Grace Leong

DAILY HERALD

Rising from among the historic buildings of the early 1900s in Provo's downtown business district is a brand spanking new $15 million Wells Fargo Center that officially opened Monday.

Developed by Kowallis & Mackay of Boise, Idaho, the seven-story, 110,000 square-foot mixed-use upscale residential, commercial and office development is the first of its kind in Provo, city officials say.

And if the new center generates strong interest among upscale residential buyers, it may set a trend for more of such mixed-use developments in downtown Provo -- a key factor in revitalizing the area -- they say.

A grand opening of the new center at 86 N. University Ave. -- now home to Wells Fargo's Central Utah regional headquarters and several other businesses -- is scheduled for March 25.

Some 50 employees from Wells Fargo's retail, business banking, private client, brokerage and administrative divisions at a former branch at 300 W. Center St. in Provo completed their move to the new office Monday. Several workers from the bank's mortgage division at 800 N. State St. in Orem also relocated to the new center. The former Center Street office was acquired by Provo city, said Roger Williams, president of the Central Utah District, which comprises 21 branches in Utah County and others in Uinta County, southeastern Utah and Nebo, Carbon and Emery Counties.

Apart from Wells Fargo, which occupies 12,000 square feet of the center's 60,000 square feet of commercial and office space, other tenants include MultiLing Corp., Blue Fin Design Group, the Provo law firm of Ray Quinney & Nebeker, and potentially the Provo City Economic Development and Provo Redevelopment Agency.

MultiLing Corp., a Provo translation and language services company, will move its corporate headquarters to a new 8,400-square-foot office at the center in June. Blue Fin Design Group, an Orem office furniture and design center will add a new 3,500 square-foot showroom and executive suite, while the law firm of Ray Quinney & Nebeker will move its corporate headquarters to a 4,200-square-foot space.

Negotiations are under way with two potential restaurants, said Roger Woolstenhulme, principal broker of Wyngate Properties Inc. Up to six more office tenants in the title, mortgage, insurance, securities and sales businesses are being sought for the center.

"Office leasing activity has picked up because people can now see the beautiful finishes at the center. It was difficult leasing a hole in the ground," Woolstenhulme said.

Keeping Wells Fargo's regional headquarters in downtown Provo will attract more jobs and residents to the area, benefiting existing retailers and businesses along University Avenue and Center Street.

At the same time, it also builds confidence in the area's viability among the business community, said John Payne, chairman of the Downtown Provo Alliance business expansion and retention committee. Developers, whose interest in building similar mixed-use projects in Provo were piqued by the landmark center, are now watching upcoming sales of its 20 condominiums and four penthouses, which occupy the center's fourth through seventh stories and 50,000 square feet.

The condominiums, each ranging between 1,200 and 1,850 square feet, and the penthouses, which average 2,500 square feet each, will be ready for sale in a few months, Woolstenhulme said. Prices start at $225,000.

"A successful downtown area has both a daytime and a night-time presence," Payne said. "The problem that most cities face in revitalizing downtown areas is that although businesses there tend to be fairly busy during the day, the area dies when workers go home to the suburbs at night."

Susan Bradford, executive director of Downtown Provo Alliance, agreed, saying the center has generated much interest among developers wanting to either renovate or remodel existing properties along University Avenue or build similar mixed-use projects since its construction began in October 2003.

"The developers are looking forward to seeing how popular and how much demand there will be for the condominium units. They will make their development decisions based on how well the Wells Fargo Center takes off," she said.

Wells Fargo's new 500-lot parking garage also is expected to alleviate parking space shortages in downtown Provo and potentially free up more commercial space for development, said Paul Glauser, Provo Redevelopment Agency director.

The $4.1 million parking garage, which is owned and operated by Kowallis, will not only provide parking to the office tenants and residential owners but also provide additional parking for businesses in downtown area.

"While Kowallis owns the garage, it has a contractual obligation to provide 125 parking stalls at any time to other businesses on the block. The city has control over how the parking lots will be used and who they will be made available to because we provided the bulk of the financing for the garage," Glauser said.

He said the city's Economic Development division and Provo Redevelopment Agency, now located at 425 W. Center St. in Provo, is considering whether to sublease its 4,000-square-foot space at the center to private businesses or relocate their offices there.

"Our agencies will be leaving the Center Street location because it's slated to become Provo Arts Council's Provo Center for the Arts later this year," Glauser said. "If we don't sublease the space to private businesses, we will definitely move there."