The next major piece of Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith’s downtown sports, entertainment, culture and convention district carries a steep price tag.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said she expects renovations to the Salt Palace Convention Center to cost about a billion dollars. By giving the facility a face-lift with a second ballroom, Wilson aims to fill up more hotel rooms, improve east-west connections and make the area more attractive.
To chip away at the cost, the mayor wants to work with the state, Salt Lake City and potentially private partners to find larger funding sources. First, she hopes to put a $10.5 million dent in the price tag by tapping a pool of money set aside for transportation — a move that would require approval from state lawmakers.
That pot of money, called the “fourth quarter transportation choice fund,” is controlled by the county, Wilson explained, and reserved for transportation projects and paying off debt from such efforts.
“We no longer are in the traditional transportation business,” she said. “It’s not really the core part of what we do at Salt Lake County at this stage. So with that diminishing role, and other partners — including the federal government, all the way on down — funding transportation, the opportunity around the Salt Palace is one that I wanted us to be able to consider.”
The fund is fueled by a quarter-of-a-percentage-point sales tax, which contributes 0.05% of its revenue to the stash of cash. Salt Lake City and the Utah Transit Authority split the rest of the revenue.
Salt Lake County’s “fourth quarter” allocation totaled $19.4 million this year. Nearly $9 million of that revenue is budgeted toward initiatives like the county’s TRAX ambassador program and sidewalk construction in Millcreek.
Wilson proposed slapping a “temporary lockbox” on the remaining $10.5 million. On Nov. 5, the County Council voted 7-2 in support of setting aside the money and exploring options in the upcoming legislative session to free up the revenue.
Wilson said she has had productive conversations with the governor and legislative leadership on plans for the Salt Palace within the new downtown district, and hopes the parties can “get this over the finish line” in the coming months.
After the legislative session, when county officials will know more about what the Legislature is willing to do for the project, they would reevaluate what the funds could be used for — whether it’s the Salt Palace or other county efforts.
Renovating the convention center is key to the downtown district, which is already tapping $900 million in taxpayer funds through a half-a-percentage-point sales tax hike.
Wilson expects to go into the next legislative session with a more in-depth rebuild design so Smith Entertainment Group has an idea of what a ground lease of the area would look like for the planned second phase of the downtown development.
“If we’re able to do that with all of the partners — the governor, myself, SEG, [Salt Lake City] Mayor [Erin] Mendenhall and other partners… if we’re all singing from the same sheet of music, I feel like we’re going to have a better outcome with the Legislature,” Wilson said. “This proposal for the fourth quarter was only a tiny sliver of that work. …We may never go there, but I think at this point in time, it’s probably a proposal that makes some sense.”
