A Hyatt hotel is coming to Salt Lake City.

The Boyer Co. received site-plan approval from the Salt Lake City Planning Commission this week to build a six-story, 127-room Hyatt Place hotel on the north end of The Gateway mixed-use development.

The hotel, which will front 400 West at approximately 55 North, will be the first for the international company in Utah. It's one of about two dozen Hyatt Place business-class hotels planned for the U.S. in the next two years.

Jake Boyer, Boyer Co. president and Gateway managing partner, said the hotel is "an integral part" of The Gateway residential, retail and commercial development.

"We're enthused about introducing the Hyatt brand to the Salt Lake City market," Boyer said.

Construction on the $20 million, 80,000-square-foot project likely will begin next month and open in spring 2009, he said.

The hotel will feature a porte-cochere — a covered entryway for vehicles — and a two-way driveway. City planning officials had been concerned about the proposed driveway's effect on light rail traveling north on 400 West.

The Boyer Co. met with Utah Transit Authority and city officials and worked out a deal in which the company will deed about a quarter-acre on 400 West to the city at no cost, creating enough room for the light rail line and the two-way driveway, Boyer said.

"That makes it so all parties are happy," he said.

The Boyer Co. also is proposing to build an office building to the southwest of the hotel. The 100,000-square-foot building — the sixth office building at The Gateway — is expected to open in summer 2009.

---

E-mail: jpage@desnews.com