Allen Park, one of Salt Lake City’s more unique outdoor spaces, will be closed for months as the city begins its first major overhaul since it acquired the historic property five years ago.
Salt Lake City plans to close the park beginning Monday, Nov. 17, so crews can begin installing fire and water lines before the city embarks on an even larger enhancement project either in late 2026 or early 2027. The fire line will travel up through an existing culvert in the center of the park, while the irrigation line will travel through to the park’s eastern boundary, said Jana Cunningham, spokeswoman for Salt Lake City’s parks and public lands department.
“(It’s) happening for the safety of the park to protect nearby homes from fire risk and provide irrigation for the trees and vegetation in Allen Park,” she told KSL.com. “This will just benefit the park as we’re going into phase one of construction. ... It’s 100% to prepare for Phase 1.”
The park is expected to remain closed for three or four months, likely reopening in the spring of 2026.
Allen Park dates back to 1931, when George and Ruth Allen developed the Sugar House space into a nature sanctuary and art space around their home. They filled it with artistic sculptures featuring some of their favorite literary quotes, which became an attraction that residents could tour every Sunday until George Allen’s death in the 1960s.
It was often referred to as “Hobbitville” because he also constructed over a dozen smaller homes within the lot that he rented to Westminster University students, professors and artists at the time. Salt Lake City scooped it up in 2020 for $7.5 million, as the aging, vacant space became threatened by new development.
The city converted it into a park later that year and adopted a long-term plan for the park last year, which seeks to make it more of a hub for nature, art and history. However, vegetation overgrowth and the deteriorated state of many of the property’s buildings also raised concerns, especially after a grass fire on overgrown city-owned land destroyed two Millcreek apartment buildings in July.
Crews carried out some landscaping work at Allen Park as part of an audit that Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall called for at city-owned properties. The upcoming water line project is considered pre-work before the first phase of park improvements, which will include a replacement of its road with a more walkable surface, as well as more seating and the stabilization of more of the park’s historic elements.
The first phase also calls for some ecological restoration work for Emigration Creek, which runs through the park. A culvert will be replaced in favor of a bridge over the creek as part of that work.
“It’s a huge project that we’re undertaking,” Cunningham said, adding that it’s too early to say how long the first phase will take when it begins.
Salt Lake City directed $5 million toward the project from the $85 million park improvement general obligation bond that residents approved in 2022. Work to preserve and restore its main lodge and other buildings is expected to take place in future construction phases.