By Shaun Delliskave | [email protected]

Several significant developments are on track or in development in Murray, some including high rises. Large developments on the former Murray Kmart property on 900 East and phase two of the Center 53 project on 5300 South have begun construction or are being reviewed by the Murray City Council.  

The former Pine Hill (5100 S. 500 West) Business Park has been demolished to make way for phase two of the Center 53 project. Phase one of the project borders 5300 South and I-15 and currently houses the Security National Life Insurance Company. A 200,000-square-foot multi-story story structure along with a multi-level garage finished construction in 2016. That building does not currently consist of any retail spaces.

Security National Financial Corporation and Nuterra Partners plan to develop and lease approximately 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space. Center 53, encompasses over 20 acres along the west side of I-15. This partnership plans on constructing four additional six-story buildings on that property. The builders intend on also including a food truck court, outdoor seating and a fountain.

The Planning Commission unanimously approved in December a second building to be constructed on the previous Taco Time site. Builders are planning on a six-story, 219,812-square-foot office building. Part of this building will include a café and an associated parking structure.

Ascension Way that connects the site with College Drive will be extended through the project area and connecting to Murray Boulevard, intersecting where Green Pine Street once existed. A traffic study has been conducted for the massive site, with Murray City Planning staff recommended that the developers work with the Utah Transit Authority in alleviating traffic onto the campus.

On the east side of Murray, on the former Kmart property (4600 S. 900 East), the City Council will be considered for approval, development of 421 multi-family units along with 21,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. Christened by the developer, Kimball Investment LLC, Van Winkle Crossing after the nearby Van Winkle Expressway, the development, however, will border 900 East.

According to Murray City Community and Economic Development Supervisor Jared Hall, “The development will maintain access to both the Ivy Place shopping center on the south and the single-family residential neighborhood on the west.” 

The residential neighborhood that borders the property is part of Millcreek City, and some residents expressed concern about the size of the project and the potential loss of access, as there is technically only one road into the subdivision on the west. On the east, residents could also exit out into the Kmart property, but with a new owner, residents there feared losing that eastern access.

Millcreek residents told the Murray Planning Commission back in December that while they feared losing the eastern access point, they were also concerned about additional traffic using their roads to access Van Winkle. The developers decided to keep that access open. It will not be a dedicated road but will be part of the project. 

The project will be developed in two phases. The first phase will include the construction of two high-rise multi-family residential buildings—one four-story and one five-story. The residential portion of the development will be located principally to the west, with resident parking bordering the Green Valley residential subdivision.

Commercial buildings will front 900 East with landscaping between the multi-family units along with 723 parking stalls to be shared by all tenants.

“The thought is that people living in the residential units will frequent the commercial establishments,” Hall said. “Throughout the residential and commercial portions of the project, the accesses are designed to look and feel more like streets with park strips and sidewalks with parking along the sides.”