Salt Lake City OKs $2M loan to help business owner drastically rebuild after Main Street fire

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Salt Lake City approved a $2 million loan to help rebuild a Main Street property.
The fire-damaged building will be replaced with a modern four-story glass structure.
Construction could start this fall and may take up to two years to complete.

SALT LAKE CITY — The owner of a Main Street building that was destroyed by a fire that broke out last summer is receiving a big financial boost from Salt Lake City as it looks to drastically rebuild the property.

Members of the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency board voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a $2 million disaster loan for Chenzo, LCC, as it seeks to construct a much taller building near 320 S. Main. Members of the Tran family that owns the property and London Belle Supper Club attended the meeting, appearing relieved as the vote was carried out.

"I'm excited because we have already gone forward. We've already submitted for permits and gone through the development review and gone through everything. … This is just a real relief, and hopefully this will go forward quickly now," said Brent Vincent, president of Vincent Design Group, the project's architect and spokesperson, after the vote.

Chenzo owns the parcel where the London Belle and Los Tapatios operated out of until the fire broke out on Aug. 11, 2025, spreading to some of the block's neighboring businesses. Three other businesses were also significantly affected by the fire.

The scene of a structure fire that destroyed four businesses on the 300 South block of Main Street on Aug. 11, 2025, is pictured in downtown Salt Lake City on Aug. 12, 2025. Whiskey Street, White Horse, London Belle, Los Tapatios and Eva were all heavily damaged by the fire. (Photo: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

The Reinvestment Agency approved up to $1 million in disaster relief loans for all of the affected businesses, seeking to help them rebuild as soon as possible. The deadline for that ends in August, a year after the fire.

While some of the businesses have since reopened, like White Horse Spirits & Kitchen and Eva, the damage was so significant that the one-story building that housed London Belle and Los Tapatios needed to be demolished and rebuilt.

Chenzo ultimately chose to use the fire as an opportunity to rebuild something completely different for Main Street. An international firm helped design a four-story building, which Utah-based Vincent Design Group refined and presented to the board.

A rendering of a proposed new building for Main Street where London Belle Supper Club and Los Tapatios previously stood. (Photo: Vincent Design Group via Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency)

Its $7.5 million vision calls for a glass building with a limestone front facade, with some paneling systems on its side. One business will remain on the street level, but the extra space would allow for more bars, restaurants or meeting places, and there would be a rooftop patio included, Vincent told KSL.

"It's going to be a very pretty building, I think — a destination building for Salt Lake," he said, calling it a "modern" addition to the block.

The company qualified for up to $2 million in loans since it housed two eligible Main Street businesses, Reinvestment Agency officials explained. The loan would help cover most of a $2.85 million funding gap in the project, following insurance and other resources.

The three-year loan that the Reinvestment Agency board approved includes 0% interest for the first 24 months and 2% afterward. It calls for monthly payments on a 10-year amortization.

Remaining costs could be financed through other funding sources, potentially through other city-sponsored commercial development loans, officials added.

Board members, who are also members of the Salt Lake City Council, agreed to vote on the request immediately since the project doesn't require any rezones. They wanted to maximize opportunities for a block known for its bars and restaurants, which they said the project would likely accomplish.

"The intent of this program, when we created it, was to try to help restore … that critical part of Main Street to keep it lively," said Salt Lake City Councilman Chris Wharton.

Chenzo officials hope to have the last of their permits in hand within the next month, while it has already started the bidding process for a contractor. It doesn't require any City Council approvals since the building still falls within what's allowed throughout zoning and permits.

Thus, construction could begin as early as this fall if everything goes as planned, Vincent said. It's expected to take a year or two to complete.

"We're excited to see it go," he said.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.