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Post District delivers big with its full city block dedicated to meeting varied resident needs and creating a true "Live, Work, Play" environment.

“It’s not often that you get to build an entire neighborhood,” said Brandon Blaser at Post District’s ribbon-cutting in early May 2024.

Utah’s major opportunities to develop community emanate from The Pointe and Daybreak, the giant master-planned developments in the South Valley. But urban renewal at the neighborhood scale happens much less frequently.  

Blaser, the Founder and President of Blaser Ventures, Alex and Ben Lowe of Lowe Property Group, and other investors and stakeholders took the chance with what is now Post District—an entire Salt Lake City block of mixed-use development. 

But taking an area suffering from urban decay and giving it a new lease on life with new builds and adaptive reuse structures would be a process that required everyone reading from the same page. 

Plans Coalesce

Expanding Salt Lake’s urban core south and west via the Post District started with financial stakeholders and their design partners walking around the area in 2018 as they looked to build an almost self-contained neighborhood out of a dilapidated area of Salt Lake City.


What was once a publishing powerhouse that printed and distributed the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and USA Today in years prior had gone the way of many print media and left for dead. Graffiti-covered and abandoned warehouses wouldn’t cut it in a city looking to strike while the iron of renewed urbanism was still hot.


Pieter Berger, Director of Design, and Principal for project architects MVE + Partners, aligned with stakeholders and their preliminary vision early. Their collective goal was to create a remarkable product that would bring renters of many income types together into a cohesive, in-demand neighborhood.


“Controlling the entire block allowed us to break down the scale of the block into a more walkable environment,” he said. No easy feat with the largest urban grid in the country, where one Salt Lake block holds the same area as multiple blocks in a walkable city like Portland. Even harder, he continued, considering the project would leave rentable units and square footage on the table to establish a better environment for future residents. But ownership trusted that breaking down the scale through multiple buildings would create a new community capable of lifting the entire block.


Nitty Gritty Start

“Sophisticated Grit,” Berger said, was an oft-used term in the design process to center the narrative around a modern, sophisticated neighborhood juxtaposed against the existing grit of the surroundings. And what better material to bring sophisticated grit to the forefront than concrete?


Leaders from general contractor Big-D Construction suggested a mat foundation under the building footprint to serve dual roles as structural support and a driving surface. Doing so would eliminate the need for traditional aggregate piers in Post House North and Post House South. The use of drop caps where columns connect to the ceiling slab also reduced its thickness while maintaining structural integrity and cost-efficiency.


As plans moved to implementation, grit came in the form of well over one thousand concrete trucks’ worth of slurry for the massive, 138,000-SF mat footing foundation. Self-performed by Big-D Construction, this foundation would be the starting point for two of the buildings, Post House North and Post House South.


Construction logistics and intricate planning helped to bring the process forward and allowed the team to pull off such massive, record-setting pours. Each concrete truck followed the same sequence by receiving a specific-colored flag to help identify the pump to use during that pour. Because the top six inches of the foundations contained a corrosion inhibitor, it was crucial that the trucks filled up at the correct pumps and poured in the precise order they were assigned.


Traffic control was paramount since the project took place between the busiest entrance and exit to the city, between 600 South and 500 South, respectively, especially with the quantity of stationed concrete pump trucks and concrete trucks buzzing to and from the pour. As concrete trucks filled, poured, washed, and repeated the cycle, Gardner said there were upwards of 20-plus concrete trucks onsite at any given time.


The herculean effort from the 80 Big-D concrete team members meant taking spells pouring and finishing concrete across the site over 28- and 30-hour pours— resulting in 1,000-CY of concrete in place. 


Measuring in at a whopping 30 inches thick, the work to take these two time-intensive pours from start to finish is a testament to quality design and construction from the project team.

Polished Grit

While the mat foundation caught so much attention for depth and breadth of logistical complexity, concrete features deserve a second glance throughout the entirety of Post District. Architectural concrete columns were designed so the forms would be expressive of the tectonic nature of the building, earning the name “coffin columns” due to their coffin-like appearance.


The columns are visible at the main entrance of Post House South and throughout the fitness center. Concrete is prominent elsewhere, including the 17,200 SF of architectural concrete and board-formed walls visible on planters, decorative walls, and accent wall facing the project’s western edge.


Coordinated Success

As work progressed with the multiple mixed-use and residential buildings under Big-D’s purview, Layton/ICS worked simultaneously nearby on Traeger Grills’ new headquarters. Their work with designers Method Studio on an adaptive reuse of the former Newspaper Agency Corporation building and others into Class-A office required the most precise communication between all project teams. Since multiple general contractors were constructing facets of the neighborhood within one city block, maintaining continuous coordination was essential, especially when as many as 400 trade partners completed their activities on site.


Gardner said the teams on each building under their purview held daily planning and coordination meetings. This, he said, ensured that each team knew their tasks for the day and that each team could complete their work without encroaching on the workspace of other teams on site.


He said that owner coordination meetings, block-wide coordination meetings for GCs and others, weekly subcontractor meetings, and even daily meetings for specific teams helped to get everyone on the same page to build the project in a safe and efficient manner.


That came through specifically in areas like crane safety, where multiple cranes worked on site simultaneously, requiring swing radius coordination and dialed in team members and safety orientations.


Berger praised the field work done to implement the design vision at scale, saying: “this type of work is the ultimate team sport. Our team can set the vision and create great working drawings for construction; however it is the collective whole from our team, ownership, and GC all the way down to framers and skilled labor on site that make this a success.”  

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“Plane” to See

Since there is no “easy button” to facilitate the relationship between designer and contractor, Berger said that Big-D expertise was critical to bringing every one of the five buildings to delivery, specifically with Post House South’s unique massing.


Staggered windows and four slope roof systems required a precise mix of wood and steel columns while framing the building. Because it was designed to have a cohesive look where the wall panels blended seamlessly into the roof, Gardner said the Big-D team had to figure out how to keep the aesthetic without sacrificing functionality.


“Any time you are going from one plane to another, it takes detail to make it work. And we were working within three planes,” he said.


The Big-D team created eight mockups for the roof structure before landing on an acceptable design. First, the team installed a full-standing seam roof, then they clamped the wall panels on top and perforated each one of them, allowing water to transfer from the first roof to the second, where the water could drain away.


Conundrum Turned Solution

The billboards around the site have earned plenty of double-takes for how buildings were seemingly (and actually) constructed around them.


With the billboard owners unwilling to part with their signs, the project team got creative to find a solution to work around four billboards, with one near the standalone restaurant space, and another near Post House South, needing the most planning to bring about project success.


The solutions-oriented approach started in design. Berger said that the billboards became part of the project DNA as easements became form givers and massing elements were created where there would have been an urge to build more, specifically around the restaurant space to the north that will soon house Sunday’s Best. 


With the billboard near Post House South, the team designed a notch in the building to give the outdoor advertisement 30 inches of clearance on each side. While it solved the one problem of building around the billboard, another challenge arose—installing windows and applying stucco to the areas in that tight space.


But, as one of the project owners Alex Lowe said during the ribbon cutting, “When there was every opportunity to look for excuses, Big-D Construction only looked for solutions.”


The construction team utilized cranes to lift windows and put people in a man basket to install the windows behind the billboard.


Diverse Rental Types

All that work brought about the 580 residences across Post District that show up in multiple rental categories and sizes. The Register, 801 Flats, Post House North, and Post House South share amenities on site, especially with elevated skyways linking certain buildings together. While the unity of purpose is apparent, Berger said that each building was designed to hold its own personality both architecturally and from a product standpoint.


“The idea was to have the block feel like it was built by several owners and several architects in order to establish a more authentic urban grid,” he said. “Each building represents a different renter profile with the goal of creating the ‘complete neighborhood.’”


But what would a neighborhood be without walkability? Berger and fellow architects pushed the concept of creating a network of Woonerfs, or Dutch-style living streets, where pedestrians walk in the middle of the road versus driving a car.

The architect detailed how prioritizing a truly livable experience shifted vehicular access to perimeter streets, keeping the core of the project from experiencing trash pick-up, emergency vehicle access, move-ins, etc., like other urban neighborhoods.


Simply put, Berger said, “This allows the streets to feel safe, accessible, and livable.” 


Restaurant and Amenities Add Coveted Layers

And who doesn’t love visiting the neighborhood haunt?


From early morning coffee to a late night out, Post District has plenty of dining for residents and visitors. Urban Sailor Coffee Co. has been open since fall of last year, while Sunday’s Best, in all of its wild pink glory, will be opening soon to the delight of social media influences and brunch connoisseurs alike. Level Crossing Brewing Company’s presence provides the crisp and sudsy presence necessary to go with delicious lunch and dinner options, while Urban Hill’s upscale dinner and after-hours experience is another welcome addition to the block.


The 22,000 SF of combined restaurant spaces were intended to be an extension of the overall design narrative for the block. MVE worked very closely with ownership on the review of tenant build outs, not only to align building systems, but also to align aesthetics. Thoughtful exterior dining locations were contemplated with each retail space. The idea, Berger said, was always “How do we get people to live on the streets?” The Woonerf concept, combined with the building scale and the accessibility of the restaurant spaces, all combined to be a major feature of that dialogue. 


Residential amenities include a 7,000-square-foot fitness center, club room, rooftop decks and multiple swimming pools. Each rooftop has its own unique flavor, corresponding to the unique architecture of each building. The podium level deck at Post House North has a park-like setting, while the podium level deck at Post House South offers a pool experience rivaling a luxury resort.


The purpose, according to the design team, was to create gathering spaces that build community among residents, while offering an experience that feels unique in the Utah apartment market. Large hinged canopy doors open over an indoor/outdoor pool and spa. At the center of the pool deck, walkover steppers traverse the oversized pool. They pass beneath the shade of a truly one-of-a-kind steel art tree that was custom designed and fabricated for this project.


“The pools in the project are not only an amenity to be a part of but also a great amenity to look at,” said Berger, complimenting the work of landscape architects Loft Six Four for helping the pools come to life.


The large outdoor spa features an acrylic window to the street below, to which Berger said was intended to make a passerby say “How can I be a part of that!?”


As the project team detailed, that feeling of wanting to be part of a sophisticated, gritty neighborhood is present throughout Post District. Whether in the form of tasty dining, a comfortable residence, or enjoyable amenity, the entire development begs the same question that Alex Lowe of the ownership team said at the ribbon cutting:


“Won’t you be our neighbor?”  

Post District Mixed-Use Development

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Delivery Method: CM/GC

Square Feet: 918,830

Levels/Stories: 6/7

Owner: Blaser Ventures, Lowe Property Group, and Bridge Investment Group


Design Team

Architect: MVE + Partners

Civil: McNeil Engineering

Electrical: Hunt Electric

Mechanical: Gunthers

Plumbing: JTB/UMC

Structural: Dunn Associates

Geotech: AGEC

Landscape: Wenk Associates, Loft Six Four

Pool & Spa: Water Design Inc

Waterproofing: Morrison Hershfield


Construction Team

General Contractor: Big-D Construction

Concrete: Big-D Construction (Structural), Pikus (Deck Shoring and Deck Forming), BHI (Site), Architectural

Concrete and Design (Post House North and Post House South Decorative Podium), Knell Constuction

(Gypcrete)

Plumbing: UMC

HVAC: Gunthers

Electrical: R.C. Hunt

Masonry: RAM Exteriors

Metal Paneling: Southam Associates

Drywall/Acoustics: SDI (Drywall), Mitchell Acoustics (Decorative Ceiling Systems)

Painting: Allied Painters (The Register, Post House North, 801 Flats), Keith Pulham Painting (Post House

South)

Tile/Stone: CP Build (The Register, Post House North, 801 Flats), Spectra (All Buildings), Dowland Tile and

Stone (The Register, Post House South)

Carpentry: Turnkey Interiors (Base, Doors and Hardware), Ron J Peterson (Sunday’s Best/Restaurant Space

Framing), Avant Garde (Post House South Framing), CP Build (Cabinets The Register, Post House North,

801 Flats), Dowland (Post House South), Finisher Construction (Post House South Supplemental Help

W/Cabinet Install)

Flooring: CP Build (The Register, Post House North, 801 Flats); Spectra Contract Flooring (Post House

North, Post House South), Stewart Specialty Systems (Polished Concrete)

Roofing: Flynn (TPO Systems), Southam and Associates (Standing Seam/Metal Roofing)

Glass/Curtain Wall: B&D Glass (Storefront), Pella (Window Provider), Total Window (Window Installer),

Allied Industries (Skylights), All Metals Fabrication (Glass Railings, Post House South), Crawford Doors

(Pool Doors), Bountiful Glass (Shower Doors), Scottco Blinds (Window Coverings)

Waterproofing: Waterproofing West

Steel Fabrication: Boman and Kemp (Structural Steel Common Area Stairs), Pine River Partners

(Decorative Railing and Unit Stairs), Harris Rebar, SN Custom Railing (Spiral Stair in Unit)

Steel Erection: Rise Construction (Structural), Pine River Partners (Decorative Railings and Unit Stairs),

Iron Mountain Construction (Rebar)

Excavation: Cazier, Geopier Northwest (Aggregate Piers), Keller North America (Post House North, Post

House South Excavation Shoring)

Demolition: Grantt Mackay

Landscaping: Brightview Landscape (Ongrade), Waterscape Landscaping (Podium and Amenities Decks)

Other Specialty Contractors: Kone (The Register, Post House North, Post House South, 801 Flats), Able

Access (Sunday’s Best/Restaurant Space), Alpine Gas Fireplaces, B&B Specialties, Ranger Fire, Builder

Services Group, Cannon Sales (Actual Trash Chutes), B&B Specialties (Containers and Compactors),

Crawford Doors (Overhead Coiling Doors), CEM Aquatics, Thermal Engineering, Mountain West Pavers,

Flash Parking, Peck Striping, Rocky Mountain Wall Cover, Salt Studio (Benches, Bike Racks and Cabanas),

CMI

Black Desert Oasis

By Brad Fullmer • October 15, 2025
When Lehi-based Reef Capital Partners (Reef) initially announced plans in 2018 to build a sprawling, estimated $2 billion mega-resort with a championship-caliber golf course on 600 acres covering parts of Ivins and Santa Clara—small towns with just over 15,000 combined residents at the time—it was difficult to fathom what a project of that magnitude might look like. Fast forward seven years, and Black Desert Resort is indeed a shining oasis amidst Southern Utah's famed red rock cliffs, sitting atop an ancient lava field, with buildings strategically carved into the land to produce a resort unlike anything else. "This is the biggest project we've ever done—we feel really good where we are," said Brett Boren, President of Real Estate for Reef, acknowledging the general completion of the $290 million, 806,000-SF resort center, along with significant ongoing work—including a 1,298-stall parking garage, condominiums, and a private water park. As of September, all aspects of the main resort center were open and fully complete, with the hotel celebrating its first official year in business after partially opening in September 2024 as it hosted the inaugural PGA Black Desert Championship October 10-13. The second installment of the tournament—now dubbed the Bank of Utah Championship—is slated for October 23-26, with a third tournament signed for 2026.

Calder Richards Celebrates 20 Years of Sustainable Evolution

By UC&D • October 1, 2025
In 2005, Calder Richards Consulting Engineers formed after the merger of two smaller structural consulting firms who, interestingly enough, both started in 1986. Calder Richards has provided a steady structural support for Utah’s built environment ever since. As the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary, UC+D spoke with Managing Principals Shaun Packer and Nolan Balls to look back over the company’s history and celebrate what has helped their firm stand out to deliver solid projects in Utah and beyond. Their responses were edited for clarity and brevity. UC+D: What have been some catalytic moments for Calder Richards since that initial merger? SP: Winning the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona is the first one. The big reason for the merger between Richards Consulting Group and Calder Consulting was to build a large enough company to go after bigger projects like that.” NB: That was my first project when I was hired straight out of college. We helped design the 17-story hotel and casino, a conference center, as well as parking structures, a central mechanical building, and a pool building. Talking Stick helped get us through the downturn a few years later. UC+D: What have been your key market sectors you all have targeted over the last 20 years? NB: We were breaking into K-12 along the Wasatch Front soon after the Talking Stick Resort and it’s been our bread and butter since then. SP: Absolutely, but I credit our firm for always adapting to the current environment. We’ve been fortunate to do so much K-12, but we used to do a lot of office work, and now we are working on conversions like the Ebay Headquarters to CTE/Innovation Center for Canyons School District as the market has shifted away from commercial office. UC+D: Schools have certainly evolved over the last 20 years, how has your work as structural engineers evolved? SP: We are seeing more creative design on the architectural side, certainly. We see many more two-story designs; more windows and daylighting. But we’re utilizing more powerful tools and continually building our understanding of the structural materials that are in use more than ever—tilt-up concrete, steel columns and beams, especially—to be the architect’s trusted partner. NB: Schools have definitely changed, and we’ve had better experience in helping projects move forward successfully when we are involved earlier in the design process. As we got involved early on in West High School’s schematic design, we were able to provide structural solutions and options to accommodate the architects’ design intent. UC+D: How has company growth changed Calder Richards? SP: It’s certainly changed the number of people in our office. We started with around 10 people when we merged, and today we have 27. But we often say that we don’t want to grow just to grow—we want to grow sustainably. We don’t lay people off when works slows down, and we have an expectation that sometimes there will be overtime work, and other times you may be waiting for our next project to begin.

The (Epi)Center of it All

By By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Nested in the middle of the University of Utah (U of U) campus sits the aptly-named Impact & Prosperity Epicenter, the second living learning community (LLC) project designed on campus by Los Angeles-based Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign. After nearly a decade since their first LLC project, the award-winning Lassonde Studios (UC+D’s 2016 Most Outstanding Public Building over $10 million), Mehrdad Yazdani, the design firm’s Principal and Studio Director, said their work on a sequel was an exciting prospect for the firm, and enlisted Salt Lake-based MHTN Architects and Okland Construction to serve as the respective local architect and general contractor. Today, the Epicenter serves as a striking piece of architecture and construction, one whose curvilinear shape asks users and visitors plenty of questions. But moving from idea to execution has been a work in progress. One query from Yazdani stood out as it relates to students and the built environment, and helped begin the journey to create the Epicenter: “How does your living environment as a student impact your success as a student and as a changemaker?” A Project for an Evolving Campus Katie Macc, CEO of the Sorenson Impact Institute, said LLCs like the Epicenter and Lassonde Studios next door have been massive steps forward in advancing entrepreneurship and social impact. But both play a major role in creating “college town magic”—a phrase coined by University President Taylor Randall that invokes a vibrant campus where students can find community and have one-of-a-kind experiences. With more on-campus student housing in the works, the state’s flagship university is hoping to shed the “commuter school” label and deliver a level of desirability that matches the resources students commit to higher education. “There is some soul searching going on across university campuses,” said Macc of the challenge at hand. “We have to be convincing that going to college matters.” She said overall university enrollments across the nation are decreasing as students grapple with tuition costs, COVID and its isolating aftershocks, and a different perspective on higher education. Universities are no longer a place where students come to learn what they couldn’t learn elsewhere—remote learning and the internet have opened a fissure in that idea that will never close. Instead of that educational transaction, being at a university must include building community and creating in-person experiences only available on campus. Macc said that the Epicenter helps steer the campus experience toward the future, with design goals to create a base of operations for two changemaking organizations and a living and learning home for 778 students. The three-story commercial portion of the building, known as the “Changemaker Pavilion”, includes office space for The Center for Business, Health, and Prosperity (second floor) and the Sorenson Impact Institute (third floor). While each organization has a different focus, both are firmly invested in helping students access and create the resources needed to change the world. Each entity works hand-in-hand as owners of the Epicenter to host events and “create a full spectrum of ways for students to get involved,” said Chad Salvadore, Chief Financial Officer for the Sorenson Impact Institute. “We’re dialing in the programming to energize the student body,” said Salvadore of the work done at the Epicenter. With over 60 majors represented among the 778 students who live there, he said that the diversity of students is less a reflection of their chosen major and more a desire to reside in a space built for students to work their entrepreneurial muscles. “Living here is a mindset—you can engage across many different paths you choose.”

Goal!

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Front view of the bleachers, press box, and suites. (photos courtesy SIRQ Construction)

Four Decades of Transformation

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Over the course of its 40-year history in Utah, WSP's Salt Lake office—originally founded as Parsons Brinckerhoff in 1985—has morphed from primarily a transportation design firm to one that successfully operates in multiple civil engineering markets. The results of WSP's transformation the past decade into a more diverse outfit speak for themselves, with the 128-person Salt Lake office (with locations in Cottonwood Heights and South Jordan) posting three consecutive years of revenues over $50 million, including a record $70.1 million in 2023, and a robust $59.9 million in 2024—good for the No. 2 ranking in UC+D's 2025 Top Utah Engineering Firms rankings.

Good Career? Start Here

By Taylor Larsen • October 1, 2025
Lucio Gallegos vividly remembers the workforce development meetings he attended during his time at Ogden-Weber Tech. These career and technical education (CTE) discussions consistently focused on one thing: young people were not entering construction, and the industry needed a new approach to attract them. Gallegos recalled one member of the workforce development team, a training director with a prominent general contractor, saying, “We have been trying this for over 10 years, screw it, we’re just gonna hire them.” The Long Road Those conversations occurred nearly 10 years ago, and workforce development concerns continue to permeate the industry. The National Center for Construction Education & Research estimates that 41% of the construction workforce will retire by 2031, leading to potential gaps in skill and safety and decreases in productivity and project quality. While stakeholders have aligned on the overall goal of providing students a foundation for future success through career development, the means to achieve the ends were seemingly at odds. High schools, trade schools, colleges, and private industry took different paths to achieve their goals, with some moving in opposite directions. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” Gallegos recalled one school administrator saying, “If I promote what you’re telling me to get them over to the tech college, I lose head count. And then I lose teachers. I can’t have a school without teachers.” Jobs that took away student learning experiences, according to federal guidelines and child labor laws, made the idea a non-starter. However, after years of lobbying the Utah Legislature for a compromise between industry and education, H.B. 055, passed in 2023, provided a catalytic change in how younger people can engage with construction and other industries. High school students could participate if they were involved in a school-sponsored work experience and career exploration program. Private industry finally had the compromise it wanted. It was time to act. Big-D Charts New Path Gallegos, now the Workforce Development Manager from Big-D, joined the company in 2023 with the express purpose of creating a program that fit within the new guidelines. Gallegos said he sees career development through the lens of the immigrant experience, one he knows personally as a Mexican immigrant with a father who worked in commercial construction. “I was 9 years old and busting pins out of concrete forms with a hammer that was as big as I was,” he laughed. “I’ve got the cliché immigrant story.” That story has a theme familiar to many immigrant families, he said, one where parents say, “I want my kids not to have to work as hard as I do. I want them in school.” Add to that, it’s a law—children must attend school. Gallegos was unfazed by those obstacles. As he began planning how Big-D’s internship program would operate, he knew that engagement had to start at the elementary school level and build on personal relationships between private industry, school administrators, students, and their families to succeed. “We want to be the solution, not the obstacle to get into this industry,” said Gallegos. So Big-D removed the barriers. Students can still attend school, work towards graduation, and be available in the afternoon for sports, extracurricular activities, and the high school experience. But working was another significant part of the immigrant experience, Gallegos said, and internships needed to be paid to alleviate the family concerns. “We asked what we would pay somebody fresh out of high school who worked at Big-D,” Gallegos said. Interns have earned those same wages ever since.

It's A Knockout

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
On January 2, 1957, Gene Fullmer, a scrappy, underdog fighter from West Jordan stunned the boxing world with a 15-round unanimous decision over the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson at New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden. Fullmer captured the world middleweight championship and established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers during the late 50s and early 60s. Since then, the Fullmer name has been synonymous with boxing in Utah, with brothers Gene, Jay, and Don establishing the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym in 1978, and offering free boxing instruction and life mentoring to thousands of youths—carrying on a tradition they learned from their trainer, Marv Jenson. Their legacy of community giving will live on in the new Fullmer Legacy Center in South Jordan, a 16,500-SF facility that will serve as a permanent home to the boxing gym—after years of bouncing around to various temporary facilities—along with a museum, snack bar, and gift shop. “The Fullmers are the first family of boxing in the state of Utah—that’s well understood,” said Dave Butterfield, a founding board member of the Fullmer Legacy Foundation. Butterfield served as Chairman of the Board from June 2016 to early 2025 and was influential in helping raise money—nearly $6 million via donations to date, which includes $2 million from the Utah Legislature. Project Driven by Vision to Find a Permanent Home for Fullmer Brothers Gym It was Jay Fullmer who led the charge to teach boxing in the community. By 1978, the Fullmer Brothers Boxing Gym had formally opened at the Butterfield farm chicken coop in South Jordan, recalled Larry Fullmer, Don’s oldest son and the man who spearheaded the efforts for the Fullmer Legacy Center. From there, Larry said the facility moved to Riverton Elementary, an old church house in West Jordan, a sugar factory, a former fire station, and the Salt Lake County Equestrian Park in South Jordan, where it had resided since 2011. When they got word that Salt Lake County planned to transfer ownership of the park to Utah State University, Fullmer knew they needed to find a long-term home for the boxing gym. Fullmer met with Butterfield and Robert Behunin—who at the time was a Vice President with Utah State University—in 2016 and told them he just wanted a “tin shed of our own” for boxing. Behunin countered by saying, “If you want people to donate money, you need something better than a tin shed!” They quickly formed the Fullmer Legacy Foundation (FLF), and by 2018, the wheels were in motion on a building. Doc Murdock, a long-time trainer at the gym, connected Larry with his former roommate at Brigham Young University, Vern Latham, who is a Principal at Salt Lake-based VCBO Architecture. VCBO offered pro-bono services initially while helping FLF put together an RFP, while North Salt-based Gramoll Construction provided value engineering and other services in an effort to get the project launched. Larry expressed sheer gratitude for the contributions of both firms in helping make the project a reality, especially for many generous donations from various foundations and individuals. “[VCBO] believed in us early on and did our first phase of planning at no charge—they have been amazing and so professional to work with,” said Larry. “Gramoll helped us get the budget done as tight as it could be. This project had the absolute tightest budget. We met weekly with architects and the general contractor to see the progress—I’ve never seen such an amazing process. Construction started in November ’23, and every time I would come to the jobsite in the first six months, I’d get emotional.” “We leaned on our relationships with contractors for flooring, ceiling, tiles, donated furniture and got deep discounts and a lot of in-kind donations,” said Phil Haderlie, Principal-in-Charge for VCBO. “To me, the story of this project is the grassroots effort of people seeing the value—this is something that came from their heart. It will have a long-lasting impact on the community.”

Significant Buzz

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
The first season is in the books for the Salt Lake Bees in its spectacular new home—the Ballpark at America First Square, the exciting new heart of Downtown Daybreak and certainly one of the premier Triple-A stadiums in the country. "It's a really cool stadium—the field looks so good!" gushed Eric Barton, Project Director for Salt Lake-based Okland Construction, while surveying the spacious 280,000 SF, 6,500-seat (8,000 capacity) ballpark. Barton said his team faced an extremely difficult construction schedule with the mandate the project had to be sufficiently ready for Opening Day 2025 on April 8, less than 18 months after the formal October 20, 2023, groundbreaking. Barton said Okland knew it was going to be a grind, with long hours and tight windows to get various milestones accomplished. "When we bid this to our trade partners, we had them bid it with the expectation of it being six days a week," he said. "We want not only your best guys, but you have to be adaptable to the plan. It was gangbusters from the start.” Up to 300 workers were onsite during peak construction activity, requiring meticulous coordination throughout. Okland even brought in Fred Strasser, a legendary project director who came out of retirement to shepherd the project through. "Fred is the genius behind getting this whole thing done," said Barton. The project was designed by Salt Lake-based HOK, who worked closely with the owner, Sandy-based Larry H. Miller Real Estate (LHMRE) and Miller Sports + Entertainment (MSE) to bring about a project that would add even more buzz to its wildly popular, 4,000-acre master planned Daybreak development in South Jordan, making it a true entertainment destination. The design weaves together best-in-class baseball experiences with year-round public amenities, including a recently opened Megaplex theater, a performing arts center, a large amphitheater, along with retail, restaurants, and apartments, with buildout continuing through 2027. Walking paths and open spaces create natural connections between The Ballpark and the surrounding neighborhood, making the area an iconic community asset and a true sports and entertainment district. Downtown Daybreak is slated to host more than 200 annual events—including the Bees’ 75-game regular season. Supporting this entertainment destination, the venue’s prominent location just off the Mountain View Corridor freeway makes it highly visible to passing traffic while providing easy access. The stadium is also connected to multiple transportation options, easily reached by walking, biking or light rail across the Wasatch Front, and by car from the new freeway corridor. The Ballpark site drops 20 feet from the loading dock to the plaza, managed through terraced spaces that echo the region’s mining heritage. Though the slope stays gentle at under 5%, carefully placed stairs and planters make walking comfortable while honoring the industrial past. The center field main entrance connects to light rail, while a formal plaza at home plate serves as a second entrance, primarily for VIP access. The street design follows Daybreak’s established standards for lighting and tree spacing. Bike racks at the light rail station and plaza make cycling to games convenient. Utah’s Landscape Shapes Design The Wasatch Mountains, visible from every angle of the ballpark, directly influenced the ballpark's design. Throughout the venue, carefully planned viewpoints frame these mountain vistas. The structure resembles this mountainous setting in its form, transitioning from solid brick and concrete at its base to lighter materials—metal and expansive glass—as it ascends. Working with Kansas City-based architectural metal fabricator Zahner, HOK and MSE created a distinctive facade using perforated metal panels that suggest Utah mountain peak silhouettes from Ben Lomond Peak in Weber County to Mt. Nebo, the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah. These panels transform into a glowing display at night, serving as a lantern on The Ballpark’s ‘front porch’ and welcoming visitors. This connection to Utah’s landscape flows throughout the site. Angular planters guide visitors along pathways, while public spaces are arranged in terraces that echo the mountainside. The copper colors and stepped surfaces of the nearby Kennecott Mine inspired the ballpark’s materials and layout. Inside, the decor features warm copper, gold and honey tones, with textured materials that blend the natural landscape with the Salt Lake Bees’ team colors.

Firms Making Moves

By Brad Fullmer • October 1, 2025
Horrocks CEO Bryan Foote (left) shakes hands with Matt Hirst, former President/CEO of CRS Engineering & Survey. Horrocks acquired CRS a year ago in a move that has proven to be a seamless fit for more than 60 CRS employees.

Q&A with Nathan Goodrich

By UC&D • August 1, 2025
Nathan Goodrich