Local news announced last week that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is planning to close and demolish the church-owned Plaza Hotel on South Temple near its Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City.
The church stated several reasons for the pending closure and demolition, but one of the initial uses for the site will be additional parking for public tours of the Salt Lake Temple when renovations are complete by April 2027. Temple open houses — which provide public access to a site that’s ordinarily limited to the certified faithful — are usually well attended and I foresee the church needing that additional parking during the open house.
When this item was discussed on Reddit, many, many people took the opportunity to complain about the church and rue the decision to add even more parking in a downtown that doesn’t lack for public parking.
Many were candid and admitted that the current hotel is dated and generally not regarded as an architectural gem (although Hoodline called it “iconic”), but they would prefer the faded building over parking. A subsequent blog entry from a site focused on Salt Lake development pointed out that the church’s initial intended use of the property for parking may run afoul of city code.
I certainly sympathize with the complaints, but I think temporarily building a parking lot could ultimately lead to _adding_ green space downtown. However, we must be open to possible uses of downtown properties and having a constructive relationship with the church if my idea is to become reality.
The basic situation is that Plaza Hotel is roughly one block east of another church-owned property called Block 85. Block 85 is currently dedicated entirely to parking, which would appear to do well when the Jazz or Mammoth are playing at the nearby Delta Center or if there’s a big convention at the Salt Palace across the street (IIRC, it was used as outdoor show space for the Outdoor Retailer convention in years past).
Block 85 played a key role in the 2002 Winter Olympics — it was the medal plaza and a key hub during those Games. The space is set to come into play in the 2032 Games — it will again be the medals plaza, but will also be the site of the new-ish Big Air skiing and snowboard competitions.
When those Games are over, Block 85 should be upgraded into a lasting landmark celebrating the Olympics as a park and public space.
Most past Olympics hosts have a park or other green space celebrating the Games and being one of the few cities around the world to have hosted such an event. It’s unusual that Salt Lake City wasn’t able to create such a space after the 2002 Games, but there might be an opportunity with the pending demolition of the Plaza Hotel.
The church has not stated what its long-term plans are for the hotel site. Perhaps the church could be persuaded to build a parking garage on the hotel site. I would certainly argue that failing to create a park space may be a missed opportunity for all involved.
If a parking garage is built on the former hotel site, there shouldn’t be a need for a staggeringly huge parking lot on Block 85. In that case, I would hope that the church, the Salt Lake City government and local Olympics organizers could implement a plan to turn Block 85 into an Olympic park.
Block 85 is centrally located and adjacent to TRAX light rail. It’s also close to many important attractions, including Temple Square, the Salt Palace Convention Center and Delta Center (which Jazz/Mammoth co-owner Ryan Smith is envisioning as the center of an expansive … and expensive … entertainment district).
While it may be somewhat satisfying to bellyache about the short-term plans for the Plaza Hotel site, I hope that the public can appeal to those in charge to collaborate and take a decisive leap into reshaping two large downtown properties to create a unique and unifying community space.
