Downtown SLC wants to capitalize on arts & entertainment draw

By Brice Wallace

Lots of people come to downtown Salt Lake City for arts and entertainment. Expect to hear more about it in the near future.

During a “State of Downtown” media gathering last week, Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, said that the organization will emphasize the many unique arts and entertainment options available downtown in its marketing.

A statewide survey about perceptions and attitudes commissioned by the alliance indicates that arts and entertainment — dining, events, festivals, theater and nightlife — are the main draw for people coming downtown. The top reason for coming is that those options are not available elsewhere, according to the survey.

“That leads the charts as to why people like to come downtown,” Mathis said. “That’s what differentiates downtown from maybe some other suburban communities.”

{mprestriction ids="1,3"}Downtown’s distinct, diverse activities “seems to be the driving factor,” he said.

“The fact that you can come downtown and have a multitude of experiences that are not available in a suburban community is really an important differentiation for downtown over other communities and something we will be capitalizing on in our marketing strategy moving forward,” Mathis said.

The survey indicated that most people rated the level of artistic creativity and culture downtown as a 7 or 8, on a scale with 1 being “very poor” and 10 being “excellent.”

“We see people are generally fairly happy with it, but it’s kind of in the middle,” Mathis said. “Seven and eight were the big numbers. Our goal of the alliance will be, over the next few years, really changing that and moving that into the 8, 9, 10.

“We hope that over the next few years, as we’ve started to measure this, that we’ll have some activities and strategies that can help to change this and push people to be thinking of downtown as a creative, entrepreneurial and cultural center for the Intermountain region.”

Several panelists discussed the idea that “experience” can come not just from theater shows and events but also from retail. People can come downtown to dine, attend events and shop at places not available elsewhere.

“Arts and entertainment led the charge with why people want to come downtown. They want an experience,” Mathis said. “One thing we’ve noticed as a national trend is that the millennial generation is more interested in experiences than they are in possessions. They’re more interested in buying experiences and having unique experiences than they are in necessarily collecting material goods. And we’re going to try to emphasize that.”

Stephanie Buranek, a CBRE associate specializing in retail, said the trend toward unique experience-based retail will continue.

“I think that consumers, in order to get them off the couch and out of the house, they’re looking for an experience,” she said, citing that as a reason that 22 restaurants have opened during the past year and that the redevelopment of The Gateway should be a great success.

Linda Wardell, general manager of City Creek Center, said last year’s opening of both the Eccles Theater and the 111 Main office building led to an “amazing” holiday season for the center. Having the right mix of retail is important for any mall’s success, she said.

“It’s important for us as mall operators to be nimble and strategic, and part of that is creating a collection of retail that is experiential, that will keep people coming into the center, that will be something interesting and different, and that you can only find at City Creek Center,” Wardell said.

Lara Fritts, director of Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development, said the Downtown Alliance’s survey echoed responses of an earlier survey.

“We heard within our survey that arts and entertainment are the No. 1 thing that will help a company decide whether or not they’re going to stay in the city and, more importantly, expand here. That blew our minds, because the first thing they tell you in Economic Development 101 [is] do not talk about the quality of life, because — you know what? — every city is going to talk about what a great quality of life they have,” Fritts said.

“So to actually hear from our companies that, ‘Yeah, we want to hear more about the arts and entertainment’ was remarkable to us. … We are excited about our arts and culture and our downtown, and we’re looking forward to seeing that continue to grow.”

The media roundtable featured a release of the survey and the “State of Downtown Economic Benchmark Report” that features an analysis of downtown Salt Lake City’s economy, including office space, retail and residential development. The survey and report are available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qqbro0um 6r9i1k/AAD0B1bkFwGSvXz HAOYWQFc0a?dl=0.{/mprestriction}