South Town mall tenant is asked to vacate, as new owners plan NHL practice facility

Dreamscapes, a sustainable art installation, has been given notice to vacate the former Macy’s location.

A week after Smith Entertainment Group announced it bought a Sandy shopping mall to build a practice facility and community center for Utah’s new National Hockey League franchise, a 35,000-square-foot sustainable art exhibition in the mall has been asked to leave.

The nonprofit Utah Arts Alliance received a notice Wednesday that it will have to vacate its walk-through arts exhibition Dreamscapes — which occupies part of a 100,000-square-foot space that used to be the second floor of a Macy’s department store in The Shops at South Town.

The termination letter, a copy of which The Salt Lake Tribune has obtained, was addressed to the alliance from The Shops at South Town. The letter says the lease, or license agreement, for the space will be terminated in 90 days — or August 6.

Derek Dyer, Utah Arts Alliance’s founder and executive director, said Dreamscapes will close at the end of June and start moving out.

“We don’t really have any issue with what the Smith Entertainment Group is doing,” Dyer said Monday. “We’re kind of collateral damage in the situation.”

A spokesperson for SEG on Monday directed media inquiries to The Shops. Late Monday afternoon, a representative from The Shops said the mall was referring all questions to SEG.

Dyer said that when his group first heard that SEG was buying the mall, they were “excited,” in case there was an investment opportunity for the Dreamscapes project.

“Then, as I read about what the plans were, I was a little concerned, because we have the biggest anchor tenant space there, and I couldn’t imagine any other spaces that would accommodate two ice skating rinks,” Dyer said.

In announcing the purchase of the mall last week, officials for SEG noted that the Sandy practice space will be completed before the 2025 NHL season starts next year. In a release, SEG said it is “committed to ensuring The Shops at South Town continue to be a vibrant and integral part of the community, and the NHL practice facility is an important first step towards this goal.”

Dreamscapes has occupied the second floor of the former Macy’s…