WEST JORDAN — The City Council has committed about $20,000 to find out how much it will cost to transform the West Jordan Sugar Factory into an arts complex and how much of that money can be obtained through a fund-raising campaign.

The West Jordan City Council voted Tuesday to move forward with a feasibility study to put a more accurate price tag on the various aspects of the estimated $10 million to $20 million project and identify fund-raising possibilities. A request for proposals for the study has been drafted and likely will go out this week.

A proposed renovation of the historic sugar-processing plant at approximately 8000 South and Redwood Road has been in the works since July 2003. The arts complex would include performance areas for theater, dance and music groups, an art gallery, rooms for arts classes, convention and multipurpose facilities and an outdoor amphitheater.

The site began its transition toward an arts center in spring 2004, when the east end of the factory was converted into the 230-seat Sugar Factory Playhouse. Plans call for that theater to be replaced with a larger performance area.

The City Council decided Tuesday it would be more cost-effective to tear down the building on the north side of the sugar-factory site and build a new facility, based on the old factory, on the existing footprint.

"The foundation would have to be redone and the framework would have to be beefed up," Mayor Dave Newton said. "It would be cheaper to start from scratch."

The request for proposals will include the renovation of two other buildings at the site but not the silos. Engineering and architectural studies on the four structures at the historic site determined that the three buildings could be renovated for reuse, but the silos would need a seismic upgrade.

That $2.5 million to $3 million upgrade is not included in the city's current plans, which instead call for the silos to act as a backdrop to the outdoor amphitheater.

The sugar factory's history also would be highlighted throughout the complex. During its operation from 1915 to 1966, the sugar factory processed more than 4 million tons of sugar beets, producing more than 11 million 100-pound bags of sugar. At the plant's peak in the mid-1950s, it was the largest employer in West Jordan, according to city reports.

In February, West Jordan city staff began the approximately nine-month application process to get the sugar factory listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which would make it eligible to receive grants to help with rehabilitation.

---

E-mail: jpage@desnews.com