Tall & Urban News

Salt Lake City is poised to get another addition to its already fast-growing skyline—and this high-rise could shatter the city’s height record.

The proposed Kensington Tower, at the corner of State Street and 200 South, is a 448-foot (137-meter), 39-floor residential building. If approved, it will replace a Carl’s Jr. restaurant.

“It will be the tallest building not just in Salt Lake, but the entire state,” said Molly Robinson, planning manager in the city’s planning division. “That’s pretty exciting. And the fact that it’s almost fully residential is even more amazing.”

Robinson said even city planners were “surprised” to see the proposed height, not knowing the developers—Boston-based Kensington Investment Company Inc. and architect HKS Inc.—would be so ambitious to reach for new heights with a residential building.

Salt Lake City’s current tallest building—the Wells Fargo Center—stands at 422 feet (135 meters), which is 2 feet (500 mm) taller than the Church Office Building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Under Salt Lake City’s new design review process, any height request above 375 feet (114 meters) in downtown’s Central Business District requires approval from the Salt Lake City Planning Commission. The Kensington Tower is expected to come before the commission in coming months, Robinson said.

“Poised to become one of Salt Lake City’s most coveted addresses, the Kensington Tower will revolutionize downtown living in Salt Lake City while expanding the downtown skyline,” designers wrote in a project narrative submitted to Salt Lake City’s planning department.

“Kensington Tower will set the stage for a live/work/play concept and will rival other major metropolitan areas across the country, helping Salt Lake City recruit new professional talent and attract top companies to Utah,” designers wrote in the planning documents.

Additionally, developers seek to make Kensington Tower an “exemplar steward of the environment.” Designers say the project will aim to “minimize its carbon footprint” through design, construction and operations, and will promote electric vehicles and bicycle-share programs. It will also seek LEED Gold Certification for design and construction.

Developers will also explore using “photovoltaic vertical fins”—a new type of solar technology—along the side of the building,” with the goal to produce enough solar energy for lighting in all public and communal areas, designers wrote.

Kensington Tower would feature nearly 680,000 square feet (63,174 square meters) of luxury apartments, a six-level parking structure, an “outdoor urban park,” a clubhouse, a fitness center, a work lounge with conference rooms, a rooftop pool, a roof terrace with views of the Wasatch Front, and sky lounge access for penthouse residents, according to planning documents.

For more on this story go to Deseret News.