UNPA Headquarters

UNPA HEADQUARTERS

The United Natural Products Alliance is headquartered in a historic building in the heart of Salt Lake City's Sugar House district, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. Salt Lake City is widely viewed as the center of the U.S. dietary supplement industry.

Purchased in 1997, the building originally served as a post-World War II telephone exchange and later as an auto garage. The building was carefully restored to its original architectural plans, including a restoration of the original Stark Steering neon sign located in front of its offices (see below), and in 1998, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

United Natural Products Alliance
1075 E Hollywood Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
801.474.2572
info@unpa.com
unpa.com

UNPA completes solar power installation at its historic Salt Lake City headquarters

The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, is pleased to announce the installation of solar panels at its historic Salt Lake City headquarters.

Working with Auric Solar in Salt Lake City, UNPA installed a 16.45 kw rooftop-mounted, solar panel array, installed to preserve the historic façade of UNPA’s headquarters. It is estimated that the conversion to solar power will generate clean electricity equivalent to taking 3.4 cars off the road, planting 415 trees and saving more than eight tons of coal from being burned per year.

“This project has been in the works for some time,” said Loren Israelsen, UNPA president. “UNPA continues to upgrade its systems, enact efficiencies and implement energy-saving measures to achieve 100-percent solar sufficiency to meet its electrical demand. We advocate for sustainable practices, so we striving to lead by example with this installation.”

The project is the final project in UNPA’s overall renovation and restoration of its headquarters, located in a historic building in the heart of Salt Lake City's Sugar House district, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. The building originally served as a post-World War II telephone exchange and later as an auto garage.

Since its purchase in 1997, UNPA has restored the building to its original architecture, including fully restoring the historic, vintage “Stark Steering” neon sign out front that harkens back to the early 1950s, when the sign was originally installed.

“We are now planning to host a webinar in the near future with Auric Solar to show how solar is both affordable and practical, particularly for businesses,” Israelsen added. “Tax credits and financing remain attractive, and the return on investment is significant. We would love to see many natural products companies go solar—or wind or geothermal. Let’s work together to save the planet one sunbeam at a time!”

UNPA Saves Stark Steering Sign in Sugar House

By Travis Barton | travis@mycityjournals.com
Photos by Dino Furano Reprinted with permission

Signs point to the past as much as they do to the future, and the restoration of the Stark Steering Sign is supposed to accomplish that.

A lighting ceremony was held on June 4 at the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) located at 1075 East Hollywood Avenue to celebrate the restoration of a sign originally built in 1956.

“The whole office is on a little bit of a high because of it,” Mika Israelsen, UNPA director of operations, said.

The event was commemorated with a countdown to the lighting ceremony, as dozens of people were in attendance.

“That was my pride and joy. Loren [Israelsen, UNPA president] put me on the project. … I’m so happy because that is my mark on history in Sugar House,” Israelsen said.

Spearheaded by the Saving Our Historic Signs of Sugar House Committee, the sign was refurbished while keeping the aged exterior paint in its natural state, at the owner’s request.

UNPA had plans to restore the sign on their own last year, but the person who was hired to do it took the money and disappeared.
“It was a little heartbreaking and we were kind of jaded, but then this winter we got a knock on our door from the Sugar House Community Council,” Israelsen said.

Lynne Olson of the Sugar House Community Council and member of the Saving Our Historic Signs Committee told Israelsen about their purpose of restoring signs in the Sugar House area.

“My boss was like, ‘Let’s do this,’… and it was a pretty straightforward process from there,” Israelsen said.

The Saving Our Historic Signs Committee is funded by the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency, which established a special account to provide matching funds to property owners who wish to preserve and restore their vintage signs.

Israelsen said they couldn’t be happier about having the sign lit up.

“It’s something we’ve wanted to have done for a long time, and now that it’s finally here and lighting up our lives … it’s just a joyous occasion on so many levels,” Israelsen said.

Israelsen said the community, in particular, has been rewarded the most by the sign restoration.

“We have so many people who stop by and are so curious, like the new people in the neighborhood and some who have been here for decades and will tell us stories [about the sign and its building],” Israelsen said. “There was just so much excitement and gratitude for us restoring the sign.”

Israelsen said it’s important for the area to have an “anchor” to remind people of its past and signal that it will have a future.
“It’s like a tree: the deeper the roots grow, the stronger the community stands, and I think that’s always good for people to have in the back of their heads,” Israelsen said.

The sign is located outside of a building originally constructed as a garage that served as a home base for telephone installation crews and their vehicles from 1947 to 1956. Stark Steering Shop occupied the garage for its automotive business until the ’90s.
UNPA purchased the building in 1997, restoring its original architecture plan.

“There’s so much change that’s happening [in Sugar House], so we feel like as many anchors as we can get in the community to remember where it all started, we’re happy to do just that,” Israelsen said.

Rainbow Neon Sign Company repaired the sign, bringing it full circle since the company built the original sign, most likely during the ’50s.
“We are beyond thrilled that our sign is up and running and we hope to inspire other people [to restore their signs]. It is possible and it is affordable,” Israelsen said. “This is history and history is a very important way for the future.”