- Salt Lake City Council unanimously rejected rezoning for a 7-story hotel project.
- The proposed hotel next to Sugar House Park faced strong public opposition.
- The decision leaves the future of the 0.83-acre parcel uncertain since 2020.
SALT LAKE CITY — The future of a parcel of land next to Sugar House Park is no closer to being any clearer since a Sizzler restaurant closed there six years ago.
Members of the Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to reject a request to rezone a 0.83-acre parcel at 2111 S. 1300 East from mixed-use 3 (MU-3) to form-based mixed-use 8 (MU-8). It's a blow to a developer's desire to build a seven-story hotel next to the park.
The vote follows a passionate public hearing last month, and several other public meetings since John Potter, CEO of Magnus Hotel Management, first publicly proposed the hotel concept during a Sugar House Community Council meeting over a year ago.
It would be a 145-room boutique hotel under the Hilton Hotel umbrella, and house a 185-stall underground parking structure in the area, Potter explained.
The hotel would include features like a rooftop restaurant and top-floor banquet space, as well as meeting areas, retail space and a lobby cafe.
Utah lawmakers recently adjusted state laws that would make it easier for hotels to obtain liquor licenses, too.
Sugar House residents have been split on the proposal, but largely opposed during last month's public hearing.
Many said it would scar the park even if it didn't directly sit on its land. They worried that it would add traffic to one of the city's busiest corridors, damage the park's iconic viewshed among other concerns.
While the measure received support from Salt Lake City's planning commission and planning division, the City Council sided with residents and voted to reject the plan over possible impacts to the neighborhood and park.
It's unclear what's next for the parcel, after other proposals fizzled since the Sizzler closed in 2020. A push to turn the space into a gas station was rejected by the planning commission in 2023, in a vote later upheld by an appeals officer. Another development plan before that never made it to the commission.
This story will be updated.
