Gateway facelift aims to bring more unique shopping experience to Salt Lake City.

• Author: Christensen, Lisa
• Position: Around Utah

Salt Lake City -- When VESTAR purchased THE GATEWAY in February 2016, it did so with the intent of resurrecting a former gem of Utah's capital city, said Jenny Cushing, vice president of leasing.

Faced with competition from the newer City Creek Shopping Center and struggling with being a stone's throw from Salt Lake's centralized homeless services, Cushing said the key in revitalization was innovating new ways to re-establish The Gateway as a destination for shoppers. "In order to succeed, [the goal] isn't to compete--it's to be what no one else has done," Cushing said.

The new face of The Gateway will be more focused on food and beverage, unique retailers, vibrant and engaging art, and a social atmosphere. Cushing said one of the driving factors in taking The Gateway in that direction was Utah's increasingly hot tech scene and its large population of millennials. For those living in the area, she said, the events and unique food options will be a draw to the shopping center. For those living in Liberty Gateway--the apartment buildings adjacent to The Gateway--the mall should prove to be an ideal blend of work-shop-live-play convenience.

But before major reinvention could begin, she said, Vestar has had to bring the mall back to a reasonable starting point for improvement. Among the first tasks after the purchase was to hire more security staff and make visitors feel safer. The shopping center has gotten a new coat of paint, and the parking garages have been renamed, relit and repainted, and will soon get a redesign to improve traffic flow.

"There hasn't been any money put into this property for almost five years," Cushing said. "We want to renovate our house, but first we have to clean it up."

The new coat of white paint on the buildings will provide a better canvas for art that will dot the mall, including block-long murals, projects incorporating elevators or escalators, and sculptures and statues. The goal is to make art pop up in unexpected places. In addition, artificial grass will be installed in various locations to make miniature "parks" featuring illuminated furniture, light-up swings and see-saws built for adults, or suspended picnic tables.

"We want to make it an urban playground," Cushing said. "Everywhere you turn, there should be something fun and interesting."

Artificial grass will also be installed on some parts of the stairs near the fountain to provide a soft spot to sit during the bevy of...