Real estate firm buys century-old Salt Lake City building, plans $40M renovation

SALT LAKE CITY — A historic Ford Motor Company facility-turned-office building in downtown Salt Lake City has been acquired, and its new owners say they plan to preserve the structure as its new headquarters.

Newmark Mountain West announced Tuesday that it acquired the historic Ford Building, located at 280 S. 400 West, which it plans to renovate and turn into its new corporate headquarters for its more than 320 employees. It did not disclose how much the transaction was, but it did announce it plans to begin a $40 million renovation project before moving into it as early as next year.

It will serve as the flagship location for the company that's "rapidly expanding" its regional footprint, said Chad Moore, chair of the company's board of directors, in a statement.

"We founded this company in Salt Lake City and remain committed to this great city," he said. "This investment in the Ford Building and west downtown Salt Lake City is part of our ongoing efforts to better serve the clients and community that have been so good to us."

The two-story building, initially built as an office and warehouse, was completed in 1924 for the Ford Motor Company, as the automobile began to sweep over the city and country.

It was designed by Albert Kahn, Ford's top architect at the time and one of the nation's more influential industrial architects of the 20th century. Although he designed hundreds of buildings in his lifetime, the Salt Lake City structure was his only work within the Intermountain West.

Ford first used the building for distribution, sales and service centers, according to a report that the Utah State Historical Society compiled in 2000, when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was revolutionary for Utah.

"No other automobile company shows any record of having manufacturing facilities, such a centralized parts distribution center, or of conducting both wholesale and retail sales in the same building," state historians wrote.

The company continued this unique model until at least 1949, two years after Henry Ford died, when it became Ford's district office. It still had a showroom in the 1950s, but the building began to feel outdated during the growth of the city's suburbs and growing competition from car dealerships, historians added.

Ford eventually stopped selling vehicles out of the space before moving out entirely by 1970. Envirotech Corporation acquired the building in 1971 for research and development.

Gastronomy Inc. purchased the building in 1996 before championing major renovations to turn it into the office space it has been over the past few decades. Its project was completed in 2000, per the Deseret News, which was also when they were able to secure historic status for the building.

Newmark Mountain West adds a new chapter to the building's long history.

The real estate company currently has a headquarters on South Temple east of downtown. It plans to turn the historic Ford Building into a "fully amenitized building" for its workforce that oversees commercial real estate holdings across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana.

It plans to add a 250-person lecture hall/amphitheater within the building, as well as a full gym, game room, golf simulator, pickleball court, basketball court, patio area, media production studio and locker rooms.

Company officials say they hope to complete the project by next year.

The company's plans come as the Rio Grande area continues to undergo changes. Salt Lake City is near the end of its upgrades to Pioneer Park, a project that began earlier this year, and it is seeking to redevelop land west of the Rio Grande Depot.

The University of Utah received the Rio Grande Depot earlier this year. It remains unclear how it will be used by the university, but the school received a federal grant last year to help clean up other properties it now owns in the area.

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