If the interest in building another downtown theatre is so extraordinary, why are we just now hearing about it?

The truth is that downtown doesn't need yet another theatre. They have plenty already, and on weekend nights there is scarcely enough room to handle the traffic as it is. Downtown already has the Rose Wagner PAC, the Capitol Theatre, Abravenel Hall, Pioneer Theatre, and a few smaller venues. If you want to successfully attract more theatre-goers in Utah the best way to do that is to put one at the south end of the valley, closer to where a lot of the people live. It makes no sense to put every last venue inside of Salt Lake City, and it isn't really fair to spend all of the ZAP dollars there, either. Those of us who don't want a 90 minute commute to enjoy cultural activities deserve better treatment than this from the county.

I disagree with Wilkey. Grouping facilities (ie a theater district) ensures more lively viable art. A successful large-scale theater will be very expensive to operate. Rather than thinking in terms of city via city - think holistically. The valley will support broadway-style theater. We will all win.

Why not walk to your cultural event? Its part of enjoying the evening. The suburbs don't have the urban fabric that supports the kind of creativity found in arts districts. Chances are if all the architecture looks the same, so will your entertainment. And if you have a ninety minute commute to salt lake city try taking trax downtown instead - it's alot less stressful and cheaper :)

There are many people living outside of Salt Lake valley who also enjoy the arts. A theater district with a TKTS Discount Booth that offers tickets to musicals, plays, symphonies, concerts and other cultural arts events in SLC is the best option for everyone.

Where are the complaints? We sure heard them when the Real Salt Lake deal was proposed. Isn't this the same thing? One of the few differences I see is that the Real Stadium will bring in more out-of-state revenues to Utah. Yet no one is complaining about tax dollars going towards yet another theater in downtown?

HOW COME ALL OF SUDDEN BECKER IS INTERESTED IN A BROADWAY-STYLE THEATER? ONLY BECAUSE THE CITY OF SANDY DECEIDED THEY WE GOING TO BUILD ONE. IT'S ALREADY TIME FOR NEW LEADERSHIP IN SALT LAKE CITY!

Anyone who asks "why is this the first we are hearing of this" has had their head in the sand. This is a long-standing discussion, targeted in 1998 for development ten years out. That is a city following a well established plan... as opposed to a suburb that follows every whim of each new developer to come in.

Sandy is not the place for such a theater, especially with the new life being pumped into downtown via the residential condos being built all over. Downtown routinely brings in tens of thousands of people relatively efficiently. Sandy is trying to bring in all of these entertainment venues but the infrastructure isn't there. Trax is not entirely convenient in Sandy and driving around Sandy is not efficient.

Downtown lends itself to a strong theater district, and it is much better equipped to host thousands of people for dinner and a show than Sandy is.

100% public funded theater in SLC. Sounds like business as usual

I didn't see in the article who the developer for the SLC theater was or would be. Did I miss something?

This is long overdue--the Rose Wagner and Capitol Theaters are great for smaller regional productions, but really can't accommodate the big stuff. I also wonder about the "community values" restrictions that a Sandy theater would place on touring companies...

I love the idea of a condo tower in conjunction with this project--more residential downtown is a great element that will help revitalize downtown--adding another tower would be a smart move.

This theater sounds like a bad idea. We should spend the money instead on soup for homeless people. Imagine how much soup we could buy.

The SLC mayor isn't "suddenly" interested in a big Broadway style theater, Salt Lake has been pursuing/looking into/desiring to do so for years now already. The real question is why Mayor Dolan of Sandy thinks he must steal everything away from Salt Lake... he already did that with the Real stadium and should be satisfied with that. A Broadway theater in Sandy surrounded by national restaurant chains and such doesn't exactly excude the high class and "artsy" experience one should have when going to "the theater". That's why a downtown Salt Lake location would be better... it feels more like "Broadway" there.

I'm glad to see the big theater financers Sandy was seeking and announced a couple weeks or so ago fell through and aren't moving forward with Sandy. Hopefully Salt Lake can take advantage of this setback and gain the lead and land the theater as it should.

Salt Lake has the zoo.

It has the federal building.

It has the state Capitol.

It has the university.

It has most (all?) state offices.

It has theatres and a zoo that get 90% of county ZAP funds.

I don't think it's fair to say that ANY city that gets something that Salt Lake wants is stealing from Salt Lake. The reverse argument seems more likely - Salt Lake gets taxpayer money spent there by the boatload, and the rest of us get scarce little back.

We need to spread out our venues for the benefit of all the citizens, not just a bunch of downtown property owners who want to prop up their real estate values and business receipts.

-- "<i>Trax is not entirely convenient in Sandy and driving around Sandy is not efficient." --

Currently the TRAX line ends not far from the proposed location of the theatre, as well as Southtowne Mall, Larry Miller's complex, the Real Salt Lake stadium, and the Southtowne Expo Center. There are lots of entertainments in the area, but no live theatre. It's also very close to the interstate.

Would couldn't these venues get a TRAX spur? They're building one for the owners of the Gateway.

-- "A Broadway theater in Sandy surrounded by national restaurant chains and such doesn't exactly excude the high class and "artsy" experience one should have when going to "the theater"." --

I'm sorry if folks going to shows in Sandy won't get to feel as high class as theatre-goers attending "unique" one-of-a-kind restaurants like California Pizza Kitchem(tm) and PF Changs(tm).

-- "The real question is why Mayor Dolan of Sandy thinks he must steal everything away from Salt Lake" --

Yep, Salt Lake invented the idea of a theatre, though there's some who argue it was the Greeks. This could get as heated as the Newton/Leibniz dispute over who invented the calculus.

*** "Sandy is not the place for such a theater, especially with the new life being pumped into downtown via the residential condos being built all over." ***

Actually, Sandy is getting/has lots of new condos, all near the proposed theatre location. The developer with the theatre proposal is building condos, too.

-- "A theater district with a TKTS Discount Booth that offers tickets to musicals, plays, symphonies, concerts and other cultural arts events in SLC is the best option for everyone." --

A TKTS booth is a nice idea, but anyone buying tickets there for the Sandy theatre could just hop on TRAX and take the 20-30 minute ride to the end of the line (faster if they had an express TRAX). It ain't that hard to do.

The problem now with TRAX is that when the various downtown venues let out it is WAY TOO FULL - but only in one direction, then the trains come back empty. It would boost TRAX efficiency. The real problem is that there is just way too much traffic downtown on weekend nights for downtown to handle. Eventually all large cities develop mutliple centers of activity. It's time we assisted in the proper development of a second one here in the valley.

If there has been such an interest in Sandy, why couldn't they get the financial backing on it and why did it come on the heels of Salt Lake City's announcement. Get over it Sandy!

*** "If there has been such an interest in Sandy, why couldn't they get the financial backing on it and why did it come on the heels of Salt Lake City's announcement." ***

Sandy's announcement came last year. SLC may have discussed it in years past, but it was never actively pursuing it.

Wilkey,
where do you come up with this stuff????

"Would couldn't these venues get a TRAX spur? They're building one for the owners of the Gateway."

The ORIGINAL Trax line has always ended at the Gateway. No one is building a spur for them... however, they are now connecting the old dead end of the line to the new Intermodal Hub.

Also, just because this is the first time you've read about something doesn't mean the idea just popped out of a hat... it's sad how ignorant your letter makes you sound.

Maybe you could research a little about topics before you go off about things in the comment section....

The issue of theater location is more than "we want ours too" for every city in the valley.
If anyone looks at the great cities of the world, most tend to have a strong central core. Ironically, suburbs in strong centered cities tend to be nicer. If land use decisions are based entirely upon every city getting their piece - The Wasatch Front can plan on looking like LA. But if we want a better urban area, it is wiser to place important cultural items at the core where they will create a critical mass beyond the impact of the individual venue and people can access it via transit.

-- "The issue of theater location is more than "we want ours too" for every city in the valley. If anyone looks at the great cities of the world, most tend to have a strong central core." --

Actually I think what defines a great city, aside from its people, is one where you don't have to travel miles and miles and miles to get to civic amenities. The idea of having miles on end of suburbs then every taxpayer funded venue in one central city is preposterous, and someone would have to be pretty naive to believe that it's not just about catering to special interests, mostly business/land owners in the downtown area.

-- "The ORIGINAL Trax line has always ended at the Gateway." --

At the Delta Center, which isn't as close to the Gateway as the new station will be, which runs right past it. Whether Gateway has one, had one, or whatever doesn't matter. The point is that TRAX as currently established doesn't serve the Sandy area very well as it doesn't take people to places like the forthcoming soccer stadium or to Southtowne Mall.

To "bigger issue": Sandy isn't a suburb of SLC. Sandy is seperate, it's a city in and of itself. But both of course have their suburbs (areas away from their downtowns/city centers).

Wilkey: "Edmunication" was technically right, the original TRAX line effectively ended at Gateway. True it is/was the "Delta Center" (Energy Solutions Arena) stop, but you're wrong about it not being as close to the Gateway. That stop is right there in front of Gateway, step off TRAX and walk across the street and there you go... entry to the Gateway. Can't get a whole lot closer than that.

As for TRAX not serving Sandy very well... that wasn't ever the purpose of TRAX. It was built to help people get into Salt Lake City and to the University of Utah easier/quicker and for those working in SLC to get into outlaying cities quicker when going home. The same can be said about the long proposed leg to the SLC airport, they only want to get you there and don't care about the shopping areas in between. The UTA buses are meant to pick up the "slack" and get you to and from TRAX stops.