Sugarhouse Streetcar

If you look at the picture below, you can see the faint outline of two rails, left over from a line that used to run up to the old Granite Furniture Building (about 1100 East), from the rail lines down near I-15.

 

I took this picture looking east from the paring lot of Sugarhouse BBQ (www.sugarhousebbq.com), located on 700 East, at about 2200 South. Before too long, you'll be able to take a Trolley from either the 2100 South TRAX station or from the heart of Sugarhouse to the east, and step off for a quick lunch of ribs or a pulled pork sandwich at one of the best BBQ joints in the city:

This streetcar line has support from Salt Lake City, South Salt Lake, local businesses, land developers, and many others. We're pretty much just waiting on funding  for this to be built. Developers and local officials are salivating over the development and redevelopment opportunities that this line can help stimulate.

There will be some design issues, such as dealing with utilities, and how to safely and efficiently cross 700 East and State Street, but those are being worked out.

The following link will take you to the official project site, sponsored by UTA:
http://www.rideuta.com/projects/sugarhouseTransitStudy/default.aspx

Rising up

The West Temple Gateway (north end of the People's Freeway) neighborhood is on the rise, quite literally. The following are housing complexes that are under construction or recently completed:

This housing complex is on 300 West, right across from the Dough Girl. Considering that it's located on 300 West, it's about as inviting as you could expect. It just seems like they only want residents to drive in and drive out, but but very little thought into making it inviting and pleasant for residents to walk in and walk out.

This new condo complex is on 200 West, just south of 700 South. Based on the banner on the side of the building, their target market seems to be young couples looking for an affordable starter home. I appreciate that they are willing to build higher density a block away from a transit station, but I wish that they would have spent at least a little bit of effort on integrating into the streetscape. This area has the potential to be an attractive, walkable community. Put simply, this building is not inviting. It doesn't tell a story. If I was walking on this street, I'd quickly walk right past. It doesn't say "people live here who want to be a part of this community" it says "I am an un-inviting fortress here to protect my residents from this dangerous neighborhood". 

This is right next to the previous condo complex- on the corner of 700 South and 200 West. Kind of funky, but now we're getting somewhere. It's facing the street. The people who built this are showing some confidence in the future of the neighborhood. They are showing that they believe that more and more people will be milling around on these sidewalks.

I have similar issues with this building as the others. What's wrong with putting at least a little effort into making a building look attractive and interesting for a pedestrian to walk past?

Despite my criticisms about the design of the buildings going in in this area, I find it encouraging that they are being built.The recently constructed TRAX station has no doubt helped to fuel some of this redevelopment. This is a model for others to follow, and shows that transit can and does promote development, just as hoped. This may be part of the reason why the RDA is sponsoring a study to look at streetcar in downtown- with a focus on redevelopment. This is a good start, hopefully with more (and better) things to come.

A train station with a garden next door

In 2005, UTA completed construction of a new TRAX light rail station on West Temple between 800 South and 900 South, providing residents with a quick 8 minute ride into downtown.

This station was added about 6 years after TRAX first opened. One of the main purposes of this new station was to promote redevelopment of the area, and it appears to be working (more on that in a later post). One of the side benefits was about 500 hundred more riders per day.

For now, the real estate next to the station is being used as a community garden.

It will take some time for this neighborhood to reach its potential as a bustling mini urban center full of shops and housing and people. In the meantime, community gardens such as this one provide a much better view than an empty field full of trash.