PROVO — Superman will have to jump higher to leap tall downtown Provo buildings in a single bound.
And he'll have to leap more often.
A 10-story office tower and two four-story buildings will rise on the same block on University Avenue and Center Street where the seven-story Wells Fargo Center was completed two years ago, city officials and developers announced Wednesday.
The estimated cost of constructing the three buildings is more than $27 million.
That's not all, Provoans.
Zions Bank is expected to make a major announcement of plans for yet another Provo business tower in the next 30 to 60 days, multiple sources told the Deseret Morning News.
"It's no secret we're looking to create additional business space in downtown Provo in the near distant future," Zions executive Kelly Ward said.
The Deseret Morning News first reported in March that announcements about high-rise office buildings would be made in coming months.
Now another developer is considering a tower project in the area, sources confirmed, and Provo Redevelopment Agency director Paul Glauser said the city and county could start construction on a downtown convention center as early as next year.
The new Provo Center for the Performing Arts is scheduled to open later this summer.
"This is a reflection on the momentum downtown Provo has and is achieving," said Mayor Lewis Billings, who called Wednesday's press conference "one of the most substantial announcements made in this city in the past decade."
The 10-story building at approximately 50 N. University will initially be called University Tower and could be completed by fall 2009, when it might have a new name.
"We're working with the representatives of a national Fortune 100 company that is looking at taking 30,000 square feet and acquiring naming rights," project developer Brad Sears said.
Only one Provo building is taller, the Kimball Tower on the campus of Brigham Young University.
The Nu Skin International building is also 10 stories tall. The Downtown Provo Marriott is nine stories and the Novell building in the city's East Bay business area is eight stories.
University Tower will have a parking basement, retail shops on the front of University Avenue and more parking on the first and second floors. In addition to business space, the tower could have residential space on the second, ninth and 10th floors, depending on market demands, architect Soren Simonsen said.
The tower will be built between the Wells Fargo Center and the historic Knight Block building that straddles the corner of University Avenue and Center Street.
The first project's other two buildings will be built on the other side of the Knight Block building, at approximately 35 E. Center. It and the other four-story tower will be primarily residential buildings with shops on the ground floor.
The other building will be built last and a little farther east, at 65 E. Center, between the historic Gates Snow building and Ottavio's restaurant.
The bustling building activity is based in part on the success of the Wells Fargo building and a market analysis completed in January that showed downtown Provo could absorb another eight towers the size of the Wells Fargo Center over the next 10 years.
"We learned there is a demand in downtown for both office and residential," Sears said.
The analysis by Economics Research Associates was presented to the City Council by ERA's Steven Spickard, who said that in revitalizing downtown Provo, the more office space the better, because workers in downtown provide daytime customers downtown.
The residential space provides nighttime life and customers for the downtown.
University Tower and the two smaller buildings will be connected to the Knight Block building. All four will share an elevator and stairwell in the center of the block and will be connected to parking in the Wells Fargo parking garage by a third-story pedestrian bridge.
Business and residential tenants will be able to use a racquetball court, jacuzzi, weight room and TV lounge, Sears said.
The City Council unanimously approved the development agreement on Tuesday night.
The project includes renovation work on the exteriors of the historic Knight Block and Gates Snow buildings by the developers, REMS Development and Terminus Properties.
The design concept for the whole project was created by Cooper Roberts Simonsen Architects, which intends to use its background working with historical structures to blend the new buildings with the old.<
"We want to retain the charm and beauty and elegance that has endeared downtown Provo to so many people over so many years," Simonsen said.
"This is a 'Wow!' because it combines the historic with the new," Council Chairman George Stewart said after seeing the renderings. "They match. They fit in."
The Wells Fargo building cost $16 million and had 110,000 square feet, 65,000 of it for office space.
The building's residences have sold out, but some are being resold or leased. The penthouse is being renovated, in part because a black lip between the sixth and seventh floors obstructed views from the seventh floor.
The three new buildings will combine for 168,000 square feet.
The Provo Redevelopment Agency owns four pieces of land on the block that will be transferred to the developers.
One lot is where the historic Paramount Theater once stood. The city has an option to purchase the rest of the land where Allen's Camera stands. The option will pass to the developers and be exercised this summer.
The developers own three parcels — the Knight Block, the Gates Snow building and the parcel between them. The project will cover "one acre of prime downtown real estate," Sears said.
The redevelopment agency sought developers about a year ago. Three responded and Provo chose between two projects it really liked, RDA director Glauser said.
The RDA provided two major incentives to draw interest.
First, it will return 95 percent of the tax increment generated by the new project to the developers through 2015.
The RDA also will provide $700,000 in cash. The developers will pay back that money with interest for a total of $875,000, allowing the RDA to share in the project's financial success, the first time such a mechanism has been used by the city.
How fast the project proceeds will depend on market interest. Sears said the developers have a goal to have pre-lease commitments for 60 percent of the space by the end of the year, which would allow construction to begin early in 2008.
Sears said the center of the block can be used for a construction staging area, so no streets will need to be closed the way 100 North was when the Wells Fargo project was under way.
The day left Billings smiling and looking forward to the expected Zions Bank press conference.
"We'll have another announcement in 45-60 days," he said.
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com