Salt Lake City

Ballpark NEXT

 

The Salt Lake City-owned Smith’s Ballpark is facing a new future! The Ballpark NEXT website is the community’s resource for information on the process to determine the property’s interim use and eventual redevelopment. For quick reference, the below graphic shows you where we are, how we got here, and what comes next.

 

Please keep checking back for updates and news! And continue reading for more details and links to completed steps in the process.

HOW DID THIS START?

In January 2023, after 100 years of baseball at the corner of West Temple and 1300 South, Salt Lake Bees’ owner Larry H. Miller Company announced the team will move to a new stadium at the close of its 2024 season. This presented the City and neighborhood with the opportunity to re-envision the Ballpark as well as a City-owned parking lot to the north at approximately 77 W. 1300 South. Both properties – the “Ballpark Site” – total 13.5 acres.

 

Immediately following the relocation announcement, Salt Lake City launched the Ballpark NEXT Design Competition, which invited residents, post-secondary students, and professionals to submit their creative ideas for the Ballpark Site’s future. For a full recap of that competition that concluded in May 2023, click here.

 

Over the summer and fall of 2023, the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA) partnered with GSBS Architects to work with City residents, the Ballpark Neighborhood, and other stakeholders to complete a highly participatory form of engagement called “Community Visioning” to compile the Ballpark NEXT Guiding Principles. By formalizing the community’s vision and preferences for the Ballpark Site, the Guiding Principles is serving as a backbone for both short- and long-term land use strategies.

For details on the Community Visioning process, click here.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

The RDA is currently selecting a Design Consultant Team through the City’s public procurement process to facilitate the important Concept Development step that is focused on stakeholder engagement, technical analysis, and concept testing. The selected team will further engage project stakeholder representatives – including Ballpark neighborhood community members, Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall, the RDA’s Board of Directors (City Council), and the Miller Family Foundation – to determine a shared vision of success for the site.

The end goal of this Concept Development step is the Design Consultant Team’s production of an Urban Design Framework, which can be best described as an illustrative planning and design document that sets a long-term integrated design vision to guide the future use and development of the site. The Urban Design Framework will be essential to effectively communicating the final project vision to developers and investors within the Development Request for Proposals.

The Design Consultant Team will also deliver information on:

  1. Building massing and scale
  2. Building footprints or development pads
  3. Right-of-way alignments and general dimensions
  4. A combination of land uses including public and private uses
  5. Programming to support Ballpark area residents and attract visitors
  6. Phasing of development as needed
  7. Location of on-street and other parking facilities and loading zones
  8. Traffic and parking demand analysis including:
  9. Traffic volumes, current and projected
  10. Circulation
  11. Suggested parking supply and locations
  12. Opportunities to incorporate sustainable development practices

 

We are aiming to have the selected Design Consultant Team start this spring and work through the fall on the Urban Design Framework’s creation.

Once completed, the Framework will become the basis for the Development Request for Proposal and help guide the Ballpark site’s future redevelopment, land uses, and programming.