Developer gets reprieve on crater

Merry Christmas, Craig Mecham.

Salt Lake City plans to again extend the deadline for the Sugar House developer to fill the crater on the corner of 2100 South and Highland Drive — this time until June.

Frank Gray, the city's director of community and economic development, informed the Salt Lake City Council of the planned extension during a work session Tuesday — less than two weeks after giving the developer an Oct. 31 deadline to backfill the hole.

Gray cited the financial downturn affecting the lending industry as the reason for the change of heart. The relaxed deadline, he said, gives the developer more time to secure financing for the proposed 4 1/2-acre residential, retail and office development.

"Like everybody else, (Mecham) is caught in this financial pinch," Gray said.

Lenders have tightened requirements for residential projects, in some cases asking developers to presell as much as 60 percent of units, he said.

Mecham is proposing to build two side-by-side buildings — a seven-story office structure and an eight-story residential building — with street-level retail and three levels of underground parking containing 491 stalls.

Gray said he's met with the developer about phasing the project, starting with construction of the office building and its 12 above-retail residential units, as well as the parking structure. In the meantime, the developer would be working to find a partner for the residential development, using one

of the 12 residential units as a model to sign up buyers for the second building.

Under the revised deadline, Mecham will be required to submit to the city new phased plans for the project by January, and construction would need to start by June, Gray said.

"We're trying to be reasonable within the market we find ourselves in right now," he said. "On the other hand, we understand the expectations of the community."

Councilman JT Martin said residents complain to him daily about the stalled Sugar House project.

"It's really a mess," Martin said. "We keep moving this goal post back further and further. ... My constituents' patience is done."

Mecham obtained a demolition permit late last year to knock down the existing buildings on the former Granite Furniture block on the condition that landscaping work begin on April 30 if construction of the project had not commenced.