- Cucina Toscana in Salt Lake City will close permanently after nearly 30 years.
- The announcement comes as Market Street Grill also plans to close downtown location.
- Despite closures, some moving out remain optimistic about future success for downtown restaurants.
SALT LAKE CITY — A second fine-dining pioneer in Utah's capital city is set to close its doors.
Cucina Toscana, a popular fine dining Italian restaurant located across the street from Pioneer Park, announced this week that it will close permanently on Saturday after nearly 30 years.
"We are incredibly grateful for the support, loyalty and friendships we have shared over the past three decades," the restaurant wrote on social media. "It has been our honor to be a part of your lives and to help celebrate so many of your special occasions, milestones and memories."
Restaurant owners didn't say why they're closing. The announcement came as most of Pioneer Park remains closed for an overhaul of the park, and just before 300 West undergoes a massive overhaul as part of creating a new "sports, entertainment, culture and convention district."
They also posted about the same time Market Street Grill announced that it planned to shut down at the end of the month, following 46 years downtown. Foot traffic and reduced office occupancy, said Edmond Heelan, CEO of Mountain West Brands, which owns the restaurant.
Many of those trends began after the COVID-19 pandemic, when nightlife helped buoy downtown activity while many businesses went remote. Various private, federal and local construction projects have also created some traffic headaches over the past few years, as well.
That's not to say downtown Salt Lake City's restaurant scene is dead, said Ed Valencia, general manager of the location. Newer restaurants like Brownstone 22, Gossip and Killa Nikkei have entered the area's food scene over the past few months, some opening in spaces vacated by other previous favorites.
They've joined scores of other restaurants that are still open downtown.
Looking around the restaurant he's managed for decades on Wednesday, Valencia said the space and historic building are both "incredible" with lots of room. He figures another restaurateur could turn it into Utah's next big food gem, while Market Street Grill focuses on its Cottonwood Heights and South Jordan locations.
"It's just one of those things where it was just time," he told KSL. "It's probably time for Market Street downtown to move out so somebody else can come in and maybe open up another concept."
The restaurant industry is notoriously fickle, with concepts and trends often changing. It's the "nature of being in the business of the latest new thing," said Dee Brewer, director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance, in December.
The Downtown Alliance has yet to release its economic benchmark report for 2025, but it found that year-over-year customer days increased by 3.6% in 2024. Visitors accounted for nearly two-thirds of all downtown visits, though it notes that there's been growth in worker visits and residency since the pandemic.
While there's uncertainty over the upcoming closure of the Salt Palace Convention Center for new construction, next year's Salt Lake Temple open house has generated plenty of business interest downtown.
Despite moving out after 46 years, Valencia is optimistic about those still operating downtown or planning to move into the newly vacant spaces.
"I think people are coming in with all these new ideas and new concepts, and whatever they come up with, I think they're going to be extremely successful," he said. "They've just got to be willing to work hard."
Contributing: Brenna Donnelly
