SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake County Mayor joined others in the groundbreaking of a Hyatt Regency Hotel right outside of the Salt Palace on Friday.
“This has been a long time coming, and the day is finally here,” said Mayor Jenny Wilson.
South entrances for the Salt Palace Convention Center will become a construction zone on Monday, but come 2022, it will be a brand new hotel.
The new building will aver 25 floors and a total of 700 rooms, a pool and fitness center, two ballrooms and a 7,400 square foot outdoor event terrace.
Utah State Senate President Stuart Adams said the new hotel could create a $1,300 tax burden reduction per household.
“The construction of this will have economic impact far past the City Creek Mall or business and people that are here,” Adams said. “In fact, when people come to Utah, people want to stay.”
The big economic benefit talked about at the groundbreaking was the money this could add to Utah’s tourism — which currently brings in $3.9 billion a year.
Ben Hart, the deputy director for the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, said the impact of this new convention center on the State cannot be overstated.
“What we’re doing today, in the first few days of the new year, may very well be the most important thing we could do in the State of Utah economically, all year,” Hart said.
The Salt Palace already hosts conventions, but it has no convention headquarters — an easy place to book and stay for outside businesses.
Taylor Vriens, the board chair for Visit Salt Lake, said there a list of businesses that are waiting for the new hotel to book conventions.
“Every convention delegate that comes to town spends under $1,000 while they’re here in our economy,” Vriens said.
The new hotel would be able to host 250,000 guests a year, an exciting prospect for lawmakers who have been working on getting this project approved for at least five years.
