Century-old former Salt Lake hotel finds new life in addressing city's latest need

SALT LAKE CITY — The historic Stratford Hotel has adapted through Salt Lake City's various needs since it was constructed over a century ago.

Located on the corner of 200 South and 200 East, what was first known as the Lynch Building garnered headlines for helping move the city's business core eastward into Central City when it was approved in 1909.

It debuted as the Studebaker Garage, a business that helped sell and fix some of the first automobiles driven on the city's famously wide streets. Its upper two floors were marketed as bachelor apartments.

Within a few years of opening, it would become a hotel heralded for its "elegantly furnished, strictly modern" aesthetic, as noted by the Utah State Historical Society. It joined a fleet of new hotels scattered across the city to accommodate all the travelers coming into Utah's capital on the railroad in the 1910s.

It's gone through many revisions since then, as the hotel became apartments again and its garage was ultimately converted into restaurant and retail space to fit changes in community needs.

How the historic building is used has officially changed yet again. State and local leaders gathered outside its exterior to officially reopen what is now the Stratford Apartments, which will be used by the First Step House to provide 46 permanent supportive studio housing units for people recovering from behavioral health conditions who have also experienced homelessness.

"This building has evolved with Salt Lake City, and I think it's reaching its highest potential today," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, moments before helping cut a ribbon Tuesday to celebrate the building's opening.

The building's new use was a few years in the making. It was vacated after a fire in 2005, but instead of tearing it down, a developer opted to refurbish it, where it would become affordable housing before housing affordability became a widespread city and state issue.

First Step House acquired the facility in 2022, as a 15-year agreement to keep units affordable ended. Shawn McMillen, director of the residential treatment organization, explained the organization got involved as people rallied to convert the affordable housing into permanent supportive housing, a service that First Step House had started to dabble in a few years prior.

It then took years of fundraising and renovation to get the building ready for its newest use. Crews redid some of the building's walls and floors, as well as electrical wires and water lines, to modernize the historic building.

"The biggest stuff was the stuff that you find when you're rehabbing a 100-year-plus building that was also gutted by fire," he said.

Its interior also received a makeover, with each one of the doors painted teal to match First Step's logo. The entire project cost about $10 million, but several government agencies, financing firms, companies, nonprofits and religious organizations banded together to raise the funds. Over two dozen entities contributed in one way or another.

McMillen and others are now excited for what's next for the historic building. The building's future residents will be people who have dealt with instabilities tied to mental health conditions and homelessness, and are trying to become as productive as they can be.

Many of the residents, he said, likely wouldn't be able to afford housing otherwise, putting them in a cycle of ongoing homelessness. On-site supportive services will be provided to help residents continue their recovery and stay in housing, according to the First Step House.

State homelessness officials are optimistic about the building's new potential.

Having facilities that treat mental health or addiction issues, as well as having housing available, could ultimately serve as a vital piece in the state's effort to end homelessness, said Wayne Niederhauser, Utah's homelessness coordinator. He explained that the vast majority of people who have access to those combined resources are able to stay in housing.

"That is the combination that works," he said. "When we get people into supportive housing, people stabilize. Most people are successful when they get the right kind of services wrapped around them."

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