After the Salt Lake Community Council voted against a rezoning change that would have permitted a 90-foot hotel to be built in Sugar House Park, there seems to be no end in sight the old Sizzler lot’s continued vacancy. The hotel, which would have had space for 145 guests, as well as an underground parking lot for 180 people, is now officially off the books.
Sarah Young, the Councilwoman from District 7 who led the opposition, said her vote was a matter of precedent. “Traditionally, the Sugar House Business District has been considered within the confines of four major streets and or a freeway,” she said in an interview with The Chronicle. This, Young said, would extend that district.
“[The expansion] was something that came up in a lot of the conversations with community members about,” Young said. “Is that our vision for our community, that the business district continues to expand outside of those four boundaries? What is our rationale behind that?”
The vacant lot
The lot—located on 2100 South and 1300 East—is owned by Romney Farr.Despite government attempts to buy the land, Farr’s property remains the last parcel of land in Sugar House Park to be privately owned.
The lot has a long history of others vying for development. Back in 2023, a Kum & Go gas station was rejected by the council after concerns rose that a gas leak might significantly damage the underground water source that flows into Hidden Hollow.
“The planner was really good,” Judi Short, the Chair of the Land Use and Zoning Committee, said. “She surveyed every parcel in the state, and found that like 75% of them leaked at some point.”
However, one problem remains: nobody can afford to develop it. “The challenge has been that the property has some existing financial commitments because of previous proposals, and that’s making it challenging for MU3 to pencil,” Young said.
Short agreed. “Maverick was certain that they were going to get this [Kum & Go] approved, so they made a deal with the owner of the property, and the deal was like as long as you pay me…$12,500 a month for 25 years,” she said.
Past and future roadblocks
That 40 foot height limit to a building, due to the property’s designation as a MU3 lot, makes it challenging to find something profitable enough to be able to afford that lease. That’s why Magnus Commercial Properties—the company behind the hotel proposal—sought to change the zoning to allow a building up to 90 feet tall. They wanted to expand the Sugar House Business District to include the lot, which currently sits just across the street from the district.
Young said another consideration was that the Business District had recently been developed. “The Council voted to approve a mixed-use zoning proposal that came from our planning team that basically took, I think, 19 different zones across the city and kind of consolidated them into a new framework of mixed-use zoning,” she said. “The proposal also included additional height potential if the developments include affordable housing.”
The proposed expansion was a large reason the proposal failed. “It was hard to make a rationale for me and for a lot of our community members to say, ‘we’ve developed the business district; we’ve got to keep expanding it at this time,'” Young said.
An end to vacancy
Young was adamant, however, that she didn’t want to see the lot sit vacant forever. “It is not my vision, nor the vision of the neighbors, that we want that property to sit undeveloped. That’s not good for anyone,” she said.
Whatever gets developed in the space will have to deal with many of the same problems that faced the hotel. One of the big ones was a concern over traffic.
According to data from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), roughly 66,000 cars pass through that area everyday. A worry was that cars trying to get to the freeway would cut across traffic and flip a U-turn at 2100 South and 1300 East, something locals have already complained about.
“I’m gonna make sure that there’s a divider in that road,” Short said of the intersection. “Because people are already complaining that cars are doing that.”
Young says she’s “invested” in seeing the property become something for the community. “I’m all about bringing back Training Table,” Young said. “And I keep shouting it to the universe to see if it ever materializes, whether it’s for that property or somewhere else. But yeah, bring back the fry sauce.”
