Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — Dirt is moving ahead of construction of a new five-story apartment building in a vacant lot along Historic 25th Street that’ll bring new tenants to the busy commercial corridor.

The structure, a project of Springville-based Summa Terra Ventures, represents a big step forward in bringing housing to Ogden’s downtown core.

“Downtown living at its best,” said Mike Watson, the Summa Terra chief executive officer.

The building will contain 55 apartments, he said, and it’ll be one of the tallest buildings in the area. It’s taking shape at 144 25th St., a long-vacant lot on the north side of 25th Street between Wall and Lincoln avenues. A hotel, demolished in 1996, and restaurant, torn down in 2008, previously occupied the land.

There are a few scattered apartments along Historic 25th Street, according to Amber Corbridge, a planner for the City of Ogden. But the Summa Terra project represents a deeper foray into introduction of housing on the street.

Image supplied, City of Ogden/Summa Terra Ventures

“In my opinion, it’s to support what’s there,” she said, alluding to the restaurants and other businesses along the street. “It’s better to have these mixed uses downtown to support each other.”

More people in the area, Corbridge said, bolsters the sector as a gathering spot. “It keeps it vibrant,” she said.

Excavation on the lot started earlier this month and the project is expected to take 11 months to a year to complete, putting the tentative completion date at the end of 2022. The property is fenced off and heavy equipment sits in the lot as work edges forward.

Though apartments will fill most of the building — 13 studios, 19 one-bedroom units and 23 two-bedroom units — the ground-floor portion of the structure fronting 25th Street will be reserved for commercial use. Watson envisions young professionals, single professionals and perhaps young families moving into the apartments.

“It’s a for-market product,” he said. That is, it won’t be subsidized housing.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Watson touted the planned building’s accessibility to the restaurants of 25th Street and proximity to the nearby Utah Transit Authority FrontRunner station off Wall Avenue, a potential draw for commuters working in the Salt Lake City area. Tenants will use the city parking area north of the site, but access to mass transit, he thinks, will temper the number of parking spaces that residents will need and use.

Though the five-story building may tower over other adjacent structures, the top two floors will be set back so it doesn’t cast such a shadow on 25th Street, according to Corbridge. “I know we’re going to be one of the tallest buildings there,” Watson said.

Its facade will be brick on the first three floors and “brick-appearing material” on the fourth and fifth floors, according to planning documents, so it fits with the area. The plans faced review by the Ogden Landmarks Commission because it’s taking shape in a historic area of the city as well as by city planners.

“Everybody’s on board and everybody loves the project,” Watson said.

Summa Terra Ventures is involved in other projects around Ogden. They include an apartment complex west of WinCo in the 200 block of West 12th Street, a five-story 155-unit project called Baddley Hollow and The Carlo, a 32-unit structure at 3050 Washington Blvd.

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