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Meet the man who wants to transform Oakley

Steve Smith laid out his vision for city center Thursday.
Connor Thomas
/
KPCW
Steve Smith laid out his vision for city center Thursday.

Steve Smith grew up in Marion and went on to make millions in the tech sector. Now he’s back, putting his money toward economic development in Oakley.

Steve Smith showed KPCW around his old stomping grounds Thursday, including Oakley’s city center.

He's now the majority landholder at the intersections of state Route 32, Center Street and W. Weber Canyon Road, where he wants to redevelop 10 acres. He has a ranch up the road near the mouth of the Weber Canyon.

Smith’s team of architects, real estate attorneys and development consultants had their second work session with the city planning commission May 3. They’ll incorporate insights and feedback from commissioners into a future formal application to develop city center land.

The view from the new rear dining room of the Oakley Diner looks out over city hall and Cattlemen's Hall. Steve Smith's childhood home was past the trees, near the base of the mountain.
Connor Thomas
/
KPCW
The view from the new rear dining room of the Oakley Diner looks out over city hall and Cattlemen's Hall. Steve Smith's childhood home was past the trees, near the base of the mountain.

But Smith stresses he’s not a developer.

“I'm not a I'm not a person who's doing a bunch of real estate,” he said. “I don't come in and look at a spot and say, ‘Okay, I can carve that up and resell that in three years.’ That's the way common developers work.”

Smith’s holdings include iconic Oakley buildings like Dutch’s Service Station and Ken’s Kash, as well as the post office and barn down Millrace Road.

Steve Smith
Leah Naomi Photography
/
StenaFoundation.org
Steve Smith

After growing up working on dairy farms in the Kamas Valley, Smith got a scholarship which allowed him to study finance at the University of Utah.

While there in the 1980s, he also worked at the Utah tech company Megahertz, now USRobotics, which manufactured components during the personal computing boom.

It was his gateway into Utah’s ‘Silicon Slopes.’

He went on to found the financial technology firm Finicity, which was acquired by MasterCard in 2020.
After business success, he pivoted to the nonprofit world, co-founding the Stena Foundation with his wife Jana. Its focus is to fight generational poverty and improve access to college education in rural communities.

“The entire focus for the Stena group is economic impact,” Smith said. “So, for economic impact, how do we invest in small-, medium-sized businesses? How do we create financial inclusion? How do we create better access to education?”

One of those small businesses is the historic Road Island Diner, which will be renamed Oakley Diner. Smith believes it can be as much of a powerhouse as Ruth’s Diner in Emigration Canyon.

“For example, Ruth’s Diner is as busy in the winter as it is in summer. Why? Because it's a destination spot,” Smith said. “Now, if you get three or four things right in an economic model—and it's cool—you can create a true destination spot.”

He explained that the key ingredients for success are: room for people, the people themselves, a place for them to wait for a table in the winter and great food. That’s the focus of the renovations currently underway at the diner.

Smith is keeping the dining car, which was constructed for the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. It’s on the Department of Interior’s National Registry of Historic Places.

But the kitchen will double in size, with added space for seating and waiting for a table.

“And then this is going to be an add-on vestibule here,” Smith explained during a walk-through of the diner. “So that vestibule will actually run out there where people can queue up.”

Businessman Keith Walker shipped the Road Island Diner's O'Mahony Dining Car across the country from Rhode Island in 2007.
Connor Thomas
/
KPCW
Businessman Keith Walker shipped the Road Island Diner's O'Mahony Dining Car across the country from Rhode Island in 2007.

There’s going to be a bakery on the lower level, facing back toward city hall. And there could be a drive-thru component added at a later stage of the project.

Smith said he hopes parts of the diner are operational by July, but this year’s historic snowfall may have set back the timeline.

He expressed both a love for the area’s charm and a desire to see it succeed.

“How do you reverence the past but maintain a practical reality for today?” he said.

That’s his mantra for the whole city center project, which is still months out from a formal application.

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