SALT LAKE CITY — Ground was broken on Monday on the new, multi-billion-dollar Power District in Salt Lake City, which is expected to include a new stadium to accommodate a possible Major League Baseball expansion franchise.
Sitting at over 100 acres, the $3.5 billion project is being funded by the Larry H. Miller Company and is being built west of downtown near the Utah State Fairpark. While the mixed-use district will feature a new 10-story campus for Rocky Mountain Power, its real draw is a possible stadium that would lure an MLB expansion team to Salt Lake City.
Without any guarantees for a team, the Miller group moving forward with the district that could include a stadium has many paraphrasing the iconic "Field of Dreams" line: If you build it, will they come?
"We hope so. We are ready, the state of Utah has been wonderful, the city and this project is ready to go," said Brad Holmes, president of Larry H. Miller Real Estate.
How Utah is positioning itself for MLB expansion:
Over the weekend, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred indicated a decision on expansion would be made by 2029. The Miller group, along with state and city leaders, wants to show baseball executives that Utah is ready.
"It’s a physical symbol that there is progress being made at a site that is perfect for MLB," said Larry H. Miller Company CEO Steve Starks. "They’ll look at this site and see there is already momentum and already progress. An MLB stadium will anchor a mixed-use development and will be a catalyst for economic growth and development."
The 300,000-square-foot Rocky Mountain Power building is expected to be completed in two years, but the ballpark site will likely be prepped for construction much sooner.
"We would like to be ready for shovels in the ground within 12 months, that we could start to build that stadium as soon as then," Starks added. "I don’t know that MLB will be ready for it, but internally we have said good things will happen the more prepared we are.
Salt Lake City, along with Nashville, is considered the frontrunner whenever MLB makes its expansion call. Betting odds released by bookies.com gave northern Utah a 22.2 percent chance of landing a team, only sitting behind Nashville at 33.3 percent.
The Larry H. Miller Company said the Power District project will continue to take shape in the years to come.
