Ground will be broken for a new temple in Tooele in May, and for a new temple in Syracuse in June, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Tuesday.
The news release did not specify a date for either groundbreaking. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, attendance will be by invitation only.
Elder Brook P. Hales of the Quorum of the Seventy will preside at the Deseret Peak Temple site, west of the intersection of 2400 North and 400 West in Tooele. When completed, the three-story building will be about 70,000 square feet. The site also will include a 20,000-square-foot meetinghouse.
Announced in April 2019 as the Tooele Valley Temple, the structure was to be built in nearby Erda. But in the face of local opposition to an associated housing development planned for that area, the church announced in January it would move the temple to Tooele.
Elder Kevin R. Duncan of the Quorum of the Seventy will preside at the Syracuse Temple groundbreaking at the intersection of 2500 West and 1025 South. The three-story structure will be about 89,000 square feet.
There are currently 15 operating Latter-day Saint temples in Utah. Two more, the historic Salt Lake and St. George structures, are undergoing renovation. Temples are under construction in Layton, Orem, Saratoga Springs, St. George and Taylorsville. Another temple has been announced for Lindon.
Latter-day Saints consider a temple to be a House of the Lord, where Jesus Christ’s teachings are reaffirmed through ordinances that unite families for eternity.
