When the Salt Palace Acord Arena was built 23 years ago, detractors called it "the drum," a "white elephant."
Over the years, however, it became one of the most distinctive features of the Salt Lake City skyline, a magnet to downtown development, home to a championship basketball team and the scene of some unforgettable events.Today, it's "obsolete."
And unless someone comes up with good reasons for sparing it from the wrecking ball, the circular landmark likely will come down within the next two years.
In its place, Salt Lake County hopes to build a larger, more functional convention center, one that will be more competitive in the increasingly lucrative convention and exhibits market.
The fate of the Salt Palace was sealed when Larry H. Miller built a bigger home for his Utah Jazz - the Delta Center - and exacted a promise of no competition from the county facility.
A sports arena without a major sports tenant, the Salt Palace seemed destined to become a white elephant after all. Instead, state, county and city officials, business leaders and convention boosters decided that the palace's demise could be turned into an economic opportunity.
The Legislature appropriated $15 million and authorized the county to levy a 1 percent restaurant surtax. Salt Lake City chipped in another $15 million. All together, state and local governments committed $60 million to the Salt Palace Renovation and Expansion Project.
A design team then went to work on the plans for the new facility and submitted three options earlier this month.
"Now, we are to the point where we have to make some hard decisions," said County Commission Chairman Jim Bradley. "All three options are do-able; we just have to pick the best one."
The proposals will be presented at a public meeting 5:30 p.m. Monday, May 18, in the Salt Lake County Government Center commission chambers.
While insisting that they haven't made up their minds, Bradley and most of the other decisionmakers are clearly leaning toward "Option 3," which would raze the palace and start from scratch. (Please see accompanying chart).Richard E. Davis, president of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, has already recommended Option 3 to his board of trustees, arguing, "It provides the best amount of space needed for exhibits, plus the desired amount of ballroom and meeting space."
Calling the existing arena a "non-performing asset," Davis questions whether it can be "adaptively reused" in any configuration.
From a convention marketing perspective, a rectangular ballroom with a seating capacity of up to 4,000 is easier to sell than a 13,420-seat arena, he explained. Moreover, Option 3 is the least expensive, he added.
Preserving the arena would require reinforcing it to meet new seismic standards, an expense that contributes something to the safety but nothing to function, officials said.
As currently designed, all three of the options would exceed the $60 million budget, but Bradley said "some downsizing" will bring the final choice into line.
W. Sands Brooke, project manager, said that from the standpoint of design, Option 1, which would bisect the arena, offers some interesting possibilities. A two-tiered structure with a circular ballroom looking out over the city could be an appealing concept, but it would cost 28 percent more than Option 3.
The trouble with Option 2, according to both Davis and Brooke, is its size. Leaving the arena in place and expanding exhibit space around it would result in a net gain of only 37,000 square feet.
According to Bradley, the first two options are not attracting as much interest as Option 3. "I don't know that anyone is really championing those ideas, but the third definitely has its champions."
County officials have been making the rounds of business and civic luncheons in search of any "flash points" involving the proposals. To date, Bradley said, they have detected no groundswell of opposition to demolishing and replacing the arena.
"There is no question but that it has become a significant part of the Salt Lake skyline, but I don't know that anyone is really attached to it," he said.
Even architect Harold K. Beecher, who designed the Salt Palace with partner Bruce J. McDermott, is unperturbed by the prospect of the arena's being demolished.
"I'm very much pleased with the building, but, no, I have no sentimental attachment to it," he said.
Recalling the early opposition of then Mayor J. Bracken Lee, who was among those who called the Salt Palace a white elephant, Beecher laughs and says, "He was proven wrong."
After it was completed in 1969, the Salt Palace began to attract hotel and commercial development, Beecher said. "The entire area west of Main Street has been built up because of it."
Saying the arena is structurally sound, Beecher predicts it will not fall easily.
Whichever option is selected, work will begin in early 1993 and be completed by late 1995, Bradley said. A 30-month schedule was developed to minimize the disruption on the multimillion-dollar convention business.
"We could do it in 12 to 15 months if we went full-speed-ahead, but then we would scare away the conventions," Bradley said.
According to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, convention delegates are expected to spend $94 million in the county in 1993. Davis said phasing the work so that no exhibit and meeting space is lost until new space is built will ensure a smooth transition.
After the public and participating government agencies have had their say on the subject, the County Commission will select one of the options. The design work will then begin in earnest. While the project team works on a schematic design, local officials will be touring competing convention centers, beginning May 20 in Denver.
Davis said the expansion of the Salt Palace will allow Salt Lake City to keep pace with other cities in the West. The facilities in Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, for example, are all about 300,000 square feet, he said.
"We've slipped to about 14 or 15 among the top cities we compete with. The renovation and expansion of the Salt Palace would bring us back up to number eight or nine," Davis said.
Brooke said that, unlike the Salt Palace exhibit hall built in 1984, the new convention center will be more compatible with its surroundings, particularly Symphony Hall and the Art Center.
"We are looking at tying everything together architecturally and bringing the Salt Palace out to West Temple with a grand lobby," he said.
The design team comprises Thompson, Ventulett Stainback & Associates, Atlanta; Gillies Stransky Brems Smith, Architects, Salt Lake City; and urban planners Wallace, Roberts & Todd, Philadelphia.
"One advantage of having the out-of-state groups is that they come into this with no community bias," Bradley said. "They were directed to look at all the alternatives."
The new Salt Palace will be designed to accommodate growth for the next 20 years, perhaps including a major hotel on the site, Bradley said.
"We want this to make sense for the future."
Options for the Salt Palace
1. Leave the arena, but renovate and bisect it, placing a circular exhibit floor on the ground level and a ballroom on the second level. Extend meeting space between Halls 1-4. This would result in 108,000 square feet of exhibit space and 307,000 square feet overall.
Pro: Results in the most space
Con: Most expensive
2. Leave the arena and parts as it is. Expand Convention Hall to 108,000 square feet and place the ballroom center-front, across from the Marriott Hotel. Extend meeting space from Convention Hall to West Temple, for a total of 237,000 square feet.
Pro: Requires least construction
Con: Results in smallest expansion
3. Tear down the arena and parts of the original convention space and replace them with a 170,000-square-foot exhibit hall and ballroom center-front. Extend meeting space from new exhibit hall to West Temple, resulting in a total of 300,000 square feet.
Pro: Least expensive
Con: Requires the most construction
2.