LDS Church Announces "City Creek Center"

Sam Penrod ReportingDowntown Salt Lake City is about to get a major makeover. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today announced its long-awaited plans for 20 downtown acres.

Bishop H. David Burton, LDS Church: "Thank you for your patience and we hope the wait will be worthwhile."

The plan will include retail, shown in pink and red. At least three national department stores will anchor the retail and there will also be a full-service grocery store in the mix.

The yellow buildings show where new residential buildings will be, and the blue shows office space including new office towers. A four-level underground parking lot will provide 56-hundred parking spaces.

Historic downtown streets, Richards Street and Regent Street, along with Social Hall Avenue, will be re-opened or extended to provide pedestrian walkways through the blocks. There will also be six acres of gardens and open spaces, with fountains and manmade streams to represent the historic South Fork of City Creek which has long been underground.

It will be a dramatic change. Gone will be the big mega malls, replaced by pedestrian friendly walkways. More residential and office space will be a part of it, and what the Church's developer says will become the premier shopping center in all of Utah, known as City Creek Center.

In a room packed with city leaders, businessmen and the curious, the LDS Church unveiled its vision for the redevelopment of 20 acres in downtown Salt Lake City.

Bishop H. David Burton, LDS Church Presiding Bishop: "What we are talking about are design plans of how the project fits together, where the retail is going to be, how does it interface with the residential, where are the office towers, how will the parking be available."

Crossroads Mall, the Key Bank Tower, the ZCMI Center, Inn at Temple Square and First Security building will all be torn down. Underground parking for 5600 cars will be built where the malls stand now. Nordstrom, Macys and another store will be the anchor tenants.

There will be a pedestrian bridge across Main Street. There will be six acres of open space in the middle of the blocks, with streams from City Creek as well as walkways. The ZCMI facade will be saved and reinstalled later.

There will be significant new residential buildings, initially about 300 units. A full size Harmon's grocery store will go in at 200 East and 100 South. The development is designed to compliment Temple Square, but will be a commercial venture.

Bishop H. David Burton, LDS Church Presiding Bishop: "Rather than walking across South Temple and a finding a completely different environment, we hope to have that transition, that they would be mutually compatible with each other."

It will take another year before final architectural designs are finished and construction actually begins.

Overall, the plans have received a very positive reaction from city leaders, with few concerns.

Soren Simonsen, Salt Lake City Council: "What happens with the rest of downtown is the biggest question mark that I have right now."

Dave Buhler, Salt Lake City Council: "It's obviously a huge investment in downtown Salt Lake City and I think any city in America would be pleased to have this kind of investment in their downtown."

The Church is not asking the city for any financial incentives or tax dollars in the project. And the church says it will not use any tithing money to finance the project, which from what we saw tonight will be very impressive when it is finished in 2011.

Two downtown anchors, Nordstrom and Macy's, will close after the holiday shopping season and will not reopen until 2011. Some shoppers welcome the closures.

Lindsey Scott, Shopper, Provo: "Just make it look nice. It doesn't look nice right now. Sorry."

Both stores will work with their downtown employees to help them transfer or find new employment.

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