A popular golf course in South Salt Lake has been negotiating a deal with another company about buying them out of their lease. 

The property is currently owned by Central Valley Water, who has been leasing it to Golf the Round. They were approached by Dakota Pacific Real Estate in 2021 to buy it from them. 

“DPRE approached the city about finding land to develop light industrial as a potential relocation opportunity of the industrial base in the redeveloping downtown area,” said Jonathan Weidenhamer, community and economic development director. “This project is a direct result of these efforts and discussions.”

The negotiations were kept quiet until January 2023 when the South Salt Lake City Council passed a rezone of the golf course area from commercial corridor to flex zone.

Golf the Round representatives have been tight-lipped about the deal, and while the company has not released a public statement, they have voluntarily entered into and executed a lease buyout agreement with DPRE. 

The industrial park would include four buildings that will equal out to around 1 million square feet. Discussions about the project are still in talks after several meetings with school districts, the South Salt Lake City Council and other companies involved. 

DPRE estimates the project will need a budget of almost $165 million to complete the industrial park. This change will also end up saving the city and its residents money. 

“Because CVWRF is a tax-exempt organization that exists to provide wastewater reclamation services to surrounding stakeholder municipalities, they are not required to pay property taxes,” Weidenhamer said. “Currently, very little ‘privilege tax’ is collected from GTR in its operation on the tax-exempt land as a for-profit golf course. By redeveloping the golf course into an industrial park, the project will generate [money] in incremental tax revenue for the taxing entities and [money] for South Salt Lake specifically.”

The new development would also produce between 400 and 800 additional jobs and bring in around $1.9 million in annual tax revenue. These jobs would be wide over the spectrum, from low-skilled labor to high-skilled manufacturing labor. This is also in addition to the hundreds of jobs that will need to be filled throughout the construction process. 

A more compelling argument is the amount of water it would save the city—water that could go to the greatly depleted Great Salt Lake. According to an estimate from CVW, the golf course uses around 150 million to 180 million gallons of water every year. By redeveloping the site into the industrial park, it’s estimated the water usage will be reduced by around 140 million to 170 million gallons of water per year. 

DPRE estimates that the construction of the light industrial park will take between five to seven years. This will include renovations off-site, as well. Those renovations will include adding an acceleration lane, two deceleration lanes, median modifications with a left-turn lane, and a fourth leg added to an existing three-way signalized intersection to provide functional access to the site. 

On March 27, the South Salt Lake City Council voted to approve and adopt the plan and budget and continue moving forward with the project. λ