Finalizing the fate of Utah Theater in downtown Salt Lake City gained new urgency Tuesday with word that Mayor Jackie Biskupski had clinched an agreement to sell the Main Street property to developers with plans to raze it and build a new residential tower on the site.
Dozens of residents hoping to save the dilapidated 100-year-old performance hall wedged into a hearing room at City Hall as the city’s Redevelopment Agency (RDA) took up a proposed discount on the theater’s sales price to global real estate firm Hines and Utah-based developer LaSalle.
Artists, filmmakers, business owners, historic preservationists and residents with fond memories of the theater implored city officials to reverse course after Biskupski inked an agreement last Thursday that sets in motion the sale of the property, purchased by the city in 2010.