Dart Interest has acquired two parcels of land in downtown Salt Lake City and plans to develop a pair of high-rise apartment buildings on the site. The company purchased the 2.3 acres for $19.7 million.
One parcel measures 1.03 acres and is blanketed by a surface parking lot, while the other 1.29-acre parcel is the site of a vacant data center consisting of 305,000 rentable square feet. Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale.
“The sale of the data center site was challenging for several reasons,” Kip Paul, Cushman & Wakefield vice chair and one of three firm employees representing the seller in the transaction, told Multi-Housing News.
“First, we encountered environmental challenges. Second, the apartment market in Downtown Salt Lake City is beginning to experience an increase in concessions and increasing vacancy rates. Third, construction costs still remain high. And fourth, interest rates continued to increase. We were able to keep the transaction together with a slight price reduction and reinforcement of the uniqueness of the site.”
Weakening national economic trends have recently caught up with Salt Lake City, a Yardi Matrix report found earlier this year.
Flexible zoning
The D1 zoning the site received does not include a maximum density restriction. That enables groups to maximize design and building efficiencies. D1 zoning also permits buildings no less than 100 feet in height and no more than 375 feet in height as of right, making it the most flexible zoning ordinance regarding maximum heights limits.
The property is in a very walkable area with much of downtown Salt Lake City easily accessible on foot. Additionally, Utah’s freeway infrastructure can also be accessed easily from the site, with both Interstates 15 and 215 situated within 1.5 miles of the property. Salt Lake City International Airport is a 10-minute drive away. The Library TRAX Station, meanwhile, is within two blocks of the property.
