Project to bring new, 5-story housing unit to Historic 25th Street back on
A vacant lot is seen on the west end of 25th Street on Monday, March 9, 2020, in downtown Ogden. Developers are proposing to build a five-story, mixed-used building on the site.
This rendering shows a proposed five-story, mixed-use building near the west end of Historic 25th Street.
OGDEN — Although the project was stagnant for all of 2020 and a city approval requisite for construction had lapsed, a plan to build a new five-story building on Historic 25th Street is now back on.
The Ogden City Planning Commission recently approved a 25th Street site plan submitted by Tanner Hiatt, from Utah County-based development firm Summa Terra Ventures. The proposal involves the construction of a five-story, mixed-use building with up to four commercial spaces and 55 residential units at 144 Historic 25th Street.
The lot has been vacant for decades, but it sits at a prime spot inside Ogden’s most recognizable historic district and along one of its busiest commercial corridors. The empty space is on the north side of 25th Street, near the Lighthouse Lounge and Cinema 502, and is one of the few remaining parcels of open land on Ogden’s most famous street.
A similar plan, which was originally submitted by Pierre Langue, a principal at Salt Lake City-based Axis Architects, was approved in the early weeks of 2020. Because the potential development sits inside the 25th Street Historic District, both planning commission approval and a certificate of “historical appropriateness” from Ogden’s Landmarks Commission were required before work on the project could commence. But with no movement over the past year, both of those actions expired earlier this year.
Hiatt said several changes have been made to the plan since the development teams have changed hands, including eliminating a pool that was planned for the building and increasing the number of residential units associated with it. Hiatt said it was also discovered that the storm drain at the site probably won’t work and there are plans to build an underground detention facility to handle runoff. The color of exterior brick on the building was also revised.
The architecture of the building includes a stepped-back feature, aimed at reducing the impact five stories would have on Historic 25th Street. Another interesting component of the plan includes a waiver from typical parking requirements.
During a Planning Commission meeting in February, Ogden Planning Manager Greg Montgomery said the waiver means the building won’t have parking to accommodate would-be residents or patrons of the building. According to city planning documents, the waiver was granted because a walkable development, free from a largely unnecessary parking garage, will “contribute to the vitality and overall well-being of the Central Business District. The city’s CBD, more commonly known as the downtown area, includes all land from 20th to 27th streets between Wall and Adams avenues.
Montgomery said there is an existing public parking lot to the north of the building that could be used for the development, but noted that the ability for shared parking could ultimately be difficult because most of the businesses in the area see peaks in traffic during the evening hours, when residents of the development are likely to be home.
A few other items associated with the development require city approval before construction can begin, like some portions of the building’s entrance facade and a public access easement for a walkway.