reduce the city’s homeless population or creating more affordable housing. He argues that it can be used more effectively for the purpose of
“This is not the way a government should go about dealing with a city’s problems,” said Rocky Anderson, a two-term Salt Lake City mayor who said he received assurances from SEG that it would help address the homelessness crisis. . “This is a wicked way to make public policy.”
Musicians became a regular presence at public meetings.
Mercedes Smith, the orchestra’s principal flautist, said: “Nearly $1 billion of taxpayer money is in the hands of a billion-dollar for-profit corporation that still spends every dollar of its own money on There is no need to invest in the project.” He said this at the City Council meeting on August 13th. “Now the same company is trying to circumvent the public design review process. I ask, where does this end?
Her husband, violinist David Porter, called on Bloswick and the symphony orchestra’s leadership to do more to save the building. Utah Youth Symphony Orchestra violist Jack Clark, 18, started a Change.org petition called “Save Abravanel Hall,” which has gathered more than 50,000 signatures.
Scheer, the planning commission’s architect, was part of an informal coalition to save Abravanel Hall. So did preservationist Adrian White, who nominated the hall, built in 1979, for the National Register of Historic Places. Her application will soon be evaluated by the National Park Service.
Other cities take years rather than months to consider major projects and include more outside input. The land use process to build a soccer stadium in Queens has received 122 votes in the past year. Hundreds of people have gathered in Philadelphia for the past two years to discuss a proposal to build a $1.5 billion basketball arena downtown.
In Salt Lake City, lawmakers debated ways to revitalize the area late last year, and the state government introduced a “revitalization” bill in February. The debate heated up in April when Smith bought the NHL franchise. Business organizations also supported the project.
A five-member state capitol committee approved the district’s general plan, which included a recommendation to preserve Abravanel Hall. Before approving the plan on Oct. 1, the City Council received public comments overwhelmingly opposing the tax increase.
“I think it’s important to point out that just because it’s happening quickly doesn’t mean it’s not very thoughtful and planned,” Morgan said during the walking tour.
“Amen,” Mendenhall replied. “Fast trucks have many advantages.”
Some of the people directly affected are less influential than the musicians. Laura Allred Hurtado, executive director of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, also owned by the county, said she is not opposed to moving to a new building, but her organization has so far had little say in where it will be located. He said he had no right to do so. Where to move during that time.
The new building “will be transformative,” she said. “But people believe your word even though you don’t show them the money.”
The overhaul is bittersweet for the 100-year-old United Church of Christ in Japan, which is located one block from Delta Center. Many of Japantown’s buildings were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the Salt Palace. Jani Iwamoto, a former state senator and church member, said she didn’t oppose the development, but was concerned about the plans she saw.
“We already have one 125-foot building and potentially two 600-foot buildings, so our church will be in darkness,” she said. . “They want to add a full bar next to the chapel. I’m concerned about whether our church will survive throughout the construction period.”
Some development is understandable given the rapid expansion of cities driven by a burgeoning technology industry. Utah grew 18.4 percent from 2010 to 2020, making it the fastest growing state of any state in the country, with much of the growth expected over the next decade, according to the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. is expected to be in Salt Lake County. business school.
Since purchasing the Jazz in 2020, Smith has sought to renew the state’s image to one of innovation and growth. Smith, a Utah native who made his fortune as one of the founders of digital questionnaire company Qualtrics, considers the Downtown District part of his heritage.
Local politicians are rushing to give SEG what it needs, fearing that Mr. Smith will move the team to the suburbs if the project is not completed.
Mendenhall said in a public meeting that the agreement with SEG was the result of “true negotiations” and that neither side got everything they wanted. But when asked what concessions were made, representatives from SEG and Mendenhall’s office declined to answer.
“I think there’s a perception that the county is in SEG’s pocket,” said Wilson, the county manager, adding that’s not the case. Rather, she continued, SEG is a “vital partner” as it manages two major sports teams in the region. The loss of the arena to the suburbs is “a loss to downtown that we will never recover from,” she said.
Musicians feel the same way about Abravanel Hall.
At the Sept. 17 meeting, Wilson said he is committed to keeping the hall in its current shape and location, adding, “We have plans to do that.”
Mr. Wilson would not say what the plan was, only that it would be expensive.
When public comment began, Wike asked for a clear commitment not to demolish Abravanel Hall. State Commission Chairman Daniel McKay said he recommends preserving the hall.
Other participants expressed concerns about the additional tax burden.
Immediately after public comment ended, the commission unanimously approved the agreement.