Sapa Investments, a growing presence in the lower downtown State Street area, was recently granted city approval for a Planned Development at the site of Huddart Floral at 156 East 900 South in Salt Lake City.



Huddart Floral, center. Arial taken from the north, the Maven developments center-bottom. 200 East to the left, Edison St. to the right. Image courtesy Google Earth.

Huddart Lofts will be a three-story mixed-use development, with cafe/bakery and restaurant space on the first floor, office on the second, with 18 loft-style apartments units on the second and third floors. It will include 3 kitchen spaces and an employee day-care.



The project as rendered from the NW on 900 S., and from the SE on Edison St. Images courtesy Sapa Investments.

The developers plan to reuse the existing structure, building two stories above its exact footprint. There are 20,000 SF on each floor.



Sapa has committed to an elevated level of design for the exterior of the building. It will add street foliage beyond the zoning’s requirements, a sculptural feature, and a mural covering the entire east side of the structure. The cafe/bakery will have a significant street presence, noted the applicant.



Artful design has become a signature of Sapa’s work.



Planned Development Adjustments



The proposal went through the city’s Conditional Building and Site Design review process, and was approved by the Planning Commission in late February.

Huddart Lofts’ residential component on the second and third floors. Image courtesy Sapa Investments.

Sapa needed adjustments to the CC-Commercial Corridor requirements for parking and setbacks, as well as a height addition.



The building was approved for 35 ft, five feet higher than allowed in the CC zone. In addition, the planning commission agreed to allow the new development to occupy the current building’s footprint, which does not conform to the zone’s setback rules.



Parking requirements in CC zoning are significant, and the Planned Development enables Sapa to incorporate parking demand reduction strategies to lower its threshold. 64 spaces would be required in the CC zone. There are 18 spaces in Huddart’s current lot, and architects have included 24 in the new design.

Huddart off-site parking, image courtesy SLC Planning Division.

Using off-site parking (Sapa owns at least 20 spaces across Edison Street, just 160 feet away), providing covered bike racks, and pointing toward a nearby bus stop and a potential GreenBike station, the development successfully lowered its parking requirement to 44 stalls.



The development’s apartment mix is 1 4-bdrm, 1 ADA 1-bdrm, and 16 2-bdrm.