SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City council and members of the public discussed Intermountain Health's request to rezone the site of the former Sears building to make way for a brand-new urban hospital.
READ: Demolition of vacant former Sears building in downtown Salt Lake City begins
At a meeting Tuesday night, the council discussed the importance of providing patients and caregiver access to inclusive care and the importance of activating the area for the community.
Members of the public voiced their opinions during the public hearing portion of the meeting, where they said they wanted a development agreement before the rezoning request was approved.
They also shared concerns over workforce housing and impacts on surrounding neighborhoods in the area.
"We can and should ask for more than the bare minimum.," one community member said during the meeting. "Salt Lake City used to be a beggar, we begged for every scrap that any investor would throw our way, but Salt Lake City needs to shed its beggar mindset."
"There is no workforce housing for people employed at this new facility, there's none," another community member voiced.
Intermountain Health's request is to prepare for an urban hospital that they hope to build at the so-called "Sears Block," located at 800 South and State Street.
The Sears that used to be in the area opened in 1947 and closed in 2018. Three years later, in 2021, Intermountain Health bought the building and demolished it in 2022.
