HKS Architects tapped to design Salt Lake City downtown theater

(Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker speaks outside of the site of the future Utah Performing Arts Center on Main Street Wednesday Aug. 15, 2012. Becker announced that HKS Architects, in conjunction with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, will design the Broadway-style theater touted as a regional attraction and key to new vibrancy downtown.The $110 million mega-theater will be designed to draw traveling Broadway musicals.

Contractor Layton Construction will build $110 million project.

It will be the jewel of Main Street but nobody knows what it will look like yet.

Mayor Ralph Becker announced Wednesday that HKS Architects, in conjunction with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, will design the Utah Performing Arts Center, touted as the new cultural centerpiece of Salt Lake City.

Layton Construction won the contractor bid on the $110 million project.

The planned 2,500-seat playhouse is intended to attract traveling Broadway musicals and other big shows and complement the citys new retail and finance center just up the street at City Creek Center. Proponents also believe it will attract audiences from beyond the Salt Lake Valley, boosting businesses and sales tax receipts.

"Were here to celebrate an incredible milestone for Salt Lake City and the broader region," Becker said at a press conference at 135 S. Main St. where the mega-theater will be built. "With this new performing arts center, we will expand beyond the horizon to bring live shows who will have a place to perform like we have not had in Salt Lake City."

The mega-theater will take a prominent place on Main Street, the mayor said.

Michael Vela, managing principal with HKS, said form will follow function on the complex facility. And he noted that input from user groups and the public is essential to the design.

"The Utah Performing Arts Center has to work on a day in- and day out-basis," Vela said. "Those are the things that will drive the design."

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HKS Architects tapped to design Salt Lake City downtown theater