West Main Apartments is set to open its doors to tenants in the fall, and Midvale is moving forward with an infrastructure project to accommodate its future occupants.

In a special session on July 22, city council unanimously approved an agreement with Beck Construction and Excavation to carry out Midvale’s 2025 Roadway and Utility Improvement Project. The infrastructure plan aims to reconstruct roadways and update the sewer, water, and drainage systems on Main Street and the streets west of the historic city center.

“I'm just excited about this because we have so much business and growth on Main Street, and it's going to trickle over to this road,” Councilmember Denece Mikolash said moments before the vote. “It will be great to have this all cleaned up and ready to go.” 

In its contract bid to the city, Beck Construction laid out a phased approach to meet the project’s tight deadlines. The building contractor will begin by installing a new waterline, storm drains, and repairing the sewer system and roadways on the streets encircling the West Main Apartments: Depot Street, Smelter Street’s east side, and the northern half of Stagg Street.

The new storm drain installation is to address the problem of flooding along Stagg Street, which currently does not have a storm drain system, Midvale’s Redevelopment Agency Director Kate Andrus said during her presentation to the city council on July 22.

“In addition, the city-owned parking lot behind Main Street, just south of First Avenue, has a lot of flooding issues and pooling,” Andrus said. “And so as part of this project, they're going to put in a storm drain system to address those issues.”

The first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed on Sept. 24, in time for West Main Apartments, located at 7598 S. Main Street, to connect to the city’s water and sewer systems before its grand opening.

Once the apartments’ opening is accommodated, Beck Construction will immediately begin finishing up construction on the rest of Stagg and Smelter. The second phase also includes work on Main Street and Holden Street’s surface and underground infrastructure, which involves installing storm drains and a new waterline on the south side of Holden Street, tying the line into Center Street’s water system.

The second phase is expected to wrap up by the end of October, with the project’s final completion date scheduled for April 2026, in case weather conditions require Beck Construction to return and reapply the asphalt, Andrus said.

The construction team will work weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is prohibited from blocking road access from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m.

Councilmember Bryant Brown raised the concern of construction work “materially impacting” community events planned on Main Street before the vote on July 22. Andrus responded that city staff have informed Beck Construction of the events planned by the city and community groups up until spring and have requested that the company work around those dates.

Funding for the project comes through several revenue streams, including Midvale’s RDA project fund and “related utility bonds.” The city will also dip into the half-million dollars it receives annually from the state government’s County of the First Class Highway Projects Fund, according to the city council’s summary report.

The price tag for the infrastructure improvements will not exceed $3.29 million, and the city will pay Beck Construction based on monthly progress, Andrus said.