Visiting planners tour downtown S.L. projects

Several pending downtown projects were on display Thursday as Salt Lake City officials showcased their city to municipal and transportation planners from across the United States and the world.

The "Rail-Volution" conference took a tour of downtown Salt Lake City Thursday, hitting potential developments like the Moss Courthouse expansion, Hamilton Partners' planned office tower at 222 S. Main and the proposed Utah Theater project.

What attendees learned is many of the projects are on hold as developers look for cash or other support.

The Hamiliton Partners office tower, for instance, has struggled to find the tenants it needs to begin contruction, vice president Bruce Bingham said, repeating what he had told a Downtown Allicance conference last month.

At the Utah Theater, Howa Construction's Dru Damico said his company has a partnership with Clear Channel but is still looking for some public funding for what he called a $45 million project.

And at the Moss Courthouse, which eventually will take up half a city block, officials are still waiting for federal dollars needed for the expansion.

During an afternoon meeting, transit officials and city leaders were again reminded of difficulties in building successful developments, particularly transit-oriented developments such as The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City — something with a mix of uses that is located near transit.

"If you can't dream about it, you can't create it," said Larry Bond, co-founder of Bond Companies.