Salt Lake City discusses downtown upgrades coming to Japantown
Nov 19, 2025, 3:43 PM | Updated: 3:52 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — A clearer view is emerging of what Japantown will look like as part of the bigger redevelopment project for downtown Salt Lake City.
The historic neighborhood is getting a makeover to make it easier to spot and enjoy. It’s all part of the plans discussed Tuesday night with the Salt Lake City Council.
Part of the problem is that people may have a tough time even identifying where Japantown is located. When you come downtown to the Delta Center or go to the Salt Palace, you may never know you’re right next to Japantown, or at least what’s left of it. That’s what designers want to change.
The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple and the Japanese Church of Christ are both sandwiched on the west side of the Salt Palace along a tiny stretch of 100 South between 200 W. and 300 W. It’s tough to spot, or even know you’re in it once you’re there. But it actually dates back to the 1880s.
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At one point, Japantown grew to 320 acres of homes, schools and businesses. Then, over the years, it shrank as the city grew amid different policies, including eminent domain. Now it’s reduced to one single street, barely recognizable.
To help offset those changes, the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency released new renderings Tuesday night of an $11 million makeover to revamp the neighborhood, including reducing the five-lane road to one single lane in each direction and a turning lane, making room for double rows of new Japanese Cherry trees.
The city hopes that will help the street become more walkable and friendly for community festivals, even getting custom manhole covers to reflect the Japanese community, as well as other upgrades.
“We want to ensure that we have something that’s respectful toward their community and something that, while it won’t rectify the past, ensures that future generations, visitors, residents, everyone can enjoy Japantown,” said Marcus Lee, Project Coordinator, Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency.
The goal is to preserve this piece of Salt Lake City history. The Asian community holds two large cultural festivals here each year. The Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency really wants to lean into that to help it grow.
There are still a lot of plans that haven’t been decided on yet. What they have so far is just a rough draft, so there’s even more to come.
As far as timelines go, they expect the Smith Entertainment Group will release their plans for the Salt Lake City Entertainment District next summer. We’ll see how the two plans line up, but the new cherry trees will be in Japantown by Spring 2026.
