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Work stops on $100M Orem project

Everytime I went to the auto parts store, I looked over at that monstrousity and wondered who would want to live there. In fact, over a year ago I cycled by the big hole they had dug to build it. This isn't New York City. There's no city life surrounding it. There's so many commercial vacancies in the Provo/Orem area. This is gonna be bad.

I have developed in and around Utah for over 20 years and this project has never made sense...
Rooms that feel like hotel living?
Too much density? Traffic outside your door...
High rise downtown living without any walking downtown??
Expensive condos priced at $350, per foot make not sense to me.
Who wants to buy them?
Who wants to live that way?
5 people so far...

So all those reports of how the project was selling like crazy were just lies apparently. Next the lawsuits from those who have paid will start. The reporter should have looked into the other two "midtown" projects. I expect they are doing even worse.

It will work, it just may not be with the orignal developers. My guess,.....the city will step in and they(we) will pay for it. Too big a project to not finish.

I've always thought of that development as a monstrousity. I wish Orem would figure out a way to develop without making the whole city look like one giant strip mall.

This is the ugliest building on the ugliest street in Utah. A monstrosity totally out of character with where it is being built.

The big question is? Who on the city council approved this disaster - and WHY?

I think previous comment writers are not reading correctly. The units have sold, but people are not able to close because of the credit crunch. I have always thought that this is a great project and I would like to live in something similar when I'm an empty nester.

Does anybody remember that the CITY paid for the parking garage to be built? Does anyone remember that the developer got that for FREE? Now we pay the bond with taxes so the developer can continue to build a building that doesn't make economic sense, because he has connections at OREM City. Who is going to organize a movement to hold them accountable?

These buildings are eye-sorers. I wish Orem cared more about the development of its city, but it is only to obvious they are greedy and willing to let anyone build anything, anywhere. This is definitly one of the ugliest projects in the valley. One big stucco west wall with no windows - please hire a decent arch.

No, they have not sold. I bought a Lamborghini automobile. It's fantastic! The finance company won't give me the money so I can take it home, but I go by the dealership everyday to look at MY car.

What kind of a bizzaro world are we living in when we "OWN" something that the bank really owns and we have "BOUGHT" something that NOBODY has paid for? This is gonna get a lot worse.

I assumed the west wall was going to be added on to later on. YOu would definitely put some windows there otherwise....

I believe that the project was doing well when we all saw great growth in Utah. Now that growth has slowed down it has hurt everyone selling at this time. I believe that this project is just one example of what many developers are facing at this time. The project is not �bad,� nor is the developer, just like anyone trying to sell a home at this time is not "bad" because they can't sell as quickly as they could have a few years ago. I believe that this when finished will bring in more money into the area and be a great boost to the local economy in the long run. I believe that the Orem City Council saw this from the beginning and still see that this project will be a great return on a bit of our tax money.

This is the same developer that wants to build the same project in Clearfield, and the same builder that wants to build the 14 story hotel in downtown Ogden. Can you imagine the people of Ogden having a 14 story downtown hotel stop construction half way through the process. It will be Ogden City mall all over again. Good luck Clearfield and Ogden, Mylers coming North.

The project is pretty much out of place in anyplace in this state but Salt Lake City. I'm no fan of sticking everything in the state, like the new Broadway theatre, in downtown Salt Lake (and usually subsidizing it with state/county taxpayer money) but at least Salt Lakers have shown a willingness to support with their OWN tax dollars arts and cultural centers. Utah County doesn't even have a ZAP or PAR tax, and even if they did the natural center of events would be "downtown" Provo, not Orem.

Salt Lakers have shown with their support of the new library, the Leonardo, etc. that they're willing to do that by puttng their own money on the line. I wish the rest of us would, because we need more cultural centers than just Salt Lake City.

Another strange eyesore to the list of unzoned, unmanaged and unattractive State Street of Orem.

We ate at the Pizza place Saturday night. This whole development is a disaster in my opinion. How could you ever pull out with traffic? This is perhaps the worst eyesore in development history. Somebody obviously knew somebody who got this through the Orem City Council. Just ask people what they think of this development, the economy isn't the real reason this is failing, it would be too embarrassing to tell someone you actually lived there.

Eyesore! You are on crack? Have you all forgotten about the drug infested trailer park that was sitting there 5 years ago? At that time, this was one of the biggest single developments in Utah. Perhaps you also forgot that is wasn't a cake walk for Myler to get approval from the zoning commission and city council?

To those who criticize: when was the last time you even went to a city council meeting? Did you even vote in the primary elections? (only 25% of you did) When was the last time you leveraged most of your net worth to change the landscape of an aging city (or was it a home equity loan for a new kitchen)?

How, can you possibly be critical? Who cares how long it takes?

Good grief people!
Trailer Park or Upscale shopping and Condos? Duh?!

Even when the local real estate market and economy were rocking and rolling this guy had a tough time getting the funding for the project. I just think he had a vision far too grand compared to the realities. It's funny I called and emailed them a few months ago asking about residential unit availability and nobody got back to me so I moved on. Guess now I'm glad I did.

Aaron,

I have been to many city council meetings, in three different cities. I really tire of simpletons telling the rest of us, "Well you can't complain because we got to vote" or "You should have gone to the city council meeting when this was decided".

I can't prove what goes on behind the scenes but I have seen many city council decisions that completely disregarded the input of the citizens.

All I can do is savor the natural consequences when these geniuses are able to push through just what they want.

I get to say "Good Luck With That!"