Today I went down to take some photos of what is being finished. Just walking around down there had a very cool "Town Square" type of feel to it. Soon, retail stores and new residents will be moving in. Its going to be a great mixed use development.
Its reminds me in someways of the town center in Southlake, TX which is a Dallas-Ft. Worth suburb. Check out Southlake's Town Square and make the comparison for yourself. I visited there last year and was completely impressed. I am excited to see our own downtown follow a workable mixed use economic model.
The Sonora Grill and Iggy's are open and doing well. I spoke to the owner of Sonora Grill a couple week ago and he indicated that they have seen a steady increase in business since opening. It happens to be one of my favorite places to eat. Great atmosphere and great food.
The idea of mixed use is to combine several elements of a community (residential, shopping, entertainment) into one centralized location. In the above photo you can see retail space on the main floor and lofts for living on the upper two floors. People have been complaining about not having enough places to shop in downtown for quite some time. That will all change very soon.
Above is the Larry Miller Megaplex, the Solomon Center, and the Earnshaw Condominium building.
The Junction is almost 80% completed. There are a couple parcels left to develop like the big patch of dirt in the right of the above photo. However, due to the economic and financing issues facing new construction, those parcels will probably take a few years to be built out.
Ogden will be well prepared for the next uptick in the economic cycle when it happens. With attractive new office space, amenities close by, and affordability, we should see a spike in economic growth once we get through the national economic funk we are entering.
Thanks Jeremy for posting these. It's great to see downtown moving forward. It is bound to succeed.
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