The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released three temple sites — one each for the recently announced Lehi Utah and West Jordan Utah temples, and the third is a new location for the Tampa Florida Temple, replacing a site previously announced in October 2022.
Lehi and West Jordan were among the 15 new locations for future houses of the Lord that were announced by President Russell M. Nelson just two weeks ago at April 2024 general conference.
“The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us. … This is why we are doing all within our power, under the direction of the Lord, to make temple blessings more accessible to members of the Church,” said President Nelson at the conclusion of the Sunday afternoon session on April 7.
The sites and accompanying location maps were first published Monday, April 22, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. More information for the temples — such as exterior renderings for the two Utah temples and groundbreaking dates for all three — will be released later.
Lehi Utah Temple
Plans for the Lehi Utah Temple call for a multi-story structure of approximately 85,000 square feet to be built on a 22.48-acre site northwest of the intersection of 3950 North and North Center Street in Lehi. A meetinghouse is to be built on the site as well.
When finished in the northern area of Lehi, the temple will be the northernmost of the eight current houses of the Lord located in Utah County. The other seven are the Saratoga Springs, Mount Timpanogos, Lindon, Orem, Provo Rock Canyon, Provo City Center and Payson temples.
Utah is home to nearly 2.3 million Latter-day Saints in more than 5,400 congregations. The state has 30 total temples — dedicated and operating, under construction, under renovation or announced and in planning.
West Jordan Utah Temple
The site for the West Jordan Utah Temple is a 16.1-acre parcel in the city’s westernmost region, west of Utah State Highway 111 (also known as Bacchus Highway or 8400 West) at approximately 7147 South U-111. The temple is planned as a multi-story edifice of approximately 85,000 square feet, with the site to include a new meetinghouse.
Once built, the house of the Lord in West Jordan will be westernmost of Salt Lake County’s six temples, located some 10 miles northwest of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. The county’s four others are the Salt Lake, Taylorsville, Jordan River and Draper temples.
Of Utah’s 30 temples, the 18 dedicated and operating houses of the Lord are the Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Draper, Jordan River, Logan, Manti, Monticello, Mount Timpanogos, Ogden, Oquirrh Mountain, Orem, Payson, Provo City Center, Red Cliffs, Saratoga Springs, St. George and Vernal temples.
Two dedicated temples are under renovation — the Salt Lake and Provo Utah Rock Canyon temples, and two others are scheduled for dedication in June — the Taylorsville Utah Temple is scheduled for dedication on June 2 by Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the Layton Utah Temple will become the state’s 22nd dedicated house of the Lord following its June 16 dedication by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The six temples under construction in Utah are the Deseret Peak, Ephraim, Heber Valley, Lindon, Smithfield and Syracuse temples.
Tampa Florida Temple
The Tampa Florida Temple remains projected as a single-story edifice, with an area size of approximately 29,000 square feet. It will be constructed on a 12-acre site at 9445 Camden Fields Parkway in Riverview, Florida. The new site is the location of the former Tampa Bay campus of the Cooley Law School, with the Church just finalizing the purchase of the property earlier this year.
On Oct. 31, 2022, the Church included a site for the Tampa temple as one of six sites for new houses of the Lord being planned in the Western Hemisphere — three in the United States, two in Mexico and one in Brazil. That first site was a 16.2-acre parcel adjacent to an existing meetinghouse at 4806 Bell Shoals Road in the suburb of Valrico.
The new site in Riverview is near the intersection exchange of Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 301, closer to downtown in the southeast area of metro Tampa. The Camden Fields Parkway site is a nine-mile drive from the Bell Shoals Road site in Valrico, or a direct distance of just under six miles.
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Tampa in April 2022 general conference, one of 17 new locations he identified at the conclusion of the Sunday afternoon session on April 3. Nearly a year later, on March 20, 2023, an exterior rendering was released for the Tampa temple.
In Florida, the Church has five total temples dedicated, under construction or in planning. The state’s first — the Orlando Florida Temple — was dedicated nearly 30 years ago, in October 1994, by President Howard W. Hunter. It will close in July 2024 for extensive renovations, the Church announced earlier this year.
The other operating house of the Lord is in Fort Lauderdale (dedicated in 2014) with a temple under construction in Tallahassee and another in planning for Jacksonville, with its site announced two months ago, on Feb. 20.
Missionaries first arrived and stayed briefly in Florida in 1845, with the Church’s first congregation in the state not created until 1897, in the Big Bend area of northern Florida. Seven years later, in 1904, Church membership in the state was 1,230.
Today, Florida is home to nearly 173,000 Latter-day Saints comprising about 275 congregations.
