Six Salt Lake City addresses eyed for Broadway theater

The playbill for a Broadway-style theater in Salt Lake City features six potential downtown addresses, an $81.5 million price tag and promises of a $3.3 million annual boost to Utah's economy.

Business leaders and members of the arts community who make up the Downtown Theater Action Group have wrapped up 4 1/2 months' worth of work identifying potential sites for a 2,400-seat theater capable of hosting first-run touring Broadway shows.

The group also explored funding options for a downtown theater, as well as the economic and intangible benefits such a venue would have on the city, Salt Lake County and the state.

"We feel this new downtown theater will be a spark plug to encourage the further development of the arts throughout the state and integrate the extraordinary artistic endeavors we find throughout Utah," said Bill Becker, chairman of the Downtown Theater Action Group.

Becker, a Tony Award-winning producer and experienced theater developer, owner and manager, is expected to present a final draft of the group's findings this week to his brother, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker. The mayor then will take the recommendations to the City Council.

Meeting with members of the media Monday morning, Bill Becker said the committee will recommend that the city immediately begin negotiations with property owners on four sites seen as prime locations for the theater.

Renovation of the historic Utah Theater at 148 S. Main remains a top option, along with the former Newspaper Agency Corp. press site on Regent Street; the parking lot behind the Peery Hotel on the corner of Pierpont Avenue and 300 South; and the parking lot on the southwest corner of 300 South and West Temple, across the street from the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.

"All four, no matter where the theater ends up being located, would be extraordinary," said Bill Becker, who was appointed by the mayor on Feb. 28 to spearhead the city's theater-development plans. "They would contribute substantially to the economic vitality of Salt Lake City. They would enrich the development of the cultural arts in the city and throughout the state."

Each of the locations has convenient parking, he said, and all are close to the city's mass-transit system.

The committee also is recommending that the city consider two other sites — land available as part of the Camden Centre development planned on the block between 100 South, 200 South, 500 West and 600 West; and a 3-acre parcel immediately north of Grand America on the corner of 500 South and Main Street.