A Millcreek developer is floating plans to build a new boutique hotel on the site of the former Sizzler restaurant at the edge of Sugar House Park.
John Potter, CEO of Magnus Hotel Management, pitched initial designs late Wednesday to community members for an upscale 141-room hotel standing seven floors tall and located close to that well-trafficked corner of 2100 South and 1300 East, with relatively narrow setbacks.
The plans, which the firm says are subject to change, call for two floors of underground parking and select ground-floor spaces for leasing to restaurants and shops. Potter and other company officials told the Sugar House Community Council they intend to fill the 0.81-acre cluster of parcels with a structure that would act as “an informal gateway” to the regional park.
Potter said the hotel might be affiliated with the reservation system of a national brand, such as Marriott, “but with this flair and uniqueness and design fitting into the community. It’s not a cookie-cutter project. We’re going past that ‘same in every city look’ to catch your neighborhood vibe.”
Added hotel architect Jackson Ferguson with Salt Lake City-based FFKR: “We want it to be a nice interface between the city and the park.”
Details on the proposal were first reported Wednesday by the news website Building Salt Lake.
The building’s height will match those of surrounding structures, Ferguson said at Wednesday’s meeting, partly to minimize impeding views of Sugar House Park and surroundings.
Hotel entry and reception are to be centered on a roundabout internal to the property, according to the plans, reducing traffic impacts on the neighborhood. There would be pedestrian-accessible features built into the hotel for park users as well.
The seven-story structure would also include spaces for a library, banquet room as well as a rooftop eatery and bar on the top of the building, Potter and others said — with the latter situated far enough from the park itself so as to be eligible for liquor licensing.
Initial designs developed by architects at FFKR still remain fluid, according to the hotel company’s CEO. The plans will likely be altered subject to public input until the firm’s formal application is submitted at City Hall.
A spokesperson for the community council said Thursday the pitch was drawing an initially positive reception.
Potter confirmed the project application to the city would include a request to rezone the property, which is currently zoned as part of the Sugar House central business district.
Under current city code, a rezone of the properties will require review from the city’s planning commission and approval by the City Council — along with an analysis of community benefits the council might seek of the developer, like affordable housing, in exchange for granting a zoning change.
Potter said his Millcreek company hoped to build and then manage the new hotel, with a tentative timeline to completion of about two years.
Neighbors hotly opposed a proposal made three years ago for a convenience store and gas station on that parkside property at 2111 S. 1300 East, citing traffic and safety concerns as well as highlighting environmental risks to the park and nearby Parleys Creek.
That application from the parent company of Kum & Go was eventually rejected by city planners. The community outcry also led the city to alter its land use rules to prohibit gas stations within 350 feet of its parks and bodies of water.
The familiar Sizzler restaurant that stood on the site for years got demolished in early 2024.
