There might only be a few buildings on the land next to the Park City Tech Center right now, but the area could someday be transformed into a community gathering hub surronded by residential neighborhoods, a new town plaza and a transit center as well as underground parking.
The ideas were proposed as part of a potential public-private partnership between Dakota Pacific Real Estate and Summit County as the two entities consider working together to reimagine the Kimball Junction area. In return, Dakota Pacific might be able to build its mixed-use project at the Tech Center site.
Representatives from the Salt Lake City-based development firm and members of the Summit County Council serving on a subcommittee dedicated to the feasibility of the project provided an update on their effort and their current vision. The group emphasized the importance of considering future transportation options in the area while exploring what the overall community benefits could be.
“It’s a place everyone can be proud of,” Steve Borup, director of commercial development at Dakota Pacific, said on Wednesday.
A key component of the proposal involves shifting where the Kimball Junction Transit Center sits and moving the parking underground. The building would be pushed slightly to the south, closer to the Tech Center land owned by Dakota Pacific, to accommodate the bus flow.
The new transit center might be a 10,000-square-foot building with ticketing stations, a waiting area, restrooms and other services. It would have a 12-bus bay, doubling the size of the existing facility.
Nearby there would be a two-level partially subterranean capture lot with 1,000 to 1,200 parking spots. Additional parking could be added above the transit center or in another location in the future if it’s needed.
County Councilor Chris Robinson, who serves on the subcommittee, explained the land is on a slope that creates a connection that’s “right in, right out.” It also helps separate bus traffic. The group previously considered putting the entire transit center underground, but determined it would be millions more expensive.
Bus routes connect to the space, and there’s a link from Tech Center Drive through the existing transit center to S.R. 224 would also create a major east-to-west connection that complements the Kimball Junction Neighborhood Plan. The master planning document was adopted by the County Council in 2019.
Canice Harte, the other county councilor serving on the committee, said that’s the guide and filter in which the group is looking at the land. The High Valley Transit District is also a key stakeholder in the conversations alongside Summit County Transportation Planning Director Carl Miller.
Officials are unsure whether there would be a pedestrian bridge or gondola connecting the two sides of S.R. 224. A gondola has been contemplated before, but it needs a terminal on both sides. A gondola could also go from the town square toward Utah Olympic Park. Alternatively, a pedestrian bridge would have to be wide enough to accommodate all forms of active transportation as well as landscaping and seating areas.
The group still needs to collaborate with the Utah Department of Transportation as the state agency works to redesign the S.R. 224 corridor, but speakers were optimistic they’d find a compromise. However, Dakota Pacific CEO Marc Stanworth warned the parking need will drive other considerations as they move forward with the planning process.
A public square with active retail would be adjacent to the transit center based on the new design. The goal is to combine civic and commercial uses to bring character to the area.
It would be a 1-acre area with public art displays and active features such as water, seating or live music to add interest. The area could also be used for local events and holiday gatherings. Officials hope to combine retail and open space to activate the area and build a network in Kimball Junction.
“How do you create meaningful community spaces? The kind of space where not just someone who lives here would hang out but rather someone else in the area would want to go to,” Harte said. “We don’t really have a lot of that in the community.”
There would be a separate central green space area between 1.5 and 2 acres with a mix of potential uses including an amphitheater, themed play areas for kids and seating. The surrounding development would have an active streetscape with a pedestrian focus, but the goal is to build a level of activity for the area that draws people in.
Summit County officials were clear there would need to be many more conversations about vertical development in the public-private partnership area.
For example, housing could be built on top of the parking structure. The site could have between 160 to 200 housing units and 100,000 to 140,000 square feet of commercial and civic space with buildings between one and four stories tall, up to 1,200 parking stalls and 1.1 acres for the public plaza. That doesn’t address the potential density on the Tech Center site.
Members of the subcommittee agreed the preliminary proposal for a partnership is feasible. However, it will ultimately come down to the cost and who’s paying for what — which will influence what happens on the other property.
“The next half of the battle is, is it economically feasible to do this? If somebody came back and said, ‘Yeah we can make all of this work, but the county is going to have to pony up $300 million,’ then it’s a very short conversation,” County Councilor Roger Armstrong said. He was in favor of the subcommittee examining how the economics of the partnership would work with a land swap and additional development.
Once that’s determined, the concept would be worked into the overall plan as the two parties work out the allowable densities and what’s going where on the Tech Center property. That’s when the conversations would become public again.
County Council Vice Chair was excited about the possibilities, but she said it will ultimately come down to the number of bodies that will be living on the site.
Borup affirmed the project timeline was not expected to be accelerated by the proposed development and Dakota Pacific is basing it on the county’s agenda. He said construction would likely take some time.
The subcommittee will provide another update after it works through the next steps of the process. County officials anticipate a decision on the private-public partnership could be made before the end of the year.