There are big plans at the Shops at South Town in Sandy. But, most stores at the mall will remain as they are when Smith Entertainment Group adds a training facility for its new NHL team, executives from the company said during a groundbreaking ceremony at the 111-acre site.

The hockey facility is about 18 miles away from the Delta Center, where the team will play its home games and which is planned to undergo its own makeover as part of the Downtown Revitalization Zone plans, thanks to a SB272, a bill passed by the Utah Legislature authorizing the remodel and a 0.5% sales tax increase in Salt Lake City to fund it.

The south part of the mall will now host the team’s practice and training facilities, locker rooms, treatment areas, lounge, and its official offices. It is set to open sometime in the fall of 2025.

This is a vision that started several months ago, said Jim Olson, an executive with Smith Entertainment Group and project lead for The Shops at South Town. After that, in May the company announced that it was under contract to purchase the entire mall.

“We’re initially not touching any of the existing mall areas that are currently being operated,” Olson said. “We’re going to be building out of the mall.”

It has been a quick turn for the hockey facility project. However, after its opening date, Smith Entertainment Group is drafting a master plan for the rest of the site, which Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski said “is right for economic redevelopment, from shopping, entertainment, restaurants, housing, transit, (and) connectivity.”

“Anybody that’s shopped at the South Town Mall for the last decade or two knows that it’s ready for its moment, reinvigoration, rejuvenation,” Zoltanski said. “And here it comes in the form of professional hockey.”

In the meantime, the company is building a temporary practice facility for the team’s first season — set to start on Oct. 8 — at the Olympic Oval in Kearns.

Ryan Smith, CEO of Smith Entertainment Group, said during the event that he hopes this is a space that could become crucial for the Sandy community.

“When our guys are off the ice that community’s going to be on the ice,” Smith said. “And I don’t think there’s another sport like that where they take over the playing surface.”

With the economic dynamics of the retail industry shifting, he said, the hope is “not stopping just with the ice center,” but making the mall “a destination for people to come and interact with the NHL brand.”

Add to that list of hopes that the site becomes a gathering space for Sandy families and a place for businesses to thrive, Zoltanski said.

“We’ve been talking to developers and have reviewed a lot of projects since I’ve been mayor, but it wasn’t just quite right,” she said. “But with Sandy being so family friendly and business friendly, this was the perfect combination of a new destination for South Town Mall.”

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