On Wednesday evening, MAKE Ogden and J Fisher Cos. offered a brief update during an open house on the WonderBlock project, attended by around a dozen people at Union Station.

David Sawyer, deputy director for community and economic development for Ogden City, told the Standard-Examiner that the project is running smoothly so far.

“We’re really excited about how the project is moving along — actually, a little ahead of scheduled,” he said. “J Fisher, working with our city managers, have done a great job of keeping everything moving very nicely, in spite of all of the challenges associated with supplies, the cost of materials and all of the challenges facing the construction industry right now.”

He said that since the groundbreaking, the project has been going vertical largely snag-free.

“We’ve had a few design changes from the original design, but those are just normal tweaks to make things better,” he said.

The WonderBlock development plans call for 356 residential units, 113,000 square feet of class A office space, 49,252 square feet of retail space, including plans for a grocery store, a 92-room boutique hotel and two parking structures with 1,100 parking stalls.

Sawyer said one of the major components of the project is on target to open to the public later this fall.

“The parking structure, which is the most prominent feature at this point, is going up and is pretty much completed at this point,” he said. “All of the court vehicles that are parked on Grant Avenue should be able to move into that garage at the end of September, beginning of October, and then the general public will have access to it in November-ish.”

The following phase will see a residential structure built to the south of the main parking structure.

“They’ll start building residential units on the south side of that, so you won’t see the big expanse of concrete,” Sawyer said.

He added that the project is expected to be finished in full by the end of 2027.

“We’re excited about the additional residences that it will bring to downtown,” he said. ‘That always brings more pedestrians walking our streets, walking by all of our businesses and retailers and patronizing them hopefully.”

Sawyer added that having more people living downtown will make it a safer place.

“It’s not just an 8-5 community; people live there 24/7 downtown enjoying our arts, our culture, our retail,” he said.

For more on the WonderBlock development, visit https://www.ogdencity.gov/2421/WonderBlock-Development.