A downtown Salt Lake City hotel that has anchored the skyline for more than two decades is closing and laying off 100 workers after the land it sits on was sold to one of the nation’s largest online universities.
The mass layoff by the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel was disclosed Feb. 15 in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN notice, filed with the Utah Department of Workforce Services, according to the agency’s online database.
The Sheraton is shutting down on April 30 because “the hotel owner plans to redevelop the property for an alternative use,” according to the WARN notice obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday through a public records request.
The WARN act requires employers to provide a 60-day notice before any mass layoff, plant closure or relocation.
The Sheraton began laying off sales managers, a human resources assistant, overnight maintenance staff and an accounting clerk on Feb. 15, with those cuts continuing through Sunday, according to the notice.
The hotel will lay off all remaining employees starting April 16, the notice states.
The Sheraton brand is owned by Marriott International, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about plans to close the hotel or the layoffs.
The Sheraton property, along with several adjacent parcels, were purchased by Western Governors University, according to state and Salt Lake County property records.
The online university, headquartered in Millcreek, acquired the properties through a shell company, Altaway Holdings, LLC, buying eight of the 10 parcels that make up the entire block between West Temple and 200 West, records show.
A spokesperson with the university reached Thursday didn’t immediately comment on the acquisition.
The 9-story brick hotel at 150 W. 500 South is more than 50 years old. Built in 1975, it originally opened as a Hilton before later rebranding as a Sheraton.
The 362-room, full-service hotel has long catered to convention and business travelers because of its proximity to the Salt Palace Convention Center.
The hotel’s website shows April 27 as the last day guests can make a reservation, with no bookings available beyond that date.