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SALT LAKE CITY -- If there's a positive economic story out there, all you have to do is look to Salt Lake's downtown. Construction cranes are everywhere, hundreds of people are working, and new businesses are opening their doors.
The message is big, bold and clear: Downtown Rising. Now, where ever you go, you won't be able to miss it. It's the "rallying phrase," if you will, about the future of Utah's largest city.
New buildings are certainly rising in the downtown area now, as City Creek and many other projects begin to take shape.
As things start to take shape, others are being caught in the momentum and want to be a part of it.
"Small businesses are populating Main Street in ways that we haven't seen in a really long tome, Mathis said.
For example, a new brew pub is opening up this week. Another restaurant across the street is coming soon. An international art gallery is operating.
"It really allows it to pop in the environment, and we really wanted to get that message across in a simple, clean way," said Amy Lukas, of Infinate Scale Design Group.
Downtown Rising: Physically it is for sure, but there's more to it.
"Downtown Rising is really a statement of where we want to be in the future," Mathis said. "It's really forward thinking and focused on where dow we want to be in five years from now? Ten years from now? Forty years from now?"
It's careful long-term planning for Utah's capitol city.
E-mail: kmccord@ksl.com