DRAPER — Crews are making progress on “The Point” redevelopment project, but it is hard to see because most of it is underground.
“We’re currently working on the underground utilities, storm drain, sewer, water, and some of the outfall with the River-to-Range (trail) is going on right here in front of us,” said project superintendent Shane Mecham.
Excavation teams throughout this expansive project are laying 6 miles of pipe. And they have moved enough dirt to halfway fill the University of Utah’s Rice Eccles Stadium.
Leaders have identified the location of one centerpiece of the project, an entertainment venue, which they believe will be a catalyst for the development.
“Anytime that you can create a 5,000-seat entertainment venue, it’ll draw from a lot of people,” said Michael Ambre, executive director of Point of the Mountain State Land Authority.
“Then they’ll spend money shopping in the retail and dining experience, and it really kind of kick-starts the entire development,” he added.
The first building on the site will be a 350-unit apartment complex, which is considered a marquee statement for this project, with 45,000 square feet of retail shops and dining on the ground floor.
Planners are focusing on bringing innovation to The Point with incubator centers for entrepreneurs and trying to relocate national headquarters to Utah.
Ambre pointed to air taxis as one example of that innovation. Think Uber, only by helicopter-like drones, which could transport people to places like the airport or Park City in minutes.
“We’re looking at multiple options around the state on where these helicopter-type landing areas might be the best strategically located, and this site is definitely one of them,” Ambre said.
They’re also working with the Utah Transit Authority and the Utah Department of Transportation to bring light-rail and TRAX to The Point, to help connect Salt Lake and Utah counties.
“It’s kind of a staple. It brings the valley together, right? There’s been a separation here between, like, Utah County (and) Salt Lake County. It is going to show the progress the state’s making,” Mecham said.
From I-15, drivers will be able to see the progress. This time next year, building will start moving above ground.
Phase 1 is slated to take about 15 years, though developers hope to reduce that timeline. When complete, planners forecast it will generate hundreds of homes, thousands of jobs and billions in economic growth.
The biggest milestone, Mecham said, is the vision this creates for the future.
“Bringing my kids through here and showing them what we built from when it was the prison door, it was just grass to what it’s going to be.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
