Salt Palace
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox convention center
The Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center, more commonly known as the Salt Palace, is a convention center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Named after Utah's 11th governor, Calvin L. Rampton, the moniker "Salt Palace" was previously used by two other venues in the city.
The convention center was opened in February 1996, after two years of construction. The building was used as the Main Media Center during the 2002 Winter Olympics and is used for regular conventions held in the city, such as FanX, RootsTech, and the Outdoor Retailers convention.
Previous Salt Palaces
First Salt Palace (1899–1910)
The original Salt Palace was built in 1899 under the direction of Richard K.A. Kletting, architect, and owned by John Franklin Heath. It stood on 900 South, between State Street and Main Street in Salt Lake City. The Salt Palace was a frame structure covered by large pieces of rock salt, which gave it its name. The Palace had a large dome and was lit at night with hundreds of light bulbs. The building held a theater and was the centerpiece of an amusement park that included a dance hall, a bandstand, a bicycle racing track, rides, and other amusements. The Salt Palace and some of the other elements of the park were destroyed by fire on August 29, 1910.<ref name=spniah>Template:Cite news</ref>
Second Salt Palace (arena) (1969–1994)
Template:Main article The second Salt Palace in Salt Lake City was an arena in use from 1969 to 1994, hosting among other events the home games of the Utah Stars and Utah Jazz basketball teams, and the Salt Lake Golden Eagles ice hockey team. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation Tour became the fastest sell-out in Salt Palace history. Tickets for the June 18, 1990, concert were sold out in a record 1 hour and 20 minutes after the box office opened. A 1991 concert by rock band AC/DC resulted in three deaths and many injuries when the audience rushed towards the stage and trampled or trapped people.<ref name=ppodth>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=nytsorf>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The arena was demolished in 1994.
Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center (1996–present)
Ground was broken for the current Salt Palace on April 27, 1994.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Built on the site of the demolished arena,Template:Notetag the current convention center boasts Template:Convert of exhibit space, Template:Convert of meeting space including a Template:Convert grand ballroom, and 66 meeting rooms. The Salt Palace served as the Olympic Media Center during the 2002 Winter Olympics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1997 the Salt Lake Tribune published a front-page exposé about how the construction of the Salt Palace had been hastened by the county geologist who erased the Warm Springs Fault from earthquake maps of Salt Lake City so that the downtown area appeared to be free of faults, enabling the convention center developers to avoid the time and expense of an earthquake hazard and risk assessment. The newspaper showed that the Warm Springs Fault runs north–south along W. Temple, directly adjacent to Temple Square and the convention center.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A year later, a fault segment was found at the southern edge of the convention center, and expansion plans were halted until more earthquake fault studies could be completed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 1999, the expansion started back up after an independent geotechnical firm analyzed the expansion area and found no earthquake fault.<ref name=Deseret1999/> However, in 2021, a federal study found that two earthquake faults intersect near the Salt Palace, with possible quake magnitude of 7.5, which would greatly increase quake damage.<ref name=USGS2021>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In honor of the "founding father" of Salt Lake's convention and tourism business, as well as Utah's proactive economic development efforts, the Salt Lake County Council voted to officially change the name of the Salt Palace Convention Center to the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center in the fall of 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
FanX, the biannual comic book convention, has been held at the Salt Palace Convention Center since September 2013. An annual family history and technology conference known as RootsTech is also held in the Salt Palace.
A Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News was scheduled to take place at the Salt Palace Convention Center on March 21, 2016. The event was cancelled after Donald Trump said he would not participate and fellow candidate John Kasich said he would not debate without Trump.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A small public park formerly occupied the southeast corner of the building's lot, but was closed in 2020 to build an attached hotel. The 700-room hotel, known as the Hyatt Regency Salt Lake City, opened in October 2022.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
Solar panels
On May 24, 2012, a 1.65 MW solar array was completed on the roof. Covering an area of Template:Convert, at the time it was the largest solar array in Utah. It is expected to provide 17% of the electricity used by the Salt Palace.<ref>Bella Energy completes largest solar array in Utah</ref>
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