alright friends, we are sitting here in Salt Lake City. The site of Weidner Apartment Homes newest development called Ritz Classic Apartment Homes. We are getting ready to put that sign up. Pretty cool. 289 apartment homes going to go in here & that sign is close to 60 years old, just been refurbished & we are getting ready to put that thing up. It will take a few hours & we will check back in later.
Well here you go friends, the Ritz Classic sign! We are getting ready to put it back in place in the basket truck. This thing is amazingly tall.
The sign is going in right now, it’ll be probably till next year before we have this property broken ground and we get our first apartment. We wanted to start getting some awareness here on state street, it is generally pretty heavily traveled. We thought the sign would help us get a little exposure. Can’t wait to take some shots at nighttime to see the LEDs. Don’t know if you can see it, but outlining the bowling pin is red LEDs and the inside where it says classic are yellow LEDs.
Do you have a multi-family investment opportunity you think we might be interested in? Please contact our Vice President of Acquisitions, Kevin Colard, at Kevin@Weidner.com or 425-250-2955
Greg: Alright guys this is kinda cool. As I said I am here in South Salt Lake. It is a beautiful day, as you can see. I am here for the raising of the classic sign of the Ritz Classic Apartment Homes that Weidner is building and I have Joel with me. Joel is with YESCO, YESCO is the sign company & he is going to talk with us a bit about this cool sign. Tell me what is going on and what we are doing today?
Joel: Alright, we got the historic bowling pin that has been up since 1958 and it represents a bowling alley that everybody took their kids to, that youth groups came to when they were young & bowling and skating; everybody remembers it, it is very nostalgic for the community. When the bowling alley went away and Weidner purchased the property to build on, the community, especially the city, wanted the sign to stay and it is staying. We took a long look at the sign & did an in-depth survey and determined that the sign would not be strong enough to leave up. Once we started taking off the rusted elements around the sign it was no longer structurally sound, so it needed to be rebuilt. We took the original design and we made it new, we gave it fresh colors, and we are putting it back up.
Greg: Right on, so it was built in 1958, that thing has seen some weather! The refurbished sign has some elements of the original sign, but it has some new components as well, right?
Joel: Yes, absolutely. The things that remained are the pipe in the ground and letter boxes. The pipe that you see here at this base is a bigger pipe that is sleeved over the original pipe, it is welded off to the original and then we’ve added a number of rods which extend into the concrete footing; all of that was engineered & all of the base is original to the old sign. The red cabinets that you see, just the outline of the cabinets, have been on the sign for about 20 years. The boxes were still in good condition so we reused them, but we put new faces on them, new copy, new letters, and new LEDs. The original sign had a lot of neon on it & we wanted to maintain that look. Instead of using neon which uses a lot of power, has maintenance issues, and tends to go out every year or so when it gets cold, we went with LEDs instead. The LEDs have a contoured tube around them to make them look like neon, but they are LEDs and much more efficient.
Greg: Right on, so we are putting this back up. Is it going to take the guys a few days to finish it out?
Joel: Yeah, we want to set the crane free today, so they are going to weld if off and make it structurally sound. We will weld off the pin itself to the base, then we can take away the crane, and then we will work on adding the architectural elements.
Greg: Alright right, we are excited to have YESCO as a partner! This is going to be a really cool way to signify an apartment community that will be right behind here. We are going to be putting up 287 apartment homes soon, thanks you guys for helping us do that. That’s it for now, we look forward to putting this thing up and we will get more pictures and renderings up as soon as we can. Alright, take care.
Do you have a multi-family investment opportunity you think we might be interested in? Please contact our Vice President of Acquisitions, Kevin Colard, at Kevin@Weidner.com or 425-250-2955
Nothing says welcome home like a robust, 3-story bowling pin sign that is as iconic as it is charming. Weidner Apartment Homes is proud to present Ritz Classic Apartment Homes, a 287-unit community scheduled for lease-up in 2018.
The 4.11-acre parcel sits adjacent to the Utah Transit Authority’s S Line, carrying streetcar passengers east and west along 2250 South to and from Sugar House. Easy access to public transportation, along with Weidner’s strong reputation for creating high-quality apartment communities makes the new Ritz Classic Apartment Homes the ideal place to call home.
The Ritz Classic’s vintage sign is labeled as “iconic” in the city’s rezoning ordinance and holds fond memories for long-time residents since its opening in the 1950’s. One blog post stated, “several generations of bowlers within the community have gathered at the Classic Bowling Alley to play a game or two of pool in the billiard room and of course, to bowl. About twenty years ago, many from the community also gathered at the Classic Bowling Alley to skate at the indoor rink. Many of the senior bowlers have been bowling at this alley their whole life.”
Weidner is happy to carry on the festive spirit at Ritz Classic Apartment Homes with amenities designed to cater to their resident’s needs for comfort, convenience, style and a sense of community. “Weidner’s goal is to combine the nostalgia of the old days, while creating new memories and experiences for the next generation of apartment community dwellers.” said Jack O’Connor, Weidner Apartment Homes Chief Operating Officer.
Weidner Apartment Homes offers quality homes for rent throughout Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Washington, and across Canada in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.
Look for our grand opening in 2018 and come experience the iconic luxury of Ritz Classic Apartment Homes in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Do you have a multi-family investment opportunity you think we might be interested in? Please contact our Vice President of Acquisitions, Kevin Colard, at Kevin@Weidner.com or 425-250-2955
