Two ICE Protestors in Monument Square on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

Here We Go Again. This time to Salt Lake City, Utah.

The federal government has purchased a Salt Lake City warehouse for $145.4 million to house an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, property records show — completing a deal that the building’s owner had publicly and emphatically rejected less than two months ago.

The deed, recorded with Salt Lake County on March 11, transfers ownership of the Gardner Logistics Center on the city’s west side from RREEF CPIF 6020 S, LLC — an entity connected to the Ritchie Group, a famly-owned Utah real estate developer — to the US Department of Homeland Security.  ICE is listed as the acquiring federal agency.

The sale is a stunning reversal.  In January, after roughly 100 protesters gathered outdside the warehouse and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall warmed the facility would violate city zoning codes, the Ritchie Group declared it had “no plans to sell or lease the property in question to the federal government.”

Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson called the announcement a relief, saying a “facility that potentially houses 7,600 detainees has no place in an urban area.”

At the time, a combination of public pressure and bureaucratic maneuvering appeared to have killed the deal.  It had not.

The property, located near Salt Lake City International Airport and surrounded by Amazon and Walmart distribution facililties, would add 7,500 beds to ICE’s national detention network — one of the single largest expansions of the agency’s capacity in years.  Representatives for the Ritchie Group could not be reached for comment.

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