Students might be able to step off of TRAX at Rice-Eccles Stadium to a new multi-use development of retail stores, restaurants, offices and university housing, if plans for the “Universe Project,” part of the U’s Campus Master Plan, move forward.
“When people get off TRAX, they trudge along a sea of black asphalt — it’s not very inviting,” said Mike Perez, associate vice president for facilities management. “This is an attempt to provide for an invigorated, energizing entry into campus from the stadium TRAX station.”
Although plans for the development are still in the early stages, students expressed concern about what more development would do to parking availability at the U.
Rachel Sellers, an undeclared sophomore, said the businesses and housing would just create additional traffic and put more cars in the area.
“It would create that much more crowding to an already crowded campus,” Sellars said.
Mike Campanella, a junior in mechanical engineering, said the development would block a lot of the view of the valley.
“It would be an eyesore,” he said. “Why do you need a double or triple decker thing in a residential area?”
Perez said plans for the development could be put into action as early as next year, but if they don’t go through immediately, the timing is more open-ended. The U will present the plan to the Salt Lake City Planning Commission on April 9 to get input from the commission, as well as from community members.
“Because it would be on the edge of campus and adjacent to neighborhoods, we want to share what we’re doing…and consider how it may impact neighbors,” Perez said.
Nick Norris, principal planner of the commission, said the city will have minimal involvement in the project because the development will be built on university property and thus under state jurisdiction. He said the presentation will just be for information purposes.
The development would be built on the eight acres of land that make up the stadium parking lot. To not lose parking spots, the U would construct a lot that is partially above ground and partially underground because of the downward slope of the land from the stadium to the TRAX station.
Right now there are about 940 parking spaces at the stadium, and Perez said the U intends to keep the same number of parking stalls.
The street level of the development would be made up of restaurants, cafés, and shops. A presentation about the Campus Master Plan listed places such as Barnes and Noble, Coldstone Creamery, Potbelly Sandwiches, Aveda Hair and Status Style Shoes as examples of businesses that could go into the center, but Perez emphasized that these are only examples.
Similar establishments with local or national retail, restaurants and bookstores are typical on other college campuses, Perez said.
Becky Todd, a sophomore in speech communication, said she thinks the development would be a good idea if it were built in the summer when not as many students were using the lot.
“It would be cool to have on campus,” Todd said. “Our little community for college students.”
Sellers said it would be nice to have somewhere to walk to on campus for lunch other than the U cafeteria.
The upper level of the development would be comprised of university offices, such as the Office of Student Recruitment, the Office of Admissions and Continuing Education. Some of the space could be used for classrooms and multi-purpose rooms for student activities. Because some of these groups would have community ties, they would be best suited for the perimeter of campus, Perez said, such as offering classes to students returning to the U. Part of the upper level would also include housing for faculty or students. Perez said he does not know if this would be part of the U Residence Halls, but all housing would be for university use.
The development could look similar to the Gateway downtown, but the housing would not be separate, Perez said.
Now the U is advertising nationally to hire a developer to work on the project, who will determine the scope of the project and the timing for building, as well as fund the project.
George Ortiz, a junior in political science and economics, said he would rather have the money spent on scholarship funds.
“With the revenue from the businesses, I’d like to see where that money would be going,” Ortiz said.
Henry Grover, a sophomore biology student, said if the U has extra money, it should be spending it on teacher salaries and making the campus more sustainable, such as with xeriscape landscaping and upgrading TRAX to promote less of a need for parking.
The U will have to get approval from the Board of Trustees, State Board of Regents, Utah State Building Board and the Utah State Legislature before construction can begin.
The length of the project will depend on the scope of the work, Perez said, but they would need to work out a plan with the developer to preserve some sort of parking for the stadium to allow for continued use.
“We’re still in the conceptual stages,” Perez said.