The future of Salt Lake City’s embattled Ballpark neighborhood inched closer to reality on Tuesday, with Mayor Erin Mendenhall announcing the results of the Ballpark Next initiative and the administration’s plans to move forward with scenario 2.
Emphasizing adaptive reuse, scenario 2 calls for a portion of the Smiths Ballpark grandstand and its field to be retrofitted into a community center and public square, responding to the vacancy left by the Bees’ move to South Jordan and seeking to capitalize on vacant, dilapidated and underutilized parcels surrounding the stadium.
Mendenhall said the project—which would include the development of new residential and commercial spaces, a “festival street” on West Temple, expanded greenspace and improved walking and cycling connections—will use “human-centered investments to create a new pulse in the heart of this great neighborhood.”
“If we don’t intentionally build this city for families, they will be pushed out,” Mendenhall said. “And that is not a future I accept.”
The Ballpark announcement came during the mayor’s annual State of the City address, hosted this year at downtown’s Main Library. Mendenhall noted the renovation underway on the library’s rooftop terrace, one of dozens of improvement projects in progress, recently completed or funded to soon begin on public assets throughout the east and west sides.
In time, the library renovation will be complimented by the first block of the Green Loop linear park on 200 East, for which the City Council recently approved design funding and for which Mendenhall said her administration will be pursuing construction funds. Work on the “Civic Block,” between the library and city hall, would launch in conjunction with a campaign to raise private and philanthropic funding for additional Green Loop development, she said.
“The Green Loop takes our car-centric, wide streets and instead centers people and families by expanding downtown greenspace” Mendenhall said.
She said Salt Lake City is one where ideas “don’t sit still.” Instead, Mendenhall said, they move. Salt Lakers, she said, are doers, change makers, risk takers and innovators.
“Since I last reported on the state of the city, we have celebrated the return of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, a brand new hockey team and a new Trader Joe’s,” Mendenhall said. “Make no mistake, the future of Salt Lake City is bright. But its present is urgent.”
Among the urgencies specifically highlighted by Mendenhall is the rate of homelessness in the city, and its impact on public safety resources. The mayor’s administration recently developed a new public safety plan at the behest of the state’s governor and legislative leaders. But Mendenhall made a point to characterize the plan and the request by state leaders as a good-faith effort to improve conditions in Utah’s capital.
“I want you to hear this directly from me, though—this public safety plan is what staying at the table looks like. This plan is what collaboration looks like,” Mendenhall said. “We will no longer tolerate a system that is broken and perpetuates harm upon our community.”
Mendenhall echoed the “table” notion later in her remarks, noting the work done to retain the Utah Jazz and its new sister franchise the Utah Hockey Club at the Delta Center downtown, and to negotiate an agreement with Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) for a revitalization of the convention center district.
“We fought for a seat at the table and trust me when I say we’re doing more than just keeping that seat warm—we’re getting results,” Mendenhall said. “My job is to get the best damn deal for our city. It always has been.”
While the mayor’s remarks were generally light on comment toward state and national politics—despite arriving in the wake of President Donald Trump’s return to power and during the Utah legislative session— Mendenhall did make a point to note the union representation of city employees, and her administration’s commitment to diversity.
“When the world is unpredictable, Salt Lake City must remain a place of stability,” Mendenhall said. “Our core values include a deep belief in the dignity of every individual and the value in our diversity. This will never change.”