SfALT LAKE CITY — The fate of a 45-year-old concert venue in downtown Salt Lake City remains to be determined despite an agreement between Utah's capital city and Smith Entertainment Group on a new revitalization district surrounding a remodeled Delta Center.

The agreement, which the Salt Lake City Council voted unanimously to support last week, doesn't mention anything about Abravanel Hall or other Salt Lake County buildings east of the arena. Instead, the two sides agreed that the deal primarily hinges on the owner of the Utah Jazz and Utah Hockey Club to land a lease agreement with the county by mid-2025.

Smith's conventional renderings only list the block where most of the buildings are located as "Phase 2" of the project. However, recently released public records show how close the entities involved in negotiations came to demolishing Abravanel Hall and relocating it to the site of a historic theater that was demolished in 2022.

A new location?

Utah Symphony and Salt Lake County already started work on a "comprehensive master plan" for Abravanel Hall well before the Utah Legislature passed a bill setting up a downtown revitalization district. There, the entities reviewed the cost of building renovations or rebuilds.

By at least March 19 — weeks before Smith filed a request to partner with Salt Lake City over a revitalization district — Salt Lake City had offered a lot that was once home to the Pantages Theater on Main Street as a possible new home for a rebuilt Abravanel Hall, Matt Castillo, director of the Salt Lake County Arts and Culture, wrote in an email.

It's one of several documents Salt Lake County posted on its public records website late last month after a resident requested them through an open records request.

The lot that Salt Lake City made available is still owned by Main Street Tower, LLC, according to county records. It's the site of a proposed residential high-rise led by Hines Development, which acquired the land from the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City in a controversial $0 deal.

The deal was the subject of a lawsuit from a group trying to preserve the landmark before it was torn down in 2022. Construction on the 31-story tower has since been delayed, and it remains an open pit.

In an email to Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson dated March 21, Castillo wrote that a rebuilt concert venue on Main Street would likely have to be four to five levels "to accommodate the various office and support space."

It's unclear if Hines would have scrapped its Main Street Tower plan or if it would have incorporated the concert venue into its building plans. A document outlining the option to repurchase the property was included in the items included in the county records dump.

The Redevelopment Agency, which was involved in some of the discussions, did not immediately respond to KSL.com's request for comment.

Emails show the county was still focused on the Main Street property into early May as staff prepared for a flood of questions about the plan. In an early version of a potential frequently asked questions document, Castillo wrote that there were "challenges with the facility and its aging infrastructure."

The same, he wrote, could be said about the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, also built in 1979.

"We can take all the great things that make these buildings iconic and rebuild them with the right elements necessary for 21st-century world-class arts venues," he wrote on April 30.

A shift in public discourse

Smith's proposal wasn't made public until Salt Lake City released it to news outlets on May 3. That's when it was revealed that the plan included two blocks east of the arena, which put the future of the Salt Lake County buildings in question.

The following day, Jack Clark, an 18-year musician, started an online petition seeking to preserve Abravanel Hall, which has since been signed by over 45,000 people. Other residents and organizations also started to voice opposition to any changes to the venue.

A day after that, Castillo — linking to the petition and referencing online statements from Utah Symphony musicians — wrote that "some formal organizing" had begun over preserving Abravanel Hall. He wrote that several local organizations had also expressed interest in preservation.

There are some redacted emails in the documents, and there aren't many clear documents beyond this; however, Wilson attended the first Salt Lake City Council meeting over the agreement on May 7, where she told reporters that Abravanel Hall could be renovated or rebuilt.

A week later, as the public push to preserve the building grew, Wilson issued a statement saying that she was now "working diligently" on a design that "allows Abravanel Hall to remain in its present form." Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall added that the concert hall was "a critical anchor" of the plan.

What comes next?

There have only been a few updates from the county level since then.

Castillo helped present the findings of the master plan on May 20 during a meeting that appeared to lean more toward preservation. Renovations could cost $199.4 million to $216.5 million depending on upgrade variables, county officials determined in an assessment they released in May.

Related:

Salt Lake County wants to keep Abravanel Hall as is. Here's how much renovations could cost

A new Abravanel Hall master plan outlines the needed and recommended upgrades to the 45-year-old building, as well as how much those changes would likely cost.

That's about the same as the relocation plan. He estimated it would likely cost about $200 million to rebuild it on Main Street, given the lot's unique characteristics. County officials said that some contingencies might increase the cost.

While it appears the concert hall could be preserved, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art executives say they've been told the county is leaning toward rebuilding the museum — something they support. It's still unclear when the county will make a formal decision on either building.

Mike Maughan, project principal for Smith Entertainment Group, said the company will "support" the county's decision on the future of the building. Renderings have listed the block where it's located as "Phase 2" since June largely because it's waiting for the county's decision.

There's no timetable yet for when the county could decide on a lease. The agreement between Salt Lake City and Smith Entertainment Group states that the company must reach a land lease agreement with the county by July 1, 2025, otherwise the agreement could be cast into doubt.

The agreement also isn't final just yet. It has been sent to a state committee composed of four lawmakers and a member of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's cabinet. The group has 30 days to either approve the measure or send it back for adjustments before it's finalized.

The Salt Lake City Council will vote whether to approve a 0.5% sales tax increase and any associated zoning changes after that.

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