Granary Row

Granary Row is the first phase of the Granary District.  The Granary District is a 240-acre “gritty, diverse and grounded” neighborhood revitalization area adjacent to downtown Salt Lake City.

MWA led a “crowd-sourced” charrette (whoever shows up and volunteers!) with James Alfandre, director of The Kentlands Initiative, and project organizers, neighborhood businesses, residents, and allies tackled a number of questions, including how to tame the District’s mammoth streets — which are hard to cross, consume valuable land, yet carry little traffic.  The boldest proposals included using cargo containers in the medians as shops, offices, or residences.

The first phase of the Granary District was launched: Granary Row, a tactical urban intervention that would transform the middle of a street into a night festival, running for 24 weekends.  The festival would not only bring needed vitality to a neighborhood at the tail end of decades of slow decline, but would transform a vehicle no-man’s-land into an innovative shared space, boasting shops, entertainment space and a biergarten.

On Saturday, June 15, 2013, only a year after the original planning effort, the Granary Row launched its inaugural season.  Every weekend through November 2nd, the project opened its doors and welcomed the world to the neighborhood — a little known, lightly trafficked block of Salt Lake City.  Of course, the folks who visited the Granary Row, weren’t thinking about community development; they were thinking about doing a little shopping or grabbing a beer with some friends.

Location:  Salt Lake City, Utah [map]
Client:  The Kentlands Initiative
Type: revitalization, infill & retrofit
Acres:  1
Program:  24-week street festival with shops and entertainment space.
Transect Zones:  T5, SD

Media

 
 

Granary Row Temporary Plan