As he drove one of his out-of-state clients to the Salt Lake City International Airport, local businessman David Shipley tried to explain the abandoned clubhouse and dead grass in an adjacent parcel that was once home to a “world class” golf course.
Wingpointe, operated by Salt Lake City, was shuttered in 2015 after a series of events involving land use costs and the federal government, Shipley told the businessman, and it had since fallen into disrepair.
“And he looked back and me and he just kind of said, ‘Well, why don’t you do something about it?’” Shipley recalled.