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SALT LAKE CITY -- Next March, the $1 billion dollar City Creek Center will open in downtown Salt Lake. But it will be more than just a place to live and shop.
Great successful downtowns are always built around great retail because retail is the glue that holds together the other uses.
–City Creek developer Bill Taubman
"Great successful downtowns are always built around great retail because retail is the glue that holds together the other uses," said Bill Taubman, the Chief Operating Officer with Taubman Centers Inc., the developer of City Creek. "Whether it's residential, office, hotel, etc., it's retail that creates what I would consider the 360-degree community, a 24/7 lifestyle. And without great retail, I don't think a community can survive long term."
Taubman was in town this week to attend the Salt Lake Chamber's "Giant in Our City" ceremony honoring Bishop H. David Burton, Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Both men have worked side by side on this project since it got underway four years ago.
With the finish line now coming into view the buzz about city creek is spreading, both regionally and globally.
"I often tell the person in charge of our Asia division that this will be a project that you'll be able to bring your people to and show them the kinds of things that you can do in an urban environment with a mixed-use project," Taubman says.
New developments like this become a type of magnet for a community, he said. People will be attracted for the shopping, eating and living, of course. They'll come here from our neighboring states, and that "spark" will eventually result in more new growth.
"It happens over time," Taubman said. "Companies begin to locate here. They create jobs, people grow here because of the environment and the community that it has created. It becomes a place where people want to be."
Bill Taubman also expects to see an interesting synergy to develop with existing shopping areas, such as The Gateway and Trolley Square because he says, as is often the case, no two shopping properties are the same -- or have the same retailers.
"I absolutely believe that the projects in this market will evolve," Taubman said. "The market will change. We will all find our place within the market and complement one another."
When it opens next March, City Creek will become the 27th project that the Michigan-based Taubman Company operates in the country.
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com
