Owner places a large chunk of the Gateway in Salt Lake City up for sale

SALT LAKE CITY — A large chunk of the Gateway is up for sale amid massive changes planned for downtown Salt Lake City.

Jones Lang LaSalle, also known as JLL, listed 613,075 square feet of “best-in-class” open-air retail, office and entertainment space across a little more than 20 acres toward the western edge of downtown Salt Lake City for sale on Tuesday on behalf of Vestar, its owner.

Other parts of the Gateway — including the Asher Adams hotel that was completed in 2024, residential properties and other office spaces — are not among the pieces for sale, said Chris Gerard, JLL’s senior managing director and retail group leader, who is one of the property’s listed brokers.

The Gateway first opened in 2001 as an outdoor mall, but it slowly transformed into a mix of retail, office and entertainment after the Arizona-based commercial real estate company Vestar acquired it in 2016.

JLL promotes the space as a “generational investment opportunity” because it’s located next to the planned redevelopment of the Delta Center, directly east of the property. While the arena itself is slated for more rounds of renovations over the next two summers, a major transformation to the Salt Palace Convention Center is expected to begin as early as 2027.

Other parts of downtown, including Temple Square, have also gone through recent transformations. That’s on top of what’s planned for the Rio Grande area south of the Gateway. These have helped generate early interest in the property, Gerard said.

“I think there’s a lot of excitement right now,” he told KSL, referring to all the redevelopment happening on the west side of downtown.

Over 90% of the for-sale space is currently occupied, which presents “outstanding potential for further value creation through targeted lease-up, potential conversion of office uses back to retail spaces, and substantial mark-to-market rental upside, JLL adds.

An asking price was not disclosed.

What’s planned over the next decade bodes well for the next owners, though, said Dee Brewer, director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. The Gateway, he says, transformed the west side of downtown, putting downtown on the path for expansion.

Meanwhile, billions of dollars of investment are projected as the city prepares to host the 2034 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, as the University of Utah expands its presence in the area and as the downtown revitalization project is carried out.

He believes the new owner could flip the area into more hospitality because of their adjacency to Smith Entertainment Group’s entertainment district plans, or cater more to the growing biotechnology sector in the area as a result. They may also do something else to tap into downtown’s future.

“These are generational investments that are coming,” he said. “The Gateway sits right in the middle of all of that. … It will evolve, and it depends on who buys it.”

Contributing: Adam Small