Years of planning for a sweeping redevelopment effort in Draper could make way for vertical construction later this year.
Horizontal construction at The Point — the state’s massive redevelopment effort of over 600 acres on the former Utah State Prison site — first kicked off in 2024 with the lengthy task of building roads and essential infrastructure.
The construction updates were discussed during a meeting earlier this month for the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority board (POMSLA). During the meeting, board members heard an overview of the project’s initial wave of construction, which includes a total of six projects. Those projects will consist of 408 market rate apartment units, 400 affordable housing units, a 175-room hotel, 111,000 square feet of retail and 30,000 square feet of office space, according to a presentation to POMSLA board members. Also included in plans is a 5,000-seat entertainment venue.
Many of those projects will be situated along The Promenade, a walkable street with numerous retail locations that’s described as the “social heart” of the project’s first phase, according to a presentation from the March 11 meeting. The area would be located just off Porter Rockwell Boulevard, which was the first street built in The Point. The Promenade area would feature a number of outdoor dining and gathering spaces.
A rendering of The Promenade at The Point in Draper. Image via The Point Partners
Robert Booth, vice president of development at Wadsworth Development Group, said during the meeting that breaking ground on The Promenade could take place in April or May, though he said several steps have to take place before that could happen.
Booth later told Building Salt Lake that construction over the coming months will continue to be horizontal, but the first building to see vertical construction would be the entertainment venue. He said over the next few months, construction documents will be submitted to the state and go through entitlements and permitting. That timeline can always fluctuate, but it’s likely the building will go vertical this year.
“It takes a while before things go vertical, because you’ve got undergrounds and foundations and all those sorts of things. So it might be near the end of the year before you start seeing things go up, but we will have started on the project,” Booth said of the entertainment venue.
The next buildings to go up would be two market-rate multifamily buildings and a hotel, Booth said, adding that work is currently being done to capitalize those three projects. All three would have mixed-use elements.
One of those buildings, referred to in the POMSLA presentation as Parcel H5A, would feature 363 residential units and 42,000 square feet of ground floor retail. Another building, currently named Parcel H3A, would feature 69,000 square feet of retail; 30,000 square feet of office space; 45 residential units and a 1,000 stall public parking garage. Both buildings would be built along The Promenade.
The third building, dubbed Parcel H5B, would be the hotel. The POMSLA presentation says the building would offer 175 hotel rooms, 25,000 square feet of retail and additional parking. A rendering in the presentation also says the hotel would have a lobby bar. Further down the line, work would start on a 400-unit affordable housing project, which will be built in partnership with Alta Bay Capital, a prominent local developer that specializes in LIHTC buildings.
Though Salt Lake City’s multifamily market continues to be soft, with a glut of new apartments driving rents down in the city, Booth told BSL he’s confident that investors will see the value in this one-of-a-kind project that’s in a submarket away from the city.
“Generally, we feel bullish on this site,” Booth told BSL. “We feel confident we’re going to find the money out there to do it. It might take a little longer than a traditional project might, because of the size and scale of the capital that we’re looking for, which is significant (given) the market that we’re in.”
A rendering of a mixed-use building known as Parcel H5A at The Point in Draper. Image via The Point Partners
Though the project will be in Draper, the build is more akin to projects in Sugar House, Booth said. Given its proximity to Silicon Slopes and the booming population base of Utah County, he said The Point will bring new amenities typically only seen in Downtown Salt Lake City to a growing area.
Booth said the time frame for delivery isn’t certain, but construction on the H5A building is expected to take roughly 30-36 months to build, largely due to its size. He added, “if we’re starting at the end of the year, we’re pushing 2029, early 2029, as a kind of a coming out with this building.”
The H3A building would likely take 24-26 months to build, while the H5B hotel project would take around 18 months to build. Ideally, the buildings would be delivered around the same time, he said.
A rendering of the mixed-use Parcel H3A building at The Point in Draper. Image via The Point Partners
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