Big changes in store for downtown Provo

PROVO — The changes coming to Historic Downtown Provo aren't cosmetic touch-ups. This isn't a Botox injection or two — it's a face-lift, tummy tuck and liposuction job all rolled into one long-running procedure.

The next few months could see two major announcements about new high-rise buildings downtown, one being the long-expected expansion of the new Wells Fargo Center on University Avenue. The other could be a similar project from Zions Bank Center, which has been considering the idea for more than three years.

Those buildings would become key moorings in the city's strategy to create anchor attractions that lure not only visitors downtown but people who want to live in the Central Business District.

And those downtown dwellers are coming soon. The Wells Fargo Center has sold all of its condominiums, and developer Richard Astle broke ground Thursday on The Huntington, a downtown condominium project with 61 units on the corner of 100 West and 200 South.

Astle also plans to build 32 more residential condos in the Freedom Pointe Townhomes project he is pitching at 300 North and Freedom Boulevard. That would be a true mixed-use development, with 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level and condos above.

Astle has built two similar complexes in downtown Salt Lake City, including University Condos across the street from the new library, and he is convinced The Huntington will succeed. "We've done absolutely no marketing except for a sign on the lot, and we already have 41 or 42 verbal reservations," he said.

The 1,000-square-foot condos are expected to cost $200,000 to $225,000, Astle said. They should be completed in one year, with sales beginning in about six months.

Provo leaders have a major feasibility study that says such projects should succeed.

Economics Research Associates found that downtown Provo should attract 380 to 1,060 new housing units in the next 10 years as Utah Valley's population expands and as young couples, single professionals and those older than 55 flock to downtown living.

"The study stressed the importance of housing to a successful and revitalized downtown," said Paul Glauser, director of Provo's Redevelopment Agency.

More buildings that combine commercial and residential uses are in the early planning stages for the Center Street block across from City Hall between 300 and 400 West, and for the block just to the north and east.

More new anchors are expected, too: