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SALT LAKE CITY — The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City has decided to move forward with a $2 million loan to a popular climbing gym after it put the loan on "pause" earlier this year amid a rift between the gym's owner and USA Climbing, which is also looking to build a climbing gym in the city.
Agency officials said they wrapped up "additional due diligence" on the Front Climbing Club and determined to move forward with the loan.
"We have sent the applicant the loan documents for review and are working toward closing and funding," the agency added in a statement to KSL.com on May 31.
Dustin Buckthal, the gym's owner, told KSL.com on Tuesday that the business requested some tweaks to the loan that the Redevelopment Agency is still reviewing but he's cautiously optimistic that the two sides will reach a final agreement soon.
"They've approved this loan once already, so I look forward to it coming to a close," he said.
The Redevelopment Agency's board — members of the Salt Lake City Council — initially authorized the loan late last year to help the business complete the first three phases of a four-part expansion plan. The popular climbing gym opened in Salt Lake City's Ballpark neighborhood in 1998 and the three new phases are expected to bring the facility up to about 70,000 square feet.
But the city agency put the loan on "pause" in January over comments Buckthal made to USA Climbing that it deemed were "incompatible with the public benefits and community-building we aim to support."
USA Climbing is planning a new headquarters less than 10 blocks from the Front. Buckthal and other company executives sent USA Climbing a letter days before the loan was approved, opposing the portion of the project that would include a large commercial gym within the facility.
"(The) proposed commercial gym is a direct threat to the local businesses that have long supported (USA Climbing) and the local Utah communities," the group wrote.
Buckthal told KSL.com in January he was unaware the Redevelopment Agency had been engaging in land lease talks with USA Climbing at the same time he had applied for the loan. The lease would keep the governing body in the Rio Grande District for at least 99 years.
He believed the pause was retaliation for the Front's opposition to USA Climbing's commercial gym. RDA director Danny Walz sent Buckthal a letter informing him of the loan pause, Walz wrote that Buckthal had "taken steps to quash the expansion of USA Climbing."
Amanda Greenland, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in January the review would focus on a portion of the loan application that "cited strong growth potential in the local climbing market." She said the agency believed the letter to USA Climbing may have contradicted that statement.
The Front's expansion project continued with a "skeleton crew" while the loan was in limbo, Buckthal said. The two sides also exchanged letters during that time as they worked toward an agreement.
It wasn't immediately clear what was reviewed since January, but Redevelopment Agency officials said they believe there was "enough financial stability" to move forward with offering the loan, despite "future market competition."
The pause delayed the project by a few months, but Buckthal said he still hopes to complete the three-part expansion by the upcoming winter. However, he isn't as confident about the Redevelopment Agency's definition of financial stability amid growing competition.
"I think the definition of success is subjective in this case," he said. "Will all the entities coexist? Probably. But I don't think they'll be healthy entities. ... It's not going to be an 'all ships rise,' everybody's going to just — let's say — break even."
As for the competition, Buckthal submitted a proposal to USA Climbing as it underwent a request for interest in April. His plan would have moved the commercial gym to Lehi to help spread out what he calls "the crowded" downtown market.
That proposal was not selected. USA Climbing's board of directors voted on May 21 to advance discussions with Momentum Climbing and Touchstone Climbing as it moves forward with its new national training center. The facility may also be operated independently.
The organization wrote last month that it hopes to break ground on the project in 2025. It added that the goal is to complete the project before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Correction: A previous version said the Front expansion would add 70,000 square feet to the facility. The expansion will bring the facility to about 70,000 square feet in all.
