Instagram story viewer> @slc.cra> Posts

Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency

@slc.cra

2.6K

followers

236

following

Revitalizing Salt Lake City neighborhoods & business districts to improve livability, spark economic growth, and foster authentic communities.

POSTS STORIES REELS

A new pizza pub is coming to downtown Salt Lake City!

The team behind @central9thmarket is planning a new concept, One-Eyed Dog Pizza, on the ground floor of The Aster at 255 S. State St.

The project will transform more than 3,300 square feet of commercial space into a street-facing pizza pub and a catering kitchen.

The CRA Board recently approved a $500,000 loan through its Commercial Development Loan Program to help support the approximately $859,000 project.

The investment will help bring new activity to previously unoccupied commercial space, support a local business, and create another place for people to gather downtown.

It's one of six projects receiving funding through the CRA's first round of Commercial Development Loan Program awards.

#SaltLakeCity #DowntownSLC #SLCCRA by @slc.cra

Your voice matters. Not just in presidential elections.

Midterm elections are an important opportunity to participate in the decisions that shape our communities.

From housing and transportation to economic development and public investment, decisions made by elected representatives at every level of government influence the places where we live, work, and connect.

Every election is an opportunity to make your voice heard. Election Day is tomorrow, November 3. Find voter information at vote.utah.gov.

#ElectionDay #UtahVotes #YourVoteMatters by @slc.cra

More than a century ago, if you walked down Commercial Street after dark, you might hear tapping from the windows above.

Commercial Street was the center of Salt Lake City's red-light district. Women working in its brothels reportedly tapped on upper-story windows to attract the attention of men passing below.

At 165 Commercial Street, the ground floor housed the Leader Cigar Factory.

Upstairs was a brothel.

The building was constructed in 1893, and for more than two decades, women lived and worked in small rooms on the upper floors. Most of their names and stories have disappeared. The building hasn't.

When crews renovated the building in the 1990s, they peeled back layers of its past. They found nine layers of wallpaper, including elaborate Victorian patterns and deep red velvet. Behind boarded-up windows, they discovered old doors with individual locks that once opened from the upstairs rooms onto balconies overlooking Commercial Street.

By the early 1920s, Commercial Street had a new name: Regent Street. Decades later, the RDA helped transform Regent Street again as part of the Eccles Theater development, creating a new pedestrian corridor while incorporating pieces of the street's history into its art and design.

The brothels disappeared. The street changed. Most of the buildings from that era disappeared, too. But 165 Regent remains. A ghost of Commercial Street hiding in plain sight.

So the next time you're walking down Regent Street after dark, look up at those second-story windows.

And if you hear tapping from above...
Keep walking. 👻

Happy Halloween from the CRA. 🎃

📷 @uthistoricalsociety digital collection by @slc.cra

Happy National Cat Day from the CRA’s unofficial remote-work supervisors 🐈

They attend meetings uninvited. They walk across keyboards at exactly the wrong moment. They have strong opinions about when the workday should end.

And, occasionally, they allow CRA staff to live in their homes.

Today, we’re introducing a few of the cats behind the people working to invest in Salt Lake City’s neighborhoods, housing, businesses, and public spaces.

Swipe through to meet the CRA’s feline team members. 🐾

#NationalCatDay #SLC #SaltLakeCity #SLCCommunityReinvestmentAgency by @slc.cra

Two new bars are planned for a building that's been part of downtown Salt Lake City since 1890!!!

Two new bars are planned for a building that's been part of downtown Salt Lake City since 1890!!!

The team behind popular Salt Lake City bars @waterwitchslc and @bar.nohm has plans to bring two new concepts to the historic Cramer House at 255 S. State St.

The ground floor will become Cramer House, a European-inspired neighborhood pub featuring Danish-inspired food, natural wines, ciders and cocktails. Upstairs, Florist will offer a more intimate cocktail experience featuring locally sourced ingredients and a menu inspired by the building's history as a flower shop.

The CRA Board recently approved a $306,000 loan to help support the approximately $1 million rehabilitation project, bringing new life to the vacant, two-story building while preserving a piece of downtown's history.

The project is one of six receiving funding through the CRA's 2026 Commercial Development Loan Program.

#SaltLakeCity #DowntownSLC #HistoricPreservation #SLCCRA by @slc.cra

Have an idea that could bring people together in Salt Lake City?

There’s still time to apply for an ACE Grant, administered by the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office.

Salt Lake City’s Arts, Culture & Entertainment (ACE) Grant helps make community events happen, from arts and cultural programs to neighborhood celebrations, educational events, and more.

ACE funding has supported events in neighborhoods across the city, including CRA project areas.
🎨 Arts and culture
🎶 Music and entertainment
🏘️ Neighborhood events
🤝 Community celebrations

Applications for 2027 events are due Nov. 1.

Learn more at:
https://www.slc.gov/mayor/ace-fund by @slc.cra

In 1862, Salt Lake City investigators entered the home of a gravedigger and found nearly 60 pairs of children's shoes.

Jean Baptiste didn't have any children.

The shoes belonged to the dead.

For years, Baptiste had been digging graves at the Salt Lake City Cemetery. But apparently, he wasn't always leaving the dead alone. Authorities estimated that Baptiste may have robbed as many as 300 graves, taking clothes, shoes and personal belongings.

Salt Lake City was horrified. Crowds threatened to lynch Baptiste, and authorities ultimately exiled him to Fremont Island in the Great Salt Lake.

When people returned to check on him, he was gone.

One theory was that he'd dismantled part of a building, killed a cow and used the wood and hide to make a raft.

Decades later, a human skeleton with an iron restraint around one leg was discovered near the mouth of the Jordan River. People wondered whether Baptiste had finally been found. Investigators who remembered his exile said it couldn't be him, but his body has never been conclusively found.

Over the years, stories have emerged of the infamous grave robber's ghost wandering Salt Lake City Cemetery, unable to find a final resting place after disturbing so many others.

For the record, the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City wasn't established until Oct. 14, 1969. That's 107 years after Baptiste disappeared.

So whatever else we've been accused of redeveloping over the years, we're definitely not responsible for this ghost story. 👻

Happy Halloween from the CRA. 🎃

📷 Salt Lake City Cemetery via @uthistoricalsociety digital collections by @slc.cra

This week marks 10 years at the Eccles.

Since opening its doors in 2016, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater has become a place where Salt Lake City comes together—for Broadway shows, concerts, community events, and unforgettable nights downtown.

The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City was proud to help bring the Eccles Theater to life, investing in a project designed to strengthen Main Street and contribute to a vibrant downtown.

And our role didn’t end when construction was complete. The CRA remains a partner in the theater today as part of the organization that operates the building, helping ensure this important public investment continues to serve Salt Lake City for years to come. by @slc.cra

Another step forward for Ballpark. ⚾

The Salt Lake City Council has approved zoning changes for the Ballpark and surrounding city-owned properties, aligning the zoning with the Ballpark Community Design Plan.

The changes prepare the area for future redevelopment envisioned through the Ballpark NEXT process, including new places to live, shop, eat, and gather, while supporting the public spaces and neighborhood connections that are central to the plan. The zoning also requires active ground-floor uses, such as shops and restaurants, along a portion of 1300 South.

This doesn't mean construction starts tomorrow. There is still considerable work ahead. Redevelopment will happen over time and through multiple phases. But each step moves Ballpark from a community-developed vision toward implementation.

The vision is set. Now we're preparing Ballpark for what's next. by @slc.cra

Murals first. Red Iguana after.

Join us Thursday night for the North Temple Open-Air Gallery Stroll. We’ll explore the corridor’s new murals, meet local artists, hear some of the stories behind the work, and finish the evening with food at Red Iguana 2's, Red Tree Room (just north of the restaurant) around 7 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 22
⏰ 5:30–8 p.m.
📍 Red Iguana 2 Red Tree Room -
28 N. 900 W

Come hungry for art. And salsa.

*Event will be held rain or shine by @slc.cra

Election Day is coming. Do you have a plan to vote? 🗳️

Midterm elections are an important opportunity to make your voice heard and participate in the decisions that shape our communities.

A few dates to know:
Oct. 13 — Ballots mailed
Oct. 20 — Early in-person voting begins
Oct. 23 at 5 p.m. — Voter registration deadline
Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to request a mail ballot
Nov. 3 — Election Day

Check your registration, learn what’s on your ballot, and find voting information at vote.utah.gov.

#UtahVotes #Election2026 #Vote by @slc.cra

There's a street beneath the Gallivan Center that doesn't exist anymore. 👻

Its name was Victoria Alley.

In the early 1900s, a narrow opening off State Street led into the interior of Block 57. Hidden behind the businesses lining downtown's streets were small residences, brothels and a row of tiny adobe rooms.

And in 1902, a man died there.

Daniel Ryan, a miner who had reportedly arrived in Salt Lake City just days earlier, entered Victoria Alley and encountered Mary Jane Smith, a young Black woman who lived and worked there.

According to historical accounts, Smith was desperate for rent money and attempted to rob Ryan by slipping morphine into his beer, intending to knock him unconscious.

The dose killed him.

Smith pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Her attorneys asked for leniency, but the judge sentenced her to 20 years at hard labor, saying he wanted to make an example of her.

Even at the time, there were questions about the severity of her punishment. Smith was a young Black woman living in poverty at a time when race, gender, and class could weigh heavily on who received justice and who didn't.

She served about half her sentence before being pardoned in 1913, when she was gravely ill. She died a month later and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Eventually, Victoria Alley disappeared, too.

Decades later, the RDA began assembling property on Block 57 and transformed the area into the Gallivan Center. Today, the CRA owns the plaza, where thousands gather for concerts, festivals, ice skating and events each year.

But places marked by tragedy and injustice have a way of holding onto their stories.

So the next time you're walking across the Gallivan Center after dark, remember:

Victoria Alley may have disappeared.

That doesn't necessarily mean everything left with it. 👻 by @slc.cra