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SLC Residents Demand Grocery Store Downtown

Posted on: Thursday, 27 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Heather May, The Salt Lake Tribune

Apr. 27--The holy grail of downtown Salt Lake City retail is a grocery store.

The growing group of residents living downtown want one -- and so do city leaders in their quest to attract even more downtown dwellers.

So Salt Lake City is taking the unusual step of requiring that The Boyer Co. find a grocer before the city will sell land at 500 West and 200 South to the developer for a proposed office and retail tower in The Gateway, according to Boyer.

At the same time, Howa Capital is working to open a Sunflower Market -- a natural-food store created by the founder of Wild Oats -- at its mixed-use project on 300 West between 500 North and 600 North.

The city wants both grocery stores, even though officials recognize the market for small grocers -- as Boyer's and Howa's would be -- is, well, small.

"It's very unusual," said Jake Boyer, Gateway's managing partner, of the grocery-store condition. "We don't have much of a choice because that's the requirement the mayor's put on the parcel of ground."

Boyer needs to buy property from the city and the city's Redevelopment Agency (RDA) to build a four-story office building. Boyer would like to start construction in June, but it hasn't found a grocer to fill 10,000 to 15,000 square feet. Nor does the company have office tenants for the tower.

When the RDA sells land, it typically places requirements on how it's used, but those restrictions are general. This case is different, according to RDA Director Dave Oka.

"There's significant demand [for grocery] because of a growing residential population."

About 6,000 residents call the Central Business District home, and projections show 10,000 will live there by 2010.

Still, Oka recognizes the difficulties finding neighborhood grocers.

"The grocery stores like the large-format stores. Small stores are not as profitable."

A small grocer already exists in The Gateway neighborhood. Mary Gordon describes her Jade Market, 353 W. 200 South, as a 7-11-type convenience store, but stocked with edible food that includes organic items, soy milk, candy, cereal, locally brewed beer. She caters to a six-block radius of residents, carrying everything from condoms to vegan burritos, she said. The response has been enthusiastic, so she knows there's a demand for more food options.

"I would expect it [a Gateway grocer] to cut into our sales. But a lot of people come to us because we're convenient; they don't want to go to a big grocery store."

Dru Damico, director of development for Howa, said he is working on a letter of intent with Sunflower, which has been described as a less-expensive Wild Oats that feels more like a farmer's market. The Arizona-based Sunflower didn't immediately return a phone call. It has 11 stores in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

Howa will go before the city's Planning Commission on Wednesday seeking to gain approval for the first phase of its mixed-use development, which eventually would include 88 housing units and 67,295 square feet of retail.

Damico said the grocery store is scheduled for phase one.

He doesn't think a Gateway grocery store will affect his project.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune

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Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

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