Originally approved almost 10 years ago as a film industry campus to complement the Utah Film Studio, the vision for the remaining land in Quinns Junction has changed.
The Park City Council gave the go-ahead to conceptual plans to build a sizable housing project at the site instead of the originally planned hotel, amphitheater, and commercial space.
Plans presented by property owner Crandall Capital were the product of several months of meetings with city staff and council liaisons Steve Joyce and Nann Worel. The current plans have a much smaller footprint than the film campus plans, and include a mix of market rate and affordable housing units. A small portion of commercial space is also included.
Crandall Capital’s Justin Keys told the council that the developer is excited to help meet a community need for affordable housing.
“We’ve had the privilege of working with Steve Joyce and Nann Worel very closely over the last couple of months after our last meeting looking at possibilities for really big ideas to address a significant issue here in our city, which is affordable housing," he said. "The big idea we have here is taking a project that really has very few community benefits and turning it into a project that has a lot of community benefit. A primary benefit being an affordable and attainable housing piece as a significant portion of the project.”
Keys said the goal for the project is to achieve an average affordable housing rate of 80% of the area’s median income. According to the Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, Summit County’s 2021 AMI is just under $85,000 for one person, or $120,000 for a family of four. Keys said some units could be offered at much lower rates, as long as the average stays at 80%.
Councilors were eager to hear more about the project, which they saw as far preferable to what was originally approved after extensive litigation between the original owners, the city, and Summit County in 2012. Councilor Tim Henney told KPCW Park City was never enthusiastic about a large film industry campus sitting at the edge of town, but could get behind a project like this in the future.
“This is just a concept, but it’s a concept that we think has viability to it," Henney said. "We have never been, as a community, and I’m not speaking just for council, but as a community, big fans of the whole film studio and film campus concept; it was something that we were forced to accept. The best of many very terrible options is how I would put it, so repurposing it to something with greater community benefit, or with community benefit at all, is a significant improvement, and that’s the concept that’s being analyzed and discussed and looked at.”
Crandall Capital is expected to submit plans to the Park City Planning Commission in the near future. Details like final square footage, the number of units, parking, and building design will then be discussed.
