By Carl Fauver | [email protected]

For more than 30 years, Hamlet Homes Founder, Chairman and CEO Michael Brodsky has made it a point to bring a little taste of Scotland to the Salt Lake Valley. 

“My wife is from Scotland, and we go over their quite often,” Brodsky said. “We’ve been married 31 years, and that’s how long we have been naming our residential developments after Scottish locations.”

That’s the story behind the name “Muirhouse,” an upscale townhouse development on its way to one of the largest undeveloped land parcels left in Taylorsville.

The 7.8 acre project will be constructed on land that has been owned by Intermountain Health Care, directly south of its Instacare facility (3845 West 4700 South). The triangle-shaped parcel is bordered by the medical facility, Bangerter Highway and an irrigation canal. 

“The total open acreage at the site is about 12 acres,” IHC spokesman Daron Cowley said. “We held onto the land for several years, thinking we might need it to expand. But recently we decided to sell about 8 acres, while retaining the rest.”   

“We have had this property under contract for about nine months,” Brodsky continued. “We plan to build 87 townhouses on the property and also provide lots of open space and a dog park, complete with features for the dogs to play on. This is only (Hamlet Homes) second project in Taylorsville and we are very excited about it.” 

The only other project Hamlet did in the city was construction of about two dozen single family homes, about three years ago.  Throughout Utah — mostly in the Salt Lake Valley — Hamlet has constructed some 3,500 homes and developed about 4,500 building lots. 

But, for a time, it appeared this project might not come together. It required a site-specific zoning change from the Taylorsville City Council to make it happen.

“The property had been zoned for professional office construction, but Hamlet needed it changed to high-density residential,” Taylorsville Community Development Director Mark McGrath explained. “The city council seemed to like the plan Hamlet presented. But there was concern, if the project fell through for some reason, there could be issues if the property was rezoned.”

When all the paperwork was completed, the construction zoning was changed to something called “Site Specific Development-Residential (SSD-R) Muirhouse.” In other words, the city council said yes to the Hamlet Homes proposal. But, in essence, elected officials reserved the right to not change the zoning, if the Muirhouse construction plan gets sidelined for any reason.

“This is not unique; the council did something similar for Summit Vista (retirement community construction),” McGrath added. “But zone changes like this are unusual.”

The 87 townhouses will come in two sizes (1,800 and 1,900 square feet), each featuring two-car garages. They are expected to sell in the high $200,000s to low $300,000s.  

“We love the centralized location (in the Salt Lake Valley) and the proximity to Bangerter Highway,” said Hamlet Homes Sales Vice President Philip Mosher said. 

Hamlet Marketing Manager Tami Ostmark added, “The site will include two-and-a-half acres of open space with part of that being a gated dog park with an obstacle course and a dog water fountain.” 

“The city’s planning department and City Manager John Taylor were wonderful to work with as we put this project together,” CEO Brodsky said.   

Hamlet Homes plans to break ground on construction this summer and have units ready for move in before the end of the year. The entire project is scheduled for completion within two years.  

In addition to oversized double garages, each townhouse will also have its own outside courtyard area. The units will be nearly identical to those recently constructed at 1300 West 6500 South in a Murray development called Glenmore Village. That project opened in January 2017.

“But there will be a lot more open space at Muirhouse than we had room to include at Glenmore Village,” Brodsky said. 

And yes, you will also find a Glenmore Village on your map of Scotland.