Since they arrived in Salt Lake City two decades ago, David Dean and James McAndrew have been downtown business owners — and proud of it.

Their Tabula Rasa stationery store and Cabin Fever gift store have been staples of Crossroads Plaza for years.

But, citing frustration over a lack of communication from their landlord, Dean and McAndrew have joined a growing list of downtown mall tenants pulling up stakes prior to a redevelopment project planned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The paucity of information regarding the project has created anxiety for mall tenants and prompted concerned stumping in recent weeks by Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, which led to a lengthy story in The New York Times.

The project also likely will take center stage at a half-day seminar called "The Vibrant Downtown," scheduled for Tuesday at the Wells Fargo building, 299 S. Main.

For their part, church officials say they can't talk to anyone about the project until they wrap up other negotiations regarding the malls' future.

But Dean said he and McAndrew couldn't wait.

"We kept hoping there would be some kind of dialogue, because we did wonder how would we go about surviving that (reconstruction project), and how it would work," said Dean.

"You have to understand — we were focused on remaining downtown. We had been committed to Crossroads, through its many ups and downs. But this was something that would have necessitated a discussion, and to this day, to my knowledge, no one has ever been told a thing."

Very quickly, Dean added, "I have not meant to imply anywhere that we have any negative feelings toward the new owner or developer. There's just a sense of frustration and disappointment."

So, Dean and McAndrew chose to uproot their downtown stores, moving Tabula Rasa — with Cabin Fever likely not far behind — to Trolley Square. Tabula's new location is expected to open May 1. Negotiations on the Cabin Fever store are ongoing, but both Dean and Trolley Square general manager Dawn Katter say they are optimistic.

The question of what will become of vendors at Crossroads and the adjacent ZCMI Center was embodied (and perhaps overshadowed) by the fight to keep Nordstrom downtown. After announcing and reiterating its intent to leave Crossroads once its lease expired in August 2006, Nordstrom said in August 2004 it had been persuaded to stay.

But other stores were perhaps not so ardently wooed.

More than a dozen eating establishments have closed at Crossroads alone in the past 18 months. Retailers like The Discovery Channel Store and The Gap at Crossroads, and The Dress Barn and the Hallmark at the ZCMI Center, have closed their doors.