Councilmembers confirmed the tenant is expected to be Shake Shack. The fast casual burger joint would go in close to Kilby Road near where Under Armour is located.
Attorney Justin Keys who represents outlets owner Singerman Real Estate said the company’s excited about the tenant because good tenants snowball with one another.
“It plays well with the other tenants that we have. Our tenants are excited to see that,” he told the Summit County Council Jan. 15. “They don’t want to see vacancies. They want to see other vibrant, new tenants.”
The addition of restaurants such as Shake Shack, Chipotle and Jersey Mike’s, plus the existing taco truck, The Border, comes as the strip mall is applying to build residential units.
The outlets owner has applied for a rezone to mixed-use.
“Outlets as well have kind of undergone a change nationally. We've seen that where retail has taken a hit, and people are looking to reduce space in their retail offering, but they're also looking to see more of a mix of uses. You’ve got to increase the ‘dwell time,’” Keys said. “That’s one of the reasons that we've actively marketed to restaurants.”
Shake Shack launched in 2001 as a no-frills dog-and-burger stand in New York City’s Madison Square Park. Midtown lunchgoers found the pop-up so popular it installed a webcam, a la the ski hill, so customers could check the line ahead of time.
Now the brand is international. Shake Shack has locations along the Wasatch Front including at Salt Lake City International Airport, and its Kimball Junction location would be the first in the Wasatch Back.
Before it could open, the Summit County Council had to allow the restaurant some extra square footage.
The shopping center owner doesn’t need to build any more space; it just wasn’t allowed to have a restaurant of more than 2,000 square feet under its previous development agreement with the county.
The council couldn’t amend that development agreement because it expired, so it approved a square footage exception instead Jan. 15 in a 5-0 vote.
