Midvale could see tall buildings rise up along both 7200 South, near the freeway, and State Street, near Center Street. 

This comes after the Midvale City Council approved to modify a section of the city code in a 3-1 vote in February.

City officials are hoping to inject redevelopment into two specific areas in Midvale: around the Fort Union and Center Street TRAX stations. The change aligns the city’s TODO (transit-oriented development overlay) zone with state requirements for HTRZ (housing and transit reinvestment zones) allowing the city to now capture tax increment to incentivize redevelopment. 

Adam Olsen, Midvale’s community development director, explained several requirements, including being categorized as affordable housing and mixed-use, among other items. Olsen specified those two requirements because the council previously showed a preference for mixed-use in larger developments. With the mixed-use, there was also an openness to go taller. 

A minimum of the ground floor for any project will be 50% restaurant, retail or office use (though the office must face away from 7200 South to encourage walkability). 

“We’re hoping this can spur some redevelopment and attract some redevelopment to these areas,” Olsen told the council. 

The primary concern seemed to be building height, with the limit increasing to 10 stories, or 150 feet, and unlimited density. Olsen said they chose 10 stories to not only have a clean break, but heard from large development companies that to make these higher density projects work with mixed-use, they need 100 units per acre. 

“It’s just a function of the cost,” Olsen said. He also highlighted that without the incentives, the height limit would be five stories. 

But Councilmember Paul Glover would prefer a max of five stories in the entire city. He was the lone dissenting vote and said he was willing to do eight stories as a compromise.

“To me, that is not small-town Midvale at all, we’re pushing the limit of I think what we need,” he said. “I like the idea of having commercial [space] on the bottom. The whole idea I like, but I hate the height.” 

Other councilmembers were amenable to eight stories as well, but for them, the height didn’t bother them much. Councilmember Bryant Brown noted having a tall, high-density 7200 South corridor could be the best potential way to improve that area.

To go that high, the incentives include specific affordable housing requirements: a reasonable percentage of units with more than one bedroom, located within a quarter mile of a transportation station, and being mixed-use.

Only three city TRAX stations with these changes apply, including Fort Union and Center Street stations. Bingham Junction can currently go up to seven stories.

Fort Union goes from the freeway to 180 West/High Tech Drive off 7200 South and about a block north and south. Center Street runs from the TRAX line on the west to State Street and is only a short distance north and south. 

Olsen said there are no active applications right now for these two stations and the redevelopment changes put mechanisms in place for the council to make decisions. All rezoning applications would still come before the council. 

“We’re just providing some tools for when those requests come to you, you look at it and can say ‘this makes sense in this area’ or ‘this does not.’ If it does, these are the requirements and these are some of the incentives,” he said. λ