The John W. Gallivan Utah Center (“The Gallivan Center”) is a year-round open space and urban area destination in the heart of Downtown Salt Lake City that serves a variety of uses. Home to a lush grass amphitheater, public plazas, a banquet/meeting center, a public ice rink, and art installations, the Gallivan Center serves as the hub for concerts, exhibits, workshops, debates and lectures, public gatherings, festivals, and holiday celebrations.
The Gallivan Center is a true “people place” where Downtown residents, workers, and visitors can take in free and low-cost performances, eat meals on the plaza, use provided sports equipment, walk off hectic workday stress, or just people watch.
Operating for over three decades, the Gallivan Center enhances Downtown’s sense of community and vibrancy by fostering diverse and inclusive recreational, educational, artistic, and entertainment experiences for families and individuals of all ages.
Private and public event rental opportunities are available. Revenue from rentals and the ice rink pays for Gallivan-sponsored public events, most of which are free of charge.
For the Safety of everyone the following general Plaza Rules apply for events and rentals
This list is not exhaustive, some event/rental organizers may impose stricter or other rules for the safety of patrons and performers.
The Gallivan Center stands as one of the largest investments made by the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA) to-date. Gallivan Center’s creation was a multifaceted effort that spanned decades, starting with the acquisition of properties on Block 57 (bounded by State Street, Main Street, 200 South, and 300 South) in the early-1980s, and continuing to the construction of the One Utah Center office tower and parking garage in 1990. In 1993, the RDA completed the construction of the three-acre public space component planned for the interior of the block, and was named after John W. Gallivan, a former publisher of the Salt Lake Tribune. Phases II and III followed, and by the end of the decade the Gallivan Center included an array of unique public art projects, performance stage and amphitheater, ice rink, green space for outdoor recreation, wayfinding, and retail storefronts on the adjacent, midblock Gallivan Ave.
In 2002, the Gallivan Center was a key venue for the Olympic Winter Games, and the RDA continued to invest in Block 57 with its facilitation of the Marriott Hotel development on the block’s northeast corner, and the rehabilitation of the historic Brooks Arcade Building on the corner of 300 South and State Street. The RDA’s diverse investment in Block 57 catalyzed other entities to build alongside the Gallivan Center, bringing forth the development of the Wells Fargo Tower, and local television station KUTV.
In 2010, after more than a decade of heavy public use, the Gallivan Center underwent a renovation project that included substantial infrastructure repair, ice rink reconfiguration, amphitheater expansion and technical upgrades, and the construction of a new multi-purpose building facing 200 South. The RDA’s 2015 façade improvements to the retail storefronts on Gallivan Avenue gave way to a new host of local eateries, establishing the street as a lunching niche for the daytime workforce, and creating a destination for Downtown visitors in the evening.
Today, the Gallivan Center is one of the few properties of which the RDA maintains ownership. The regular maintenance of the plaza and its amenities are paid for by the Gallivan Utah Center Owners Association (GUCOA), which is composed of representatives of adjacent Block 57 property owners such as Marriott City Center (Ocean Properties), Wasatch Properties, Celtic Bank, and the RDA.
Gallivan Center is the only urban land use model of its kind in Utah—a privately owned and publicly used, urban green space sustained by property assessments from the commercial entities on the block as well as rental fees and programming revenue.