Two Downtown SLC Buildings to Be Converted to Condos
By Rattle, Barbara
Two vacant downtown Salt Lake City buildings are about to be transformed into condominiums – one of them commercial, the other residential.
Partners Brad Andrus, Boris London and Brent Andrus plan to convert the Sterling Building, 35 W. Broadway, into 54,000 square feet of office condos and the 66,000 square foot Patrick Dry Goods Building, 163 W. 200 S., into 40 residential lofts.
Brad Andrus is a partner in Bridge Investment Group, Salt Lake City. London is a local general contractor, while Brent Andrus is a hotel developer.
Interior demolition work at the Sterling Building is almost complete, said London, whose Salt Lake-based company, London Construction, is the contractor on both developments. Prudential Real Estate has already begun pre-selling the units, and letters of intent are in hand from two prospective tenants that would occupy the fourth and fifth floors of the five-story structure. The lower three floors will be subdivided into smaller spaces. Louis Ulrich of Lu’na Design Studio, Salt Lake City, is the architect.
“Our target is, or at least was, attorneys, because of our proximity to the federal courthouse,” London said. “A lot of professional firms like CPAs and title companies they are knocking on our doors too.”
On average, space in the Sterling will sell for about $185 per square foot, London said.
“Our price is a little bit lower than what’s going on in the Cottonwood Corporate Center, which has been selling out and being re- sold at big profits,” he said.
London said the Sterling project will become the first office condo development in Salt Lake City’s central business district, and likely will benefit from the $1 billion redevelopment of two downtown blocks that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has embarked upon.
“All of the tenants that used to be in the buildings that are going to be torn down will be looking for space,” he said. “And it makes much, much, much more sense to buy space rather than to lease it. The advantages are endless.”
Another selling point for the Sterling, said Brad Andrus, is the fact that it received a seismic upgrade in the late 1980s.
There are no seismic concerns when it comes to the Patrick Dry Goods Building, which will become the Patrick Lofts.
“The Patrick is probably the most solid building in Salt Lake,” London said. “It’s made of concrete. Everything ceilings, walls, floors, everything. It would keep standing even after the big promised earthquake.”
In addition to 40 Manhattan-style residential lofts, the Patrick building probably also will have some complementary tenants.
“We have quite high demand for a restaurant on the main floor, so that’s probably going to be our first desire,” Andrus said. “We’re also talking to some fitness folks about taking space in the basement.”
Allen Millo Associates, Salt Lake City, is designing the lofts and will also coordinate marketing of the Patrick Lofts as a contract developer. Units will measure 800 square feet and contain one bedroom and two baths in a modem setting. Half will have balconies or patios and all top-floor units will have a roof garden. Prices will be less than $300,000. Work on the condos will begin as soon as a building permit is secured. Construction should take about seven months. The condos will be aimed at young working professionals “who want to have the privilege of living downtown and being in the middle of everything, especially with the downtown expansion and improvements,” London said. Parking will be located at the rear of the building.
Salt Lake City-based Magnet Bank is providing approximately $8 million in financing for the two projects.
“We’re making a pretty significant investment in the refurbishment of downtown,” said Darven Ericson, executive vice president and managing principal of the industrial bank. “Given the uniqueness of the properties, what we think is a great product fit for downtown and the investment in downtown that is going on right now, we felt like it was a great opportunity to align ourselves with a developer group with a strong background and invest in a downtown area that we believe holds a great deal of potential.”
Ericson said Magnet Bank has exceeded all its goals for investment in Salt Lake since it received its charter in September 2005.
“In less than a year we established ourselves as a very good commercial bank for developers in the Salt Lake market in Utah in general,” he said. “We’ve done that by delivering speed and a sense of partnership with our borrowers.”
Copyright Enterprise Business Newspaper Inc. Jan 01, 2007
(c) 2007 Enterprise, The; Salt Lake City. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.