Dynamic neighborhoods and high-rise living play against stereotypes of Utah?s capital It?s a proven formula for real estate success: Combine a thriving tech scene and downtown development with enviable access to nature, and residential property will boom.
From San Francisco and Seattle to Portland and Denver, proximity to both an outdoor lifestyle and a high-tech economy have helped Western cities boom. Grappling with housing affordability and gridlock, many have even become victims of their own success.
For those unfamiliar with Salt Lake City, Utah?s capital seems like an unlikely pick as an up-and-coming metro. Outside of assumptions about its conservatism, owing to its position as the seat of the Mormon church, Salt Lake City may offer only one frame of reference for those unfamiliar with Utah urbanism: a unique grid system, known as the Plat of Zion, that resulted in massive, oversized city blocks. Those seeing Salt Lake City for the first time today would find a city, and downtown, starting to hit its stride. By many measures, Salt Lake City isn?t merely catching up with its peers, it?s booming. The Urban Land Institute ranked it the nation?s third-best market for commercial development in its 2018 Emerging Trends report, fueled in part by the big names relocating here (Goldman Sachs?s second-largest U.S. office is in town).
A booming regional tech economy, dubbed Silicon Slopes, includes homegrown firms valued at more than a billion dollars total, as well as...