Mixed-use plan approved for west Capitol Hill area

A planned development meant to perk up one of Salt Lake City's oldest neighborhoods is on its way to becoming reality.

Howa Capital earlier this month received final approval from the Salt Lake City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency board of directors, for Marmalade, a five-acre mixed-use project in the west Capitol Hill neighborhood.

"The important thing for this particular area was we needed something that would provide a residential and commercial anchor to the entire neighborhood," said Councilman Eric Jergensen, whose district includes Capitol Hill. "This project will provide the long-term foundational strength for this whole neighborhood, especially along 3rd West, which has really needed redevelopment for a long, long time."

The Marmalade project will be built on land the RDA bought in the late 1990s along 300 West between 500 North and 600 North. Once the development is finished, it will have three residential buildings with a total of 91 condominiums and townhouses.

It will also be home to a number of retail spots meant to have a neighborhood feel — no big boxes or large retailers, but services such as dry cleaners, small restaurants, coffee shops. Already on board are Tsunami Sushi, Leone's Dry Cleaning, a Barbacoa restaurant, a Spotted Dog Creamery and an Aveda salon.

"It's about the neighborhood," Howa development director Dru Damico said. "We want to build something organic."

Neighbors and developers also hope for a grocery store, although that's proving to be a bit more difficult. The problem is that the site is better-suited to a smaller grocer — "more of a specialty grocer," somewhere around 12,000 square feet, Damico said — but few grocery chains have interest in building stores on that scale.

"We're still actively seeking a grocer," Damico said. "It's not off the table at all ... there have been a couple of groups that have been interested."

Neighbors and city officials see the development as part of a "gentrification" trend that is occurring in the area, Jergensen said.

All the housing in the development will be for sale, rather than for rent, and it will range from one-bedroom, 950-square-foot condos around $284,000 to 2,200-square-foot townhouses as costly as $695,000. A little more than half the housing will be two-bedroom condos, expected to cost between $419,000 and $589,000.