Keeping area's ambience is the goal

Specific details of planned redevelopment of the "Granite Block" in Sugar House are scarce, but one of the block's landowners said Thursday he is most interested in preserving the area's funky feel.

Eric Nelson of Red Mountain Retail Group, a Santa Ana, Calif., company focused on redeveloping retail properties, told the Deseret Morning News that plans for Red Mountain's properties should be ready to show the public in a few weeks.

The company's properties are the Granite Furniture building, 1050 E. 2100 South, and the Leisure Living building, 2208 S. 900 East.

Red Mountain is one of a handful of landowners in one of Sugar House's beloved shopping areas, bordered by 2100 South, Highland Drive, Sugarmont Drive and McClelland Street. Craig Mecham Management owns the property from the Blue Boutique around to Zions Bank to the south. Another family owns The Rockwood Studios, 1062 and 1064 E. 2100 South.

"We're still working through a couple of minor issues," Nelson said. However, he said, Red Mountain shares the concerns voiced by many Sugar House merchants Thursday about preserving the area's identity and keeping as many of the existing structures as possible.

"Our plan is actually to preserve everything that's already there and to reuse the buildings that we're buying," Nelson said. "One of my concerns is that we're tied to other issues going on with other landlords. And we aren't a part of those."

Red Mountain is in discussions with its neighbor-landlords about making the developments cohesive, but it is not the landlord that recently began issuing six-month eviction notices, Nelson said.

"Our plan calls for turning these buildings (the Granite and Leisure Living) into places where we can actually add more retail, and not get rid of it," Nelson said. "We'll be removing portions of the existing structures, but I'd say 90 to 95 percent of the buildings that are there today will remain, and we will just rehab them and keep them consistent with the Sugar House look, feel and style.

"The only reason we're buying in here is because we believe in what Sugar House is. We don't want to be another Gateway, or another Trolley Square, or any other development. We want to preserve the bohemian feel and what's already there."

In the near future, Nelson said, Red Mountain wants to present its plans to the Sugar House community — its merchants, residents and concerned citizens — to solicit feedback and hear concerns.