SALT LAKE CITY — Groundwork construction has now begun in Utah’s bid for a Major League Baseball team.
Right now, the site where Utah wants to build the baseball stadium in Salt Lake City is home to Rocky Mountain Power. On Monday morning, they held the groundbreaking to relocate their corporate offices.
A lot of dignitaries were on hand Monday morning to see the groundbreaking happen, including Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, leadership of the Larry H. Miller Company and Real Estate, the president of Rocky Mountain Power and Utah State Sen. Scott Sandall, among others.
To make room for the stadium, Rocky Mountain Power needs a new home.
Monday morning, the first shovels hit the dirt on North Temple 1460 West to make the move. It’s the first new building in this big transition. The new offices are going in literally down the block.
Rocky Mountain is building a brand new 10-story, 300,000 square foot corporate campus. The company will then demolish the old building to transform the 100-acre Power District into a hub of sports and entertainment, anchored at first by the new offices, and hopefully a baseball stadium in the future, seen in renderings released last year.
Actually doing the work is now the latest puzzle piece being placed to convince Major League Baseball that Salt Lake City is the best place to expand a team.
“We continue to demonstrate we’re the most ready market, that our ownership group is prepared; we have a site, that’s ready to go that’s literally shovel-ready. So whenever they expand and start that process, we should feel really confident about our chances,” said Steve Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Company.
To this point, the Larry H. Miller Company has secured over $3.5 billion dollars in private investment for this project, but Major League Baseball has not said one way or the other if Utah is getting a team.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he hopes the league can select two expansion teams before his term expires in January 2029, but he won’t more forward until the Tampa Bay Rays and the team’s new owners have a deal for their new ballpark.
Reports said there are about nine teams vying for an expansion team, but Salt Lake and Nashville are considered the frontrunners.
The new Rocky Mountain Power offices here are expected to be finished in September 2027, but Starks said they want the old office location to be shovel-ready for a stadium by October 2026, when collective bargaining with MLB will take place and the expansion process could potentially begin.
