Utah Pride Center has sold their building – moving in 12 months

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Utah Pride Center leaders announced that their building, which they have called home since April of 2013, has been sold.

“As our community continues to evolve, we found that the building no longer met our needs,” said Carol Gnade, executive director of the Center. “The annual maintenance costs and construction budget to update our current space were prohibitive.”

The Center has been reeling ever since moving to the 4th South location. Efforts to raise the million dollars they expected it would take the bring the building to full utilization stalled well before reaching that goal.
Several staffing changes and layoffs were found necessary since the move.

When Gnade joined the Center as executive director, she and staff and board members did an evaluation of all Center expenditures, including programming, staffing and the building itself. In the end, leaders determined it would be better to find another building that better suited the current needs of the community.

“This sale gives us the opportunity to find a building that matches our diverse needs of today, focus on how we can grow in the future and continue our mission to create a safe space of inclusion for all,” Gnade said.

Leaders cited extensive building maintenance and cost associated with upkeep, lack of sufficient ADA access, and the fact that the facilities were “unable to match the diverse needs of the LGBT community.”

Gnade says that the search for a new space has already begun. Top priorities for the new location will be proximity to public transportation and other support agencies, greater ADA access, ample parking and more diverse sizes of meeting spaces.

The Center will continue to run from its current location for the next 12 months while a new location is found. Q