New temples for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orem and Taylorsville will have some things in common: They both will be three stories tall, 70,000 square feet and close to freeways.
Church officials unveiled locations Wednesday for temples in those Utah cities, the planning for which was announced in October by church President Russell M. Nelson.
The single-spire Orem Temple will be built on a 16-acre site near 1471 S. Geneva Road, just west of Interstate 15 from Utah Valley University’s campus. A 20,000-square-foot meetinghouse also will be built there.
The single-spire Taylorsville Temple will be constructed on a 7.5-acre parcel at 2603 W. 4700 South, just west of I-215. A meetinghouse that sits there now will be removed and will not be replaced.
Utah will be home to 23 Latter-day Saint temples, counting those already operating and planned.
The church also announced a location for a temple in McAllen, Texas. The temple, the Lone Star State’s fifth, will be one story covering about 25,000 square feet. A 17,000-square-foot meetinghouse will also be built on that 10.6-acre site.
Latter-day Saints consider temples “Houses of the Lord," places where devout members participate in their faith’s highest rites, including eternal marriages.