A Park City man has reached an agreement to acquire the key holdings at the base of the Town Lift, immediately making him an influential figure in the future of Main Street at a time when there appears to be momentum for broad improvements to the shopping, dining and entertainment strip.
Matthew Prince, who lives in Old Town and is the co-founder and CEO of internet security firm Cloudflare, expected the deal would close by the end of the day on Friday. The seller is a business entity called Brothers III LLC, controlled by the Sweeney family. The Sweeney brothers developed the property in the 1990s. Prince said a limited liability company under his control is the buyer.
Terms of the sale were not released. The property was put on the market in November with a listing price of $27 million.
“We want Main Street to be the center of Park City,” Prince said on Friday afternoon.
According to Prince, the acquisition includes:
- The commercial space where the Bridge Cafe and Grill is located.
- The commercial space where the Flying Sumo restaurant is located.
- Retail spaces fronting Main Street.
- The Park City Mountain ticket plaza.
- A majority of the parking spots in the garage underneath the building.
- The Town Lift Plaza deck.
According to Prince, the Sweeney family approached him about a potential acquisition two years prior to the property being put on the market. He declined to pursue a deal at that time, and the property was listed. Prince eventually entered into talks with the Sweeney family that lasted upward of three months. He said the sides reached the agreement in the Old Town house of Pat Sweeney.
Prince described a bullish view of the future of Main Street. He noted a concept of the Town Lift eventually being replaced, saying he prefers a gondola someday being installed on the route. That decision would likely be made as part of wider discussions in the community about citywide transportation. Prince sees a possibility of linking Main Street with Solitude and Alta.
“It’s where the ski runs come into town,” he said about the Town Lift Plaza, describing the skier and snowboarder route to Old Town as “magical.”
The acquisition, meanwhile, coincides with the ongoing talks at City Hall about a set of ideas for improvements to the public spaces in the Main Street core. The improvements would be designed to boost the competitiveness of Main Street against outlying commercial districts. Prince prior to the acquisition signaled his support for the improvements under consideration as part of the municipal talks about Main Street.
The real estate was developed during a 1990s boom era in Park City. The Town Lift Plaza and the other holdings were important to the broader development of lower Main Street, which extended the commercial core, alongside the construction of the lift itself.
Prince co-owns The Park Record with his wife, Tatiana Prince.
