LDS Church announces nine-story building at MTC

PROVO -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans Thursday to construct a new state-of-the art building at the center of the Missionary Training Center campus. The new building will replace the Melvin J. Ballard Building, which will be demolished as part of the construction process.

The LDS Church has several major ongoing building projects in Utah County including a large multi-stake complex at 300 N. and 900 East, the $90 million science building at Brigham Young University, the Downtown Provo Temple and the Payson Temple among others.

MTC representative Richard Heaton indicated that the LDS Church had yet to file for a building permit Thursday. However, they will hold a neighborhood meeting at 6 p.m. March 22 at the Rock Canyon Elementary School gymnasium, 2405 N. 650 East.

"We want to be good neighbors," Heaton said. Church representatives will be on hand to discuss the project.

Neighborhood chairman R. Paul Evans encouraged residents to attend and give their opinion. He said some in the area are not thrilled with the nine-story building.

"We would like to see two five-story buildings rather than one nine-story," he said. "This will be the only meeting held on the matter."

According to a news release from the Church, the Melvin J. Ballard Building has served as home to the MTC bookstore, the MTC mailroom, the training resource center and four large-group meeting rooms. During the demolition and subsequent construction process, the bookstore and mailroom will be moving into the soon-to-be-completed east wing of the Jacob Hamblin Building.

While the existing Ballard Building has two floors above grade, the new building is designed to have several more floors above grade. The new building will house classrooms equipped with modern technological resources.

The ground on which the MTC sits is already zoned for the proposed building. Because the new building will be built in the center of the Missionary Training Center campus, no adverse impact is anticipated for the surrounding neighborhoods throughout the construction process.

However, Missionary Training Center representatives will be available to area residents to answer questions and address concerns as the changes take place.

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LDS Church announces nine-story building at MTC