Park City in the fall of 2023 celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking along the Kearns Boulevard corridor.
Mayor Nann Worel and members of the Park City Council were in attendance, as were representatives of the developer, J. Fisher Companies. Work was ready to begin on the EngineHouse Apartments, named for the location’s proximity to a onetime railroad spur.
The city owns the just less than 2 acres of land and reached a partnership agreement with J. Fisher Companies for a 99-year lease, at a rate of $1 per year, for an ambitious workforce housing development.
A little more than two years later, the project is nearing completion and an opening is tentatively scheduled in late December. Parkites and commuters have watched as the building rose just off busy Kearns Boulevard, but few have ventured from the road for a closer look.
The developer was recently putting down grass and working on a pathway on the outside. Inside the building, the crews were working on finishings.
The 1875 Homestake Road project has 123 units, each a rental. Ninety-nine of them will go into the stock of workforce or otherwise income-restricted housing. The renters will be required to qualify through their incomes. The other 24 apartments will be rented at market rates.
The 99 units of income-restricted housing is a large bloc for a project in the Park City limits. The city has long pursued an aggressive housing program to provide options for people otherwise priced out of Park City’s resort-driven real estate and rental markets.
Every unit comes with an underground parking spot. The amenities will include a coffee shop, a mail room and a gymnasium. Some of the units offer unobstructed views of the Park City Mountain slopes.
The developer on a recent tour of the EngineHouse Apartments showed a unit with a modern interior design with contrasting dark and light colors in the kitchen and wood floors. One of the hallways, lengthy, is painted white with grayish and tan carpeting and dark-colored doors.
“Park City has the same impacts of many resort towns where the service workers have been priced out of affordability. Park City has chosen to confront this issue head-on and the result is EngineHouse. The EngineHouse will be a bastion of affordability for many decades going into the future,” said Rory Murphy, a longtime Park City developer who is part of the J. Fisher Companies team working on the project.
He said the location close to Kearns Boulevard and amenities “make it an extremely desirable place to live.”
“More importantly, the project is designed for full-time residents, which we are losing rapidly. You cannot have a town without people who live here, and EngineHouse will ensure that happens for the next 100 years,” he said. “The most important aspect of the project is that it is in town. Anyone who lives here can walk or take transit. If it is out of town, it still adds to traffic and the residents don’t live in the community.”
Murphy is a veteran Park City developer who has worked on large projects like the one built as Empire Pass in Deer Valley and Silver Star on the edge of Thaynes Canyon. He said the EngineHouse Apartments project and the number of income-restricted units “is an extremely satisfying and fulfilling realization.”
“We are so proud to be associated with this project and are grateful for the overwhelming support and encouragement we have received from the community and our partner, Park City,” he said.
A ceremonial ribbon cutting is scheduled Dec. 19, with people expected to begin moving in seven days later. More than 600 people put their name on a list showing interest in renting at EngineHouse Apartments. As many as 80 people had completed applications by the middle of the week.
Online EngineHouse Apartments materials outline the income restrictions for people wanting to rent. The limits, based on the area median income, include $70,020 for a one-person household, $80,040 for a two-person household, $90,060 for a three-person household and $100,020 for a four-person household. The figures rise based on household size.
There are one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. Monthly rents range from $1,793 to $4,300.
More information about the development is available at: www.enginehouse-parkcity.com.