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Show Wally Wright: Dropout Makes Good I i : ! ; ""11 . i hs 1 1 x ? ' : ! ; I if , it t ' A J S , . - ON i ... - i Wally Wright and one of his refurbished Trolley Square trolleys. In many ways, Wallace A. Wright, Jr. is the key man in the recently disclosed plans for renovating Park City's Union Depot and Coalition buildings, complete with Main Street chairlift and trolley line. The developers are counting on Wright's reputation as principle developer of the nationally Trolley Square redevelopment in Salt Lake to bring people to the project. Wight's main interest, the depot and a Trolley Square like commercial area behind the depot, would be the focal point of the project, say the developers. The rest of their plans, including the Main Street Lift, are impossible without this focal point, they say. Known to those involved in the project as "Wally," the -42 year old Wright is asking the City to "trust him" and allow a free hand to develop his imaginitive ideas. He has made it clear that he needs flexibility to do what he wants. Wally Wright's main motivation motiva-tion for being involved seems to be that it would be a "fun project." "It's up to the city fathers," Wright told the Record last week. "If they want me to do it, I'll do it. If they don't, I won't." The reason he can be so casual about the project, unlike the local developers who have put their hearts, souls and reputations into it, is that business for Wright, is -booming. Troll y Square is nearing completion, with a 7000 square foot drug and "apothecary" store and a 360 car underground parking plaza scheduled to open soon. Wright flies to St. Louis for three days every week, where he is working on a massive 60 acre downtown Union Square re-developement re-developement project. In addition, he is building a Hilton hotel in Pocatello, Idaho, and just last week was named vice president of a developement group planning to build a hotel complex at the corner of Second South and West Temple in Salt Lake. Drop out On the side, he is building a house for his family using the shell of an old railroad bridge. He is a busy man especially for a college drop out. Although he spent five or six years at the University, Wright fell several courses short of graduating, leaving early to join the Air Force. He soon started his own construction firm, but continued to fly jets with th" Utah Air National Guard for 20 years, finally retiring in 1974 with the rank of Maj r. Among other projects, Wright's Wri-ght's firm ouilt the Rodeway Inn of Salt L- ke, the Banker's Life building and University Villa apartments in Provo. Wright is also vice president of W. Adrian Wright, Inc., realtors, a firm founded by his father. The idea for Trolley Square, says Wright, came on a training mission he conducted for the Air Naitonal Guard. He chose to take the flyers to ' San Francisco, he says, because it was the right distance for a weekend trip and because "I always like to mix business with pleasure." While in San Francisco, Wright visited Ghirardelli Square, a refurnished chocolate factory, near fisherman's wharf. And immediately thought of the old trolley barn in Salt Lake. The five bay storage building had been built in 1908 by notorius Union Pacific magnate E.H. Harriman, the man who trailed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and father of statesman Averall Harriman. Once the site of the official Utah territorial fairgrounds, the trolley barn was the home of Utah Light and Railway Company during its heyday in the early 1900's. As trolleys were replaced by busses, the building went into disrepair, however, until by the mid 1960's it was a neighborhood neighbor-hood eyesore. Trolley Square Born Wright brought his Ghirardelli Square vision back to Salt Lake, purchased the old trolley barn property and talked First Security bank into financing the ambitions project that is now Trolley Square. He started in 1969 by sandblasting sand-blasting the ugly yellow and green that had been painted over the original bricks by the transit company. He restored the old fashioned iron lighting fixtures that once lit downtown Salt Lake, including them in his project along with renovaied trolley cars, bits and pieces of Victorian mansions that were being torn down, and a replica of the Amelia Palace, where Park City's infamous Silver Queen once lived. Trolley Square has since become a huge success, the subject of complementary articles in the New York Times, Time magainc. U.S. News and World Report. Fortune and others. Designated a state historical site in 1973. Wright says Trolley Square is one of the largest tourist attraction in Utah, second only to Temple Square. Philosophy If he has any philosophy of building, Wright says it is to use existing resources instead of building new buildings. He said the primary expense in renovating old buildings, such as the Coaiition and Union depot, is the cost of labor, which should be plentiful in Park City. Wright says he is aware of the abundance of commercially zoned property in Park City, and insists that he plans only to build a hotel in the depot area at first. Any additional commercial building would not take place until it was economically feasible. Wright's St. Louis project also includes refurbishing antique train cars, which he feels could easily be adapted to the Park City development. He seems part-iculary part-iculary excited about an underground un-derground brewery and subway tunnel that is being uncovered in St. Louis. He says he would like to put a multi million dollar "sea world" in the underground tunnel, but so far has been unable to convince anyone to finance it, despite his obvious persuasiveness. If he has any one unrealized goal, Wright says it is to design and build his own tri phibious airplane one that could land on water, snow or ground. Developer Jack Sweeney, one of the principles of the Park City project, told the Planning Commission Comm-ission two weeks ago that Wally Wright is a "dreamer." Wright says that is a "fair enough" assessment. " Imangination is more important im-portant than intelligence." he said. "I'm not anv smarter than anyone else, so I try to he more imaginative. " |
