Transforming a Beloved Former Community Gathering Space Into a Place to Call Home
Liberty Wells was established in the 1890s as part of the Mormon Pioneers’ “Big Field” project. Over time, it grew to include historic bungalows and charming Victorian-style homes built primarily from the late 1800s through the 1920s.
In 2010, Liberty Wells was classified as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. 1,923 buildings in the neighborhood are considered to be historic structures, most of which are privately owned homes.
This adaptive reuse and new construction townhome project came to fruition thanks to an underused church community center and gym that was donated in 2022 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Built in 1950, the widely beloved gym hosted regional basketball leagues, dances, and youth activities, but eventually fell into disrepair. Located in a vibrant, historic neighborhood, Innovation Park at Liberty Wells will soon be a full-fledged community featuring 36 new townhomes adjacent to the renovated gym building that is being transformed into 30 apartments, all of which will be all-electric.
In addition to the donated parcel, this project would not have been possible without two critical layers of partnership:
Salt Lake City worked with Ivory Innovations on fee waivers and tax abatements to ensure affordability, and preemptively split the townhome lots so that, should those units ever transfer from rentals to homeownership, the move would be easier from a regulatory standpoint.
Call to Action, our philanthropic development partner, provides low-interest construction financing for our affordable communities—a financing solution that is maximizing our leverage so that we can reinvest in more affordable communities locally.