Park City resident and local developer Rory Murphy has been tapped to help develop the nearly 2-acre vacant lot behind the Boneyard Saloon. Murphy developed theSilver Star and Kings Crown projects, both of which contain some affordable units. He was selected by the Salt Lake firm J. Fisher Companies, which is in a public-private partnership with Park City, to develop the city-owned land.
“I just want to make it perfectly clear,” Murphy said, “that there's nothing that's been approved. We are going in front of planning commission hat in hand. You have to convince that board that the project fits, that it's designed correctly, that, you know, all of the other things that go into that and we're under absolutely really no illusions regarding any special treatment in that regard.”
The city contracted with J. Fisher to build the units, then manage and maintain them as well. According to J. Fisher partner Ryan Davis, J. Fisher is one of the largest affordable housing developers in the region. The firm uses federal tax credits to help pay for the development costs, and state law requires the units to be deed restricted as affordable housing for a minimum of 50 years. Park City, Davis says, will always own the land.
“The developer does not own the land; the land will be owned by Park City,” Davis explained. “This is a public-private partnership where Park City and the developer will enter a long term contract for the ownership and maintenance of the property. The city is really coming in with the land, the vision, you know, some potential financial support for environmental remediation and some additional support. The developer’s coming in with the financing, the long term management of the project.”
J. Fisher, he says, will make money on the project based on an agreed-upon development fee with Park City. The units will all be rentals and will target those earning about 60% of the area median income — or AMI — which, according to Davis, translates to a two-income household of about $80,000 a year.
After speaking to neighbors and nearby businesses, Murphy says the feedback has been mixed about the development.
“There are certainly people that recognize that this is a good thing for the town, we need more of this,” Murphy said. “And there are those that are just the opposite. They don't want anything done in their neighborhood at all. And I understand that. I mean, change is not easy. But, you know, that's a situation there where you have a pretty underutilized parcel of ground and there's, I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say it's a crisis, but a real problem in town with low income housing, and this truly is a low income housing project.”
Even so, he says the units will be built to high standards.
“We're not going to build something that we're not proud of and that will be well vetted by the planning commission,” Murphy said. “You know, it certainly will be a full uniform building code. Every structural bell and whistle that you need to have at 7,000 feet is going to be in there. And, but it's gonna be an attractive building at the end of the day.”
Davis says the group submitted an application to the city and hopes to be before the planning commission soon. The developers said they will not be asking for any variances from city code.
