LDS Church Moves to Sell Meetinghouse in Salt Lake City, Utah, Site of January Shooting

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing to sell the site of a deadly shooting outside a Salt Lake City funeral nearly a year after the attack. Church officials have drawn up a contract to sell the meetinghouse at 660 N. Redwood Road in the Fairpark neighborhood of the Utah capital to the developer Garbett Homes.

On Jan. 7, 38-year-old Sione Vatuvei and 46-year-old Vaea Tulikihihifo died in the chaotic scene outside the meetinghouse, and six others were hurt. One man, John Vea Uasike Jr., has been charged with two counts of murder. That case is ongoing. The deaths and injuries left the building’s former congregations and neighbors facing a painful loss (Psalm 34:18).

At the time of the shooting, the chapel hosted two Tongan congregations, the Rose Park Fifth Ward and the Riverside Second Ward. Those wards have moved to another facility at 868 N. Star Crest Drive, and the faith’s website no longer lists the Redwood Road building.

The property is listed for sale at $3.1 million by the commercial real estate company CBRE Group. A $5 million purchase and sale agreement has been signed by the church and the development firm as part of a rezoning petition for the property. The church’s spokesperson did not provide answers to multiple questions about the planned sale. The Utah-based church has sold a handful of notable properties in Salt Lake County in recent years as its membership in the area has contracted.

Paul Garbett, who works in land acquisition for Garbett Homes, said Monday that the company is “currently under contract to purchase the property from the church,” but that “things are in a bit of a holding pattern.” If the property changes hands and city officials approve the plan, the company would build 88 town homes for rent on the roughly 3.5-acre site, which backs onto the Jordan River.

In its rezoning filing, the company said the project “will bring additional housing units where none existed” and would help with housing affordability. The development would include one-, two- and three-bedroom units with attached garages, with about 30 units having three bedrooms. Garbett Homes has committed to cutting rent by 10% for public servants living in the town homes and hopes to make some units affordable with help from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The company also aims to partner with the city on a riverside green space on city land northeast of the property, and it plans to start construction in 2028.

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