One of the biggest redevelopment jobs in Utah County cleared its last big hurdle Tuesday night. The Provo City Council voted 5-1 to approve every change needed for Brixton Capital's makeover of the struggling Provo Towne Centre mall, according to KUER.
The plan calls for partially demolishing and redeveloping the mall building and its parking lot, along with the Shady Acres mobile home park next door. For contractors who work the Provo-Orem market, that adds up to years of demolition, sitework, vertical residential and retail construction on one large site.
What's going up
KUER reports the mall's anchors, Target, JCPenney and Cinemark, will stay. Other parts of the mall will come down to make room for an open-concept development, including a 2-acre outdoor gathering space the developer pictures for farmers markets and community events.
On the housing side, Brixton plans 1,300 apartments in five buildings. Where the Shady Acres mobile homes now sit, 77 townhomes will be built and sold. The development agreement requires those townhomes to be owner-occupied, meaning they can't be rented, for five years after each purchase, in perpetuity.
The area is planned as a Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone, or HTRZ, a Utah tool that lets the city use tax revenue on development costs near transit stations. Under the development agreement, 12% of the housing in the zone must be affordable to households earning 80% or less of area median income, and 3% to households earning 60% or less, KUER reported.
Design changes along the way
Earlier meetings drew public concern about walkability and a roundabout planned for the middle of the project. KUER reports Brixton revised the roundabout after a planning commission recommendation, adding raised pedestrian crossings, a drop-off zone and a dedicated bike lane. A couple of residents told the council Tuesday the changes don't go far enough.
Council Member Jeff Whitlock, who voted yes, said that doing nothing would leave Provo with a blighted area, and that while the project isn't perfect, it is "a complicated puzzle trying to solve a lot of various factors." He said he worried Brixton would walk away if the council said no, and called this version a big improvement over earlier ones.
The lone no vote came from Councilor Becky Bogdin, who represents the district. KUER reports she worries the plan won't work and believes density belongs in the center of the city. Councilor Katrice MacKay said Provo's Achilles' heel is a lack of good restaurants and retail, and she hopes the mall revitalization helps.
The mobile home park
The hardest part of the deal is the displacement of Shady Acres. The development agreement gives each household 18 months to move out and $10,000 in relocation assistance. One longtime resident told KUER it would cost about $20,000 to move her double-wide, and several council members acknowledged the payment isn't enough, while pointing out they negotiated more than the developer was required to give.
Brixton representative Justin Long told KUER the company believes the offer goes "well above and beyond" what's required, since Brixton owns the land and residents are essentially on month-to-month leases. Council members said they also want to look at other help, such as giving residents first refusal on the project's affordable housing.
What comes next
KUER's report did not include a construction schedule or a total project cost, and the station did not name a general contractor. Contractors watching the job should keep an eye on Provo's site plan and permit filings, and on Brixton's announcements, for phasing details. The 18-month move-out window for Shady Acres residents also gives a rough sense of when the townhome portion of the site could open up for work.
Why it matters for contractors
This is a large, multi-year, mixed-use job in one of Utah's fastest-growing metros. It touches nearly every trade: selective demolition of an occupied mall with anchors staying open, heavy sitework and utilities across a big parking field and the former mobile home park, five apartment buildings, for-sale townhomes, retail shell and tenant work, and a new roundabout with pedestrian and bike features.
Working around open anchor stores means phasing, traffic control and dust and noise management will matter. The HTRZ affordability requirements and owner-occupancy rules on the townhomes may also shape unit mix and finish levels. Subs and suppliers in Utah County who want a piece of this should start building relationships with Brixton and whoever it picks to lead construction.