A new Latter-day Saint temple will land in the far western reaches of the Salt Lake Valley, just north of one of the world’s largest open pit mines.
The recently announced West Jordan Temple will sit on about 16 acres at approximately 7148 West, off of Highway 111, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints revealed in a news release Monday.
The future temple’s nearest neighborhood already hosts Jordan School District’s Sunset Ridge Middle School and Oakcrest Elementary School.
Church President Russell M. Nelson told attendees at this month’s General Conference in Salt Lake City that a new temple is also coming to Lehi.
That temple is slated to be built on a roughly 22.5-acre spread at the intersection of 3950 N. Center St., next to Alpine School District’s Viewpoint Middle School and near a Texas Instruments campus.
Plans for both sites call for a multistory temple of about 85,000 square feet and an accompanying meetinghouse on each property. Both will be their city’s first temples.
West Jordan’s temple will be the fourth on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, joining two in neighboring South Jordan and a new temple in Taylorsville set to be dedicated June 2. The West Jordan and Lehi temples bring the total number of planned or constructed temples in the faith’s home state to 30.
The announcement of the new temples this month marked the first time since October 2021 that Nelson has revealed plans for new temples in the Beehive State.
After the announcement, public officials in both cities expressed excitement and surprise about their communities being chosen for new temples, saying the edifices will bring better opportunities for their residents to participate in religious life.
Latter-day Saints — although only those who have been deemed worthy — enter temples to participate in the faith’s most sacred rituals, like eternal marriage.