The new convention center in Salt Lake broke ground on Jan. 10, 2020. The 60,000 sq. ft. facility will be complete by October 2022. (Portman Holdings photo)

After extensive planning, Visit SaltLake, Salt Lake County, Portman Holdings and Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the plans, timeline and details of the long-awaited and much-anticipated Salt Lake convention center hotel during a groundbreaking ceremony held Friday, Jan. 10, at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

The 700-room Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City will be located on the southeast corner of the lot on which the Salt Palace Convention Center sits and will be built adjacent to the convention center's public space. The 25-floor property will offer 60,000-sq. ft. of indoor meeting space, including a 23,138-sq. ft. regency ballroom and a 14,682-sq. ft. junior ballroom, as well as 7,400-sq. ft. of outdoor event space. Estimated to cost $377 million, the project is scheduled to be completed and hosting its first guests in October 2022. The hotel will have a restaurant on the first floor, a lobby bar, another restaurant and fitness center on the sixth floor, adjacent to an outdoor amenity area that will include a pool and terrace for events and other activities.

The Salt Lake convention hotel project is being partially financed through the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program which allows for specialty financing to enable green energy design and implementation, one of the first ground-up developments to utilize this program in Utah. The hotel will be directly connected to the Salt Palace for seamless access to meeting and convention attendees staying at the hotel or utilizing its offerings.

"The hotel will greatly benefit meeting and convention planners and their attendees," said Mark White, Visit Salt Lake's senior vice president of sales & services. "The hotel will essentially increase the convention district's room inventory and convention center size by 10 percent, which will enable Salt Lake to host larger groups and host them in a more convenient manner. Additionally, the sizable hotel lobby, public areas and lobby bar will provide perfect settings for networking and after-hours relaxation."

Salt Lake's convention hotel groundbreaking portends yet another major asset being added to Utah's capital city following on the footsteps of the completely new $3.6 billion Salt Lake City International Airport opening September 2020, the first hub airport to be built in North America in the 21st Century. Both of these sizable investments complement the not-too-distant opening of City Creek Center, an upscale 23-acre, $2 billion LEED-Certified retail center located across the street from the Salt Palace, and the recently-opened $110 million, 2,500-seat Eccles Theater, the County's latest cultural arts amenity. Couple these numerous investments with SaltLake's ever-expanding dining and nightlife scene, its incredible infrastructure, unbeatable accessibility and world-class outdoor recreational opportunities.

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