Author: cnguyen

April 30, 2025

The opening of the first LEGO store in Utah Valley is fast approaching.

University Place in Orem announced its 2025 summer event schedule Wednesday, headlined by the opening of the LEGO store May 9.

“Definitely a lot of excitement leading up to this,” University Place marketing director Cindy Nguyen said. “We’ve had so many people from young to old reach out to ask, ‘When’s the opening date?’ We’ve been waiting for this addition.”

LEGO will hold a weekend celebration to kick off the opening that involves a “mystery mural LEGO brick building activity,” University Place said. The store will also have “Pick & Build Wall and a “Build a Mini Tower” activities year-around.

Nguyen believes the store’s addition will increase the number of activities occurring at the mall.“We feel like they’re going to have lots of their own events and will maybe partner up with us and what we’re doing, but also they’ll be able to take advantage of The Orchard and have some of their own LEGO events out there,” she said.

A number of free events are scheduled to take place this summer at The Orchard, University Place’s outdoor gathering space on the north side of the mall.

Five events are new in 2025, beginning May 10 with the Orem Asian Festival. Hosted alongside the Utah Chinese Association and the Utah Chinese History Museum, the event will offer live performances, food and activities.

“We host, and we also organize several different cultural festivals throughout the year, but the Orem Asian Festival will be new this year, and it’s something that we’ve been trying to find organizations to work with,” Nguyen said.

Additional new events include Country Dancing in The Orchard, held June 20, July 18 and Aug. 1 from 7-9 p.m. It will involve a free 30-minute lesson and open dance floor time.A bingo night will be held from 6-7 p.m. June 23, and “Shakespeare in The Orchard” will occur July 7, with the production of “The Comedy of Errors” at 5:30 p.m. and “Romeo and Juliet” at 7 p.m.

“(Shakespeare night) is performance focused. There won’t be any other activities,” Nguyen said. “So we really want everyone to sit down, bring their chairs or blankets with the family.”

The overall goal of the summer-long events, Nguyen said, is to provide opportunities for families and community members to gather.

“In Utah County, we have lots of families here, young families, families with children, and we just want to be able to have these fun, free events. A safe space for people to come,” she said. “And we’ve had such success. We just try to have a variety of activities that the entire family can come and enjoy.”

University Place’s summer event schedule goes as followed:

Bolivian Festival, Aug. 23, 4-9 p.m.

Star War Celebration, May 3, 6-8 p.m.

Orem Asian Festival, May 10, 1-7 p.m.

Utah Valley STEM Fest, May 29, 5-8 p.m.

Oremfest: Orchard’s Jam, June 4, 5-9:30 p.m.

Freedom’s Melody: A Celebration of American Composers, June 9, 7 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Night, July 13, 8:30 p.m.

Country Dancing in The Orchard, June 20, 7-9 p.m.

American Folk Ensemble, June 21, 5-8 p.m.

Bingo Night, June 23, 6-7 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Night, June 27, 8:30 p.m

African Heritage Festival, June 28, 2-8 p.m.

Shakespeare in The Orchard, July 7, 5 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Night, July 11, 8:30 p.m.

European Cultural Festival, July 12, 6-9 p.m.

Country Dancing in The Orchard, July 18, 7-9 p.m.

Happiest Night on Earth, July 21, 6-8 p.m.

Pioneer Day Celebration, Fireworks and Market, July 24, 5-9:45 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Night, July 25, 8:30 p.m.

World Folkfest Community Dance, July 29, 6-9 p.m.

Country Dancing in The Orchard, Aug. 1, 7-9 p.m.

Outdoor Movie Night, Aug. 8, 8:30 p.m.

Back to School Luau, Aug. 11, 7-9 p.m.

Read full article here.

March 30, 2025

The nine charities that participated in the 2024 Giving Machines initiative at the University Place mall were recognized at the Orem City Council meeting last week and presented with plaques displaying the donated items they received.

More than 70,000 visitors donated 45,845 items through the Giving Machines during the 2024 holiday season in Orem. The annual initiative is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Light the World campaign.

“We have a fantastic community that has been so generous, and we want to say thank you to them,” Orem Giving Machines Director Mark Seastrand said at the meeting Tuesday night. “We also have some amazing charities that are here locally to do incredible work. We want to recognize them and say thank you to them.”

Each of the nine charities provides a distinct service to individuals in need, with seven benefitting people locally and two providing assistance on a global scale.

Representatives from each charity were in attendance Tuesday, and many expressed their appreciation for being a part of the Giving Machines initiative.

“This is our first year being in the Giving Machine, and, honestly, it’ll have such a huge impact,” Meals on Wheels Executive Director Jimmy Golding said.

Meals on Wheels delivers meals and offers visits to homebound senior citizens in Utah, Summit and Wasatch counties. The charity received donations worth 21,998 meals and visits.

Stephanie Anderson, the senior director of children and family success at United Way of Utah County, which provides educational, medical and financial resources to children and families, accepted 3,620 items worth of donations.

Individuals purchased new baby kits, maternal mental health programs and educational toys, among other things.

“We’re very lucky to be a recipient again this year, and we’ve been able to receive a lot for our community centers,” Anderson said. “We not only believe, but we know, as the research provides, that when you strengthen a family, you strengthen a neighborhood, you strengthen a community and you strengthen other generations.”

Another local charity providing services to children and their families, Kids on the Move, garnered 3,620 total donated items, including money for 1,181 specialized therapy treatments, among other resources. The charity focuses on helping those facing complex challenges such as autism.

Eye Care 4 Kids received 4,695 donated items, including thousands of lenses, while the Alpine House tallied over 900 donations for maternal mental health assistance and housing support.

A pair of local food pantries were also major beneficiaries, with Tabitha’s Way receiving 43,470 total meals and Community Action Services and Food Bank bringing in 320,693 meals.

On the international end, 5,909 items were donated to the American Red Cross through the Giving Machines.

With a new partnership with the Academy for Creating Enterprise, donations through the Giving Machines will provide 3,583 pairs of piglets and 3,232 farm starter kits.

“We’re in 15 developing countries throughout the world,” said ACE Executive Vice President Curtis Beesley. “We teach people how to become self-reliant through entrepreneurial business training, so the pigs and the farming kits that were purchased here from generous people in Orem will increase the value of people’s businesses in these 15 countries, lifting them from poverty to self-reliance.”

Read full article here.

March 28, 2025

On March 16, 2022, University Place (UP) announced the grand opening of Dillard’s. Despite already having a location just miles down the road at the Provo Towne Center Mall, the department store opened a 160,000-square-foot, newly constructed building. In the announcement, store manager Robert Glodowski says, “Our previous location could be described as a B or C location as far as Dillard’s go. This will be an A.”

How did the 120-acre mall draw in the retail giant? Turnkey, mixed-use development.

Modern turnkey, multi-use spaces are fully functional, commercial offices that are ready for occupancy. For tenants, owners and developers, turnkey properties check all the boxes, says Ajla Akšamija, professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Utah. They provide the ability to move into a fully functioning office space without sinking “major investments” into design, building and construction.

These properties often feature high, exposed ceilings; polished concrete floors; and a mix of open space, private offices, conference rooms, huddle rooms, and break rooms, says Rusty Lugo, VP at Colliers Utah. “Many tenants don’t allow enough time on the clock to build out a space,” Lugo explains. “Tenants want to hit the easy button. Also, [they] have a hard time envisioning a space in shell condition.”

In Utah, suites in the 4,000 to 8,000-square-foot range are typically snapped up quicker than larger floor plates “due to the move-in ready nature of these turnkey suites,” says David Nixon, senior managing director at JLL in Salt Lake City.

Tracking local trends like remote work helps developers better understand market conditions and demand, allowing them to plan accordingly when crafting new developments. “Flexibility becomes the key design consideration; thus, designing spaces that can work well for different tenants is crucial,” Akšamija adds. Plenty of stock is also placed in amenities, such as wellness spaces and IT infrastructure. “These spaces provide all — or almost all — of the amenities for companies and organizations seeking to lease functional, commercial space for their operation,” Akšamija says.

For owners, the built-in flexibility of turnkey, multi-use spaces allows tenants to come and go as they please because the spaces can function well for anyone. Akšamija highlights the benefits of dividing buildings into smaller areas that can be leased to different companies and organizations or packaged as one large lease. She also cites circulation through the building, access to nature and daylight and design strategies “that improve employee productivity and well-being” as key value adds.

Additionally, timing is a key factor. For typical build-outs, the process can take five to six months and is usually at a greater expense. “Turnkey suites are often ideal for users looking to relocate a few months out versus the larger users looking for space one to two years in advance,” Nixon continues.

Looking to Utah County

University Place in Orem might just be the gold standard for successful mixed-use developments, featuring a move-in ready floor for office space, residential units and — on the retail side — Dillard’s, the first The Cheesecake Factory in the region and Bobby’s Burgers, celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s first restaurant in Utah.

Of course, UP felt the reverberations of COVID-19. Prior to the outbreak, the mall’s office space was thriving, explains Ryan Clark, assistant city manager and development services director at the City of Orem. With many people working from home in the aftermath of COVID, “office has struggled throughout the nation and at UP.” Clark believes the mix of residential, retail, restaurants, hotel and office has been successful at UP “because the different uses complement each other.” The office and residential users have a wide spectrum of amenities, including dining, daycare, shopping and entertainment. With the automatic base of customers, the restaurants “have done great, and the mall continues to see more success,” he says.

The level of tenants demonstrates that UP is “a happening place.” What’s more, the addition of a hotel attracts even more visitors from outside the county. “There is amazing synergy at play,” Clark says.

Flourishing flexibility

There is also a particular draw to these properties among Utah’s submarkets.

“The submarkets with a better chance of leasing these kinds of suites are those that attract tenants that are nimbler in terms of how quickly they can move into spaces,” Nixon says. For example, tech-forward submarkets — such as Silicon Slopes — are better suited for turnkey office suites.

Alternatively, downtown Salt Lake City, which centers more around professional services, “would be less ideal for these types of properties, since many professional services users are looking for space further in advance and require a more time-consuming, specialized buildout,” he says.

The future of mixed use developments is, in one word, promising. The success of UP illustrates the transformative potential of modern mixed-use developments. By seamlessly integrating turnkey, multi-use spaces, UP has drawn prominent tenants and established itself as a vibrant hub of activity. These move-in-ready spaces offer the perfect blend of functionality and flexibility, meeting the diverse needs of tenants while minimizing setup time and costs. The strategic combination of retail, office, residential and hospitality elements creates a symbiotic ecosystem that caters to a wide range of businesses and customers.

As UP continues to thrive, it sets a benchmark for future mixed-use projects, demonstrating how such developments can adapt to and flourish in a rapidly changing world.

Read full article here.

March 11, 2025

Despite an anticipated downturn due to economic and inflation concerns, donors stepped up to keep the Orem Giving Machine’s 2024 donation amounts on par with its 2023 numbers.

As part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Light the World” campaign, the Orem chapter of the Giving Machines, located at University Place, saw approximately 75,000 visitors donate nearly 46,000 individual item cards to eight different charities during the Christmas season, a church spokesperson told the Daily Herald.

Mark Seastrand, the director of the Orem Giving Machines, touted the data as a success given the factors at play.

“More people are having a little difficulty giving, but the transactions were about the same as last year, and the dollar volumes were about the same as last year,” he said. “So we were quite pleased that it stayed pretty strong.”

Approximately 387,600 meals were donated to children, families, seniors and veterans. Community Action Services and Food Bank was the largest recipient, with 300,000 meals, while approximately 23,000 meals were donated to Meals on Wheels, which is a charity that supports senior hunger and isolation.

Seastrand’s team worked with Meals on Wheels for the first time last year.

Those donations come as food centers are facing a handful of challenges, such as greater demand from people in need, higher costs for protein items and a reduction in donations, according to Seastrand.

“It’s been hard,” he said. “I greatly admire the organizations that are working on some (solutions). They do a tremendous job, and somehow they found a way to keep on going. But it’s been a struggle this year.”

Several nonfood items were also donated that will support children and families in Utah County.

Through Eye Care 4 Kids, 6,100 prescription glasses and eye exams were given, 2,800 backpacks filled with school supplies for kids were donated through Tabitha’s Way and 3,600 kids with disabilities will receive equipment, therapy and other expert care through Kids on the Move.

Nine-hundred nights of life shelter or life-skills training will be provided to adults with mental illness or other disabilities through The Alpine House, and thanks to other donations, 600 mothers suffering from postpartum depression will receive treatment and 3,500 art classes or educational toys were provided.

Seastrand said 65% of donations stay local.

“We try to spread it around and pick organizations that offer some unique things for the community and that make a good, overall blended picture of what the community needs,” he said.

The Orem Giving Machines also partnered with two global nonprofits: American Red Cross and The Academy for Creating Enterprise.

Through the Red Cross, 32,000 vaccines for measles and rubella were given, while 7,100 pigs were donated through The Academy for Creating Enterprise to help families start a business and provide communities with food.

“We always get a lot of desire for chickens. People love to give chickens. That’s a fun thing,” Seastrand said. “And in the past, we’ve had chickens and goats. This year, we tried piglets to see how piglets would do, because in some parts of the country, piglets are a more desirable solution than some of the others. And we had almost 3,600 piglet pairs donated. So that’s a lot of pigs.”

The Orem Giving Machine is expected to return to University Place for 2025.

“You’ve got a location that people know where it’s at,” Seastrand said. “So it’s really easy for them to go. They know it’s there. University Place attracts a large regional audience from all over. It’s a great spot, and we really appreciate University Place. They’ve been so good to work with.”

Read full article here.

January 27, 2025

Dreamwalk Park in Orem just opened about a month ago, and it’s already making waves on social media, so Jenny Hardman had to check it out.

She talked with co-founders Ben McPherson and John Pope who says their goal is to “transport you to another world”.

Dreamwalk is nearly a half mile of an otherworldly experience. Around every corner is something new for your senses.

And, Ben and John say they plan to constantly add to it!

Dreamwalk is open Monday through Friday, 12pm to 9pm and Saturday 9:30am to 9pm at University Place in Orem.

You can buy tickets at the door or at dreamwalk.com.

Read full article here.

January 22, 2025

With the Utah dining market becoming more and more attractive for nationally-recognized brand franchises, it’s no surprise that Bobby’s Burgers has come to town. Owned by professional chef and Food Network stalwart Bobby Flay, Bobby’s Burgers packages the grill-centric celebrity chef’s brand into a pleasant fast-casual model. Since it already has several Las Vegas locations and an expanding East Coast presence, it makes sense for this national brand to set its sights on Utah and its own ever-evolving food scene.

Readers of my stuff will know that I don’t discriminate based on brand recognition or national presence—good food is good food. However, I will tend to hold an eatery that has Bobby Flay money in its corner to a higher standard. It’s something that local restaurateur Joe Sample mentions when we met up at Bobby’s Burgers in Orem.

“The Bobby Flay name is always going to draw trial,” says Sample, whose MTB Management operates 12 Taco Bell locations across Western Montana. Bobby’s Burgers is a new addition to Sample’s portfolio, and his first foray into Utah’s dining scene has been a success thus far.

The Orem location has been open for just over a month now, but it’s the kind of property that nicely matches the vibes of University Place Mall. It’s the kind of local fast-casual spot that feels just enough like destination dining to make it attractive to Utah County shoppers.

I’m savvy enough to recognize the difference between a menu and a brand, so while I respect Flay’s status as an Iron Chef, I was really looking for a restaurant burger that could reasonably justify being three times the price of In-N-Out. It’s my own personal litmus test, and it hasn’t let me down yet.

I liked the Bobby’s Burgers conceit of “crunchifying” its burgers with the addition of crispy potato chips, so I went for the Nacho Burger ($11.99). It seemed to embody the idea of crunchification, while also leaning into the Tex-Mex flavors for which Flay is known. On a side note, I just can’t avoid junk food that has more junk food piled on top of it. One aspect of the burger patties at Bobby’s Burgers that Sample is most proud of is the quality of the restaurant’s beef.

“These burgers are six-ounce Angus-certified patties, and we don’t smash them,” he says.

The Nacho Burger arrives looking very nacho-tastic with its gooey queso, pickled jalapeños and tomato chipotle salsa. This burger’s crunchification comes courtesy of blue corn tortilla chips, which essentially make this a self-sustaining scoop of nachos on top of a very juicy burger. At Bobby’s Burgers, you can get your burger medium or well-done, and the former is the right call. That six-ounce patty is front and center, spilling its marvelous juices all over the burger’s heel. It’s a well-seasoned burger, and all those nacho toppings only complement the existing flavors.

In short, this definitely blew past my In-N-Out Burger litmus test—it is worth the price of admission.

I was planning on getting a fried chicken sandwich ($11.99), because Bobby’s Burgers is hitting us during the local cold war we’re experiencing among our fried-chicken sandwich purveyors. I don’t know if it’s got enough of a punch to be a contender in this grand melee of deep-fried poultry, but it’s a pretty damn good chicken sandwich. My favorite thing about this one is the breading on the chicken. Visually, it looks like the kind of crust that will be murder on the gums, but its crenulated peaks and valleys yield perfectly to each bite—it’s crisped up enough to provide a nice crunch, but it’s not like chewing gravel. I also liked the coleslaw and pickles, but the aji amarillo mayo mutes the acid too much. If the coleslaw was tossed with a bit of this for smoky flavor, it would be much improved.

As a side dish, I went with the buttermilk onion rings ($5.99) because fries are great and all, but onion rings are superior in almost every way. The rings at Bobby’s are enormous, and the majority of their thickness comes from the sliced onion itself. Their buttermilk batter is much thinner than on other rings I have known, and each onion is cooked perfectly so there’s no textural interference happening here.

You get three sauce options with the sides, including Bobby’s Sauce, which uses chipotle mayo to spice up this cousin to Utah’s beloved fry sauce. Then there’s the house-made ranch that has a bevy of signature ingredients, and the horseradish honey mustard which leans more into the honey’s sweetness than the horseradish bite. I liked the Bobby’s Sauce, but all three have their advantages.

Again, any time you get a restaurant with a celebrity chef’s clout behind it, you tend to ask a lot of questions. That said, my experience at Bobby’s Burgers was definitely positive. It’s got a nice, boutique-sized menu, the team isn’t fooling around with their ingredients, and the possibility of swapping a burger patty for a chicken breast or veggie burger means plenty of variety. If you’re shopping at University Place in Orem, Bobby’s Burgers is definitely worth checking out.

Read full article here.

January 7, 2025

OREM, Utah — Utah has a new immersive experience. Dreamwalk Park at University Place in Orem opened just a few weeks ago, but it’s already making waves on social media. “We wanted to have one word that identified what we, who we are, and that word is transport,” said Dreamwalk Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder, Ben McPherson. “Our whole goal here is to transport you to another world.”

Dreamwalk is where sci-fi, mythology, and filmmaking combine to create an otherworldly experience. Around every corner is something new for your senses to engage with. “I’m a filmmaker and we would build these really amazing sets for movie productions, but as soon as we finished the production the sets would get thrown away and I always thought that was such a waste,” McPherson said.

A few years ago, Ben McPherson and local entrepreneur John Pope combined Hollywood ideas with local talent. After three and a half years of hard work their portal is now open.

“We’re telling ourselves we love this place, we’re super into it, we love being here, is everyone else going to love it? And yeah, we felt like they absolutely would,” Pope said.

They were right. Dreamwalk is already sold out some days, and the local sci-fi community has already adopted it as a second home.

“We had this 50-year-old man huge sci-fi fan and he saw our initial portal entry and he actually cried,” McPherson said. “He said I’ve watched all of this sci-fi and I never thought I’d be standing in what I thought was a real sci-fi environment.”

Even if sci-fi doesn’t bring you to tears, Dreamwalk is still nearly a half-mile of wonder. “You have a portal jumper card that allows you to trigger little readers along the way and then we have a UV decoder wall that basically reveals little clues on the walls,” McPherson said.

With another 25,000 square feet of building space, this experience is just the beginning of their dream for Dreamwalk. “Our vision for it is to continually add to it, and refresh, and give something for all ages, bring something they can come back to and enjoy,” Pope said. “Every dollar that comes in we’re putting it right back into more in this venue.”

Dreamwalk is open Monday through Friday 12:00 p.m. -9:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. At University Place in Orem. If you’d like to get tickets you can buy them online at dreamwalkpark.com or buy at the door.

Read full article here.