The 1901 chocolate factory — SLC’s first loft conversion, 58 units • 159 W Broadway • 18-foot ceilings & warehouse windows • Pet friendly, no rental cap • Recent sales mid $500Ks–$1.2M • All Downtown SLC Condos
Broadway Lofts is where downtown Salt Lake City’s loft market began. The building at 159 West Broadway was the city’s first warehouse-to-loft conversion, completed in 1998, and it remains one of very few genuine loft buildings among the downtown Salt Lake City condos — not apartments styled to look industrial, but an actual factory with the bones left in place. Eighteen-foot ceilings, oversized warehouse windows, exposed brick, exposed ductwork, and 58 units where no two floor plans are quite alike.
The factory made chocolate. Built in 1901 for the J.G. McDonald Chocolate Company and designed by architect John A. Headlund, it went up in an Early Commercial and Sullivanesque style, with Romanesque Revival arches over the windows and entries and a heavy rusticated stone base. It began as three stories, gained a fourth soon after opening, and was enlarged twice more as the company grew. Historical research during the conversion found the front block had once stood a story higher, topped by a prominent street-facing cornice and, behind it, a roof garden described at the time as world renowned.
The company behind it is a genuine piece of Utah business history. McDonald Brothers was founded in 1863 by John T. McDonald, who got his start selling salt water taffy from saddlebags on horseback. His son James G. McDonald took over the business at eighteen and became president in 1883. By 1899 the firm employed 126 workers, and it incorporated as the J.G. McDonald Chocolate Company in 1900. Its chocolates won more than 40 gold medals in international competition, and the company specialized in boxed chocolates and a chocolate drink marketed as a replacement for what it called the injurious use of tea and coffee.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 1978 (reference number 78002676) and sits inside the Warehouse District. Westside Associates undertook the residential conversion with MJSA Architects, and when it opened as lofts in 1998 there was nothing else like it downtown. Everything that followed — the Broadway Park Lofts, the Dakota Lofts, and the rest of the warehouse conversions — came after this one.
Homes here run from roughly 660 square feet up past 2,200 square feet, including two-level lofts with mezzanines and a handful of ground-level live/work units with their own street entrances and private patios. Recent sales describe vaulted ceilings, walk-in closets, updated kitchens with quartz and limestone islands, gas ranges, and in several cases full down-to-the-studs renovations. Concrete construction and thick end walls make the interiors notably quiet for a building of this era.
Two features set Broadway Lofts apart from the City Creek towers across town, and both matter enormously to the right buyer. Pets are permitted — recent listings describe a pet-friendly community with a newly remodeled dog area and size categories up to 75 pounds — and recent MLS data shows no rental cap, although short-term and nightly rentals are not allowed. At City Creek, pets are barred and Richards Court is entirely rental restricted. If you have a dog, or you want the option to lease long term, this building is the answer downtown.
The carrying costs are the other surprise, and they are covered in detail below. Recent sales showed HOA dues from approximately $205 to $640 per month, working out to about $0.27 per square foot — less than half what the City Creek buildings charge. Dues have covered water, sewer, garbage, insurance, exterior maintenance, landscaping and snow removal, with gas billed through the association monthly on top of the dues and electricity paid separately. Recent closings also referenced an admin fee around $275, a reinvestment fee around $350, and a move-in fee around $500, plus HOA change fees running roughly $750 to $1,125.
Amenities are modest by design and communal in character: a gated, controlled-access community with secured covered parking, private basement storage units large enough for bikes and skis, a fire pit, barbecue and picnic areas, a dog area, an elevator, a building-wide water softener, and fiber internet. The location is the west end of Broadway in the Warehouse District — steps from Edison House and the 300 South bar and restaurant strip, an easy walk to Pioneer Park and its farmers market, near TRAX, and roughly ten to fifteen minutes from Salt Lake City International Airport. School assignments in recent sales varied between Washington and Wasatch elementary, Glendale and Bryant middle, and East and West high, so confirm the current boundary for a specific unit with the Salt Lake City School District. The building sits in the 84101 zip code.
Buying or selling at Broadway Lofts? Get a low commission listing at 1.5% instead of the traditional 3%, or take 50% cash back at closing on a purchase. On a $700,000 loft, seller savings are approximately $10,500 and buyer cash back is approximately $10,500. With 58 one-of-a-kind units and no two comparable, pricing here takes real judgment rather than a price-per-foot average. Aaron Peters is a licensed discount broker and the Broker/Owner of DiscountAgent.com, personally handling every Wasatch Front transaction since 2006. View All Downtown Salt Lake City Condos →
Recent Sold Market Snapshot Drawn from recent closed Broadway Lofts sales in the Wasatch Front Regional MLS, spanning ground-level one-bedroom flats through two-level lofts over 2,000 square feet. In a 58-unit building of one-off floor plans, per-square-foot averages mislead more than they help — read these as a band, not a benchmark. Figures derived from recent Broadway Lofts MLS sold data and are approximate. Utah is a non-disclosure state; individual sale prices are not published. The sample includes one landlord-to-tenant transaction that never reached the open market. Contact Aaron for current comparable data on a specific loft. Both drawn from recent closed sales, and both explain why this building attracts a completely different buyer than the City Creek towers. Across recent sales from roughly 860 to 2,230 square feet, HOA dues landed between $0.231 and $0.287 per square foot per month — an unusually tight band averaging about $0.27. That is less than half what any City Creek building charges: Practical takeaway: on a 1,500-square-foot loft the difference against a City Creek tower is roughly $500 a month, every month. You give up a pool, a gym and a doorman for it — the trade is real, but so is the number. Note that gas is billed through the association on top of the dues, and electricity is separate, so budget both. Sold-to-original-list averaged about 93% across recent sales, with median days on market near 88. But the discount was not evenly spread. The smaller flats closed at 96% to 100% of their original asking price. The largest two-level lofts closed as low as 83% — one carried a six-figure price reduction in its own listing remarks. Renovation quality does not rescue an ambitious launch price either: the two most recently and most extensively renovated lofts in the set both sold well under original list, while an unrenovated unit last updated in 2008 sold at exactly its asking price. The buyer pool for a $1M-plus loft downtown is simply thin. Practical takeaway: if you own one of the large upper-floor lofts, the launch price is the whole negotiation. Anchoring high and cutting later has cost recent sellers far more than a full commission would have. Price it where the market is, and keep the 1.5% difference. — Selling a Condo — List your Broadway loft with full MLS exposure, photography built for 18-foot ceilings and warehouse windows, and launch pricing tuned to a building where overpricing has cost sellers real money — at just 1.5% instead of the usual 3%. Save approximately $10,500 on a $700K sale. — Buying a Condo — Buy at Broadway Lofts through DiscountAgent.com and receive 50% of our buyer commission back as cash at closing — approximately $10,500 on a $700K loft. Use it for closing costs, a rate buy-down, or the building’s admin, reinvestment and move-in fees.
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About Broadway Lofts in Downtown Salt Lake City
Broadway Lofts Sales
Two Things the MLS Data Shows About Broadway Lofts
The cheapest carry of any downtown building we track
The biggest lofts take the biggest price cuts
Broadway Lofts Quick Facts
Amenities & HOA
Schools
Why Buyers Choose Broadway Lofts
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Downtown SLC • 84101
Mid $500Ks–$1.2M
Approx. Sold Range
~$462–$643
Approx. $ / Sq Ft
~860–2,230
Sq Ft Sold
~$205–$640
HOA / Month by Size
~$0.27
HOA per Sq Ft / Month
~88 days
Median Days on Market
~93%
Sold vs Original List
58
Total Units in Building
Finding One • Carrying Cost
Broadway Lofts~$0.27 / sq ft
The Regent~$0.56 / sq ft
99 West~$0.65 / sq ft
Richards Court~$0.76 / sq ft
Finding Two • For Sellers
Building Type
Historic loft conversion, 58 units
Built & Converted
1901 factory • lofts since 1998
Original Use
J.G. McDonald Chocolate Company
Historic Status
National Register, listed 1978
Architect & Converter
John A. Headlund • MJSA Architects
HOA
Yes — ~$205–$640/mo (about $0.27/sq ft)
Pets
Permitted — dog area on site
Rentals
No rental cap • no short-term rentals
Address & Zip
159 W Broadway (300 S) • 84101
Recent Sold Range
Mid $500Ks – $1.2M
Unit Sizes
~660 sq ft to 2,600 sq ft, 1–3 bedrooms
Signature Feature
18-foot ceilings & warehouse windows
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