Board approves 40,000-capacity festival grounds at The Point; lease still unsigned

DRAPER — The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority board approved a plan on Nov. 10 for Blackwall Ventures to build an outdoor concert and festival venue on state land at The Point, the former Utah State Prison site, KUTV reported 1. The lease had not been finalized as of the vote 12.

Blackwall put the investment at about $36.5 million, which it said would cover construction and operating costs, and more than $22 million of that is for in-venue and open-space improvements, The Salt Lake Tribune reported 16. Under the proposed 10-year lease the company would pay The Point about $4.46 million in rent, and the authority could also collect revenue from parking and subleases 12. Events drawing more than 20,000 people would need advance approval 126.

**What the board had already done**

The Nov. 10 vote followed a conceptual approval on July 14, when the board voted unanimously to accept a joint sub-campus application from The Point Partners and Blackwall Ventures 3. Mayor Troy Walker moved that approval and South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey seconded it, according to the meeting minutes 38. The authority's board has seven members drawn from state legislators, agency executives and local elected officials, and meets monthly in public 8. Those minutes set out the steps that followed: finalize the information staff requested, negotiate lease terms, and return to the board for final approval 3.

**Capacity**

KUTV reported capacity of up to 40,000 1. Blackwall's presentation to the board in July described a maximum of about 75,000 attendees, with typical events between 30,000 and 50,000, and said a large event's size would be set by available parking 3. The plan anticipated roughly 144 to 145 acres of vacant Point land used as temporary event parking, capacity the presentation put at supporting events of 40,000 to 50,000 people 3. The Tribune reported a planned parking lot for 40,000 on other vacant land at The Point 6. Blackwall's website describes the grounds as accommodating "over 75,000 attendees at any given time" 5.

**The site**

The venue was proposed for about 30 acres in the southeast portion of the 600-acre site, away from neighboring development, on ground whose grading the presentation said would provide separation and reduce visibility from surrounding areas 3. The same minutes describe the venue site as 39 acres in the parking section; both figures appear in the document 3. Each large event would need its own traffic and circulation plan reviewed by the authority and Draper City, with access through I-15 and Bangerter Highway interchanges and FrontRunner among the strategies described 3.

**Who is building it**

The team named in the July presentation included TAG Presents as festival operator, Method Studio as architectural design partner, Hadco Construction for construction budgeting and Centennial Security Management Group for event security 3. The Tribune reported Method Studio as the project's design and architecture firm and named it as the designer of the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center in Taylorsville and the Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University 6. The venue was described as complementing the previously approved 5,200-seat event venue at The Point 3.

**The money**

Blackwall and The Point Partners described the project as requiring no public bond or taxpayer funding, financed through a privately imposed venue fee applied to tickets, merchandise and food and beverage purchases, with about $17 million to $19 million in site improvements that would stay with the property owner at the end of the lease 34. Building Salt Lake reported the venue fee at 10 percent 4. The Tribune reported that the bond would be repaid through venue fees 6.

An economic analysis by Johnson Consulting projected, over 10 years, 5.91 million visitors, 846,000 hotel room nights, $3.9 billion in total economic impact, about 1,400 sustained jobs and $163.5 million in state and local fiscal impact, with 42.4 percent of visitors coming from outside the local area 3. In year 10 the analysis projected 850,000 visitors, 105,000 room nights, $598 million in annual impact and $24.8 million in annual state and local revenue 3. Of the fiscal benefit, the analysis put about $104.5 million with the state, $36 million with the county and about 14 percent with Draper City 3.

**What happens next**

The schedule presented in July called for bond funding by the end of September, site and engineering plans in fall 2026, construction over winter and spring, and a first festival the following year 3. Building Salt Lake reported August 2027 as the target for a first festival, and the Tribune reported the first festival could come next fall 46. The Tribune also reported that the proposal suggests the venue could be used for the 2034 Winter Olympics 6.

The Point's 600 acres are state-owned. This paper reported in October that the site's first for-sale housing, 840 units in the River District, is scheduled to begin construction in 2027 7.