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Five years ago, property owner David Bernolfo asked the Salt Lake City planning commission for permission to knock down the Zephyr Club building, which for 20 years was a celebrated venue for live music, and build a parking lot.
The request was denied, and the building has been vacant since the club at the southeast corner of West Temple and 300 South was shuttered in 2003.
But this year, the city has taken an interest in another of Bernolfo's properties: The parking lot behind the Peery Hotel at 110 W. 300 South is on a short list of possible sites for a new Broadway-style theater.
As officials negotiate a land deal for the project, the possibility of demolishing the club has resurfaced, this time as part of an exchange. Bernolfo would sell the city the Peery Hotel property and get permission to raze the Zephyr and other buildings at that site.
The scenario is one of several possibilities being eyed for the planned 2,400-seat theater, said Bill Becker, who leads Mayor Ralph Becker's Downtown Theater Action Group.
Getting permission to demolish the club is "one of the things David said he would love to be able to do," Becker said. Bernolfo did not return calls seeking comment.
The Peery Hotel parking lot is one of four properties on the committee's short list. The others are the old Utah Theater on Main Street, the former Newspaper Agency Corp. headquarters, also on Main Street, and a parking lot east of Squatters Pub Brewery, across 300 South from the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.
The last site is the only property whose value, $4.5 million, has been made public.
In a report presented June 15, the committee also suggested two more sites, though not as desirable: land in the planned Camden Centre development between 100 South and 200 South and 500 West and 600 West and a 3-acre parcel north of the Grand America Hotel at 555 S. Main St.
The theater would fill a niche in Salt Lake City by attracting Broadway shows such as "Rent," "The Lion King" and "Wicked," that often skip Salt Lake City, officials say, because the city has no suitable venues.
It would cost between $64 million and $80 million and be paid for with a combination of public and private funds.
The Peery Hotel site is a good one, Becker said, because it has access to 300 South and is near the Rose Wagner theater, potentially allowing the two playhouses to pool resources. Becker is a Tony-award-winning producer and the mayor's brother.
Before it closed, the Zephyr club was one of the premier live-music venues in the city, hosting rock, jazz, reggae and blues acts, including Emmylou Harris, Los Lobos, Gregg Allman and Little Feat, along with local bands.
When the request to raze the building and others nearby was denied, Bernolfo was "not too happy," city council member Carlton Christensen remembered.
But at the time, he said, downtown had plenty of parking lots, and allowing another could run the risk of creating "a sea of blacktop after blacktop."
"I don't think it's a good long-term use," Christensen said. Another possibility being discussed, Becker said, is swapping the Peery Hotel parking lot for the Rose Wagner parking lot.
But whatever the conditions for obtaining the Peery Hotel site might be, Christensen said the city is negotiating from a strong position since they have several other sites to consider.
"It's really hard to say one site is the perfect site," Becker said. "They all have great advantages . . . and there's a whole raft of factors. We don't know what land costs would be."