Loans likely for downtown Crandall building, Broadway Park lofts

Salt Lake City’s oldest “skyscraper,” the seven-story 1892-era Crandall Building, has watched quietly as City Creek Center — it’s flashy, $2 billion neighbor — moves in next door.
Now, the slumping staple on the northwest corner of 100 South and Main is getting a financial leg up from City Hall so it remains relevant under downtown’s retail renaissance.
By unanimous vote Tuesday, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency Board, approved a $337,500 loan to Crandall Properties so the owner can renovate the space for a Starbucks, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise and a JMR clothier.
At the same time, the RDA punted for one week a decision to loan Broadway Park Lofts’ Ken Milo $2.3 million to complete the second condominium building fronting 300 South across the street from Pioneer Park. Council members want more time to vet the terms of the loan, which, if issued, would deplete the RDA’s central business district coffer.
Crandall did not get all the terms requested. A push to defer interest for one year was denied. So was a petition to exempt the owners from adding showers and lockers — a requirement of all RDA projects with 25 or more employees.
But the loan would allow the 120-year-old office building to add fresh retail and restaurant tenants this spring, the same time the LDS Church’s massive mall is set to open.
Councilwoman Jill Remington Love called the new retail tenants “critical.”
“This really is a gem of a building in our downtown,” Love said. “I’m just so glad it’s in the shape it is in.”
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Crandall Building has roughly 10,000 square feet of unoccupied retail space. Crandall has signed leases from the clothing store and barbecue restaurant, city documents show, and expects to receive a signed lease from the coffee shop this month.
For his part, Milo made an emotional appeal, with his voice cracking briefly, for his Broadway Park Lofts loan.
“There’s a lot at stake,” he told the RDA board. “I’m 16 years into a 10-year plan to create an urban, walkable neighborhood around Pioneer Park. It was a war zone 16 years ago,” he added, insisting it is now one of downtown’s best residential environments. “We’re done if this loan isn’t approved.”
In November, Milo’s team held a successful auction for the discounted units in phase one of the lofts at 300 S. 360 West. All 34 units are under contract but not all have closed. The loan’s terms call for the units to close before any money can be released.
The RDA’s loan committee recommended rejecting the request, even though it was restructured Tuesday to reduce the city’s risk to $450,000. But questions remain about the project’s primary lender and whether the city’s money would be immediately reimbursed once the new units sell.
“I’m just not comfortable moving forward with it as squishy as it seems,” said Councilman Charlie Luke. At the same time, Luke says he is not opposed to lending the money so long as the financial review checks out.
“It appears to be a much-improved risk position for the RDA to be in,” explained RDA deputy director Justin Belliveau.
Milo says he’s been working on the funding strategy for six months, agreeing with city officials that the building shell fronting 300 South needs to look finished to attract buyers. He says he owns other properties in the area that he would have to abandon if the city loan is denied.
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