Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has paid the state $900,000 for the historic Devereaux House, according to the sale contract.
The agreement provides that the state can keep the artwork in the mansion, which is on the same block as the Triad Center on the downtown's west side.
The church also must maintain the historical and architectural designation of the house and associated carriage house until 2105.
The mansion is used as a reception center. The church plans to allow those receptions to continue.
F. Keith Stepan, director of the states Division of Facilities Construction and Management, said the mansion eventually will be used as part of the church's education campus at the Triad Center. The church is putting LDS Business College and Brigham Young University's Salt Lake Center extension at the Triad.
Stepan said the selling price was the same as the mansion's appraised value. He called it a good deal for the state, which owned the property but didn't have control over it because of a complicated lease agreement.
More than a year ago, the City Council, acting as the city's Redevelopment Agency board, cleared the way for the transaction. The council directed its staffers to allow the church to assume the RDA's nonfinancial sublease on the Devereaux House.
The home was considered the Salt Lake Valley's first mansion when the original was built in 1857.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
