Where there used to be an American Eagle Outfitters, a Speedo store, Mervyn's, Victoria's Secret and a nail salon in Crossroads Plaza, dark storefronts and white-paneled walls sit amid cheery signs promising change.

The change, though, hasn't come yet, after years of whispers and rumors about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will handle the massive redevelopment of its downtown malls and surrounding properties.

A church representative will speak Tuesday at a Salt Lake City Council meeting for a general update on the project. No major announcements are expected to come from LDS Presiding Bishop H. David Burton's presentation on the church's joint redevelopment project with the Taubman Company.

The church first released plans about the malls in May 2003, with a target start date of sometime in 2004. But in the past two years, it has said little about the projects.

Meanwhile, the downtown malls — Crossroads and the ZCMI Center — are languishing with empty stores, sparse foot traffic and no idea what the future will bring.

Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson has talked with the church about the project but would not give specific details about what was said.

"I think they've been working their hearts out," he said. "They're working really hard to make all these moving pieces fit. It's an incredibly complex project."

Much of the complexity comes from having to move tenants from long-held leases. One holdout is Utah Woolen Mills, which has 63 years left on a 90-year lease. Company president Bart Stringham doesn't want to give up the store's private parking and prime storefront facing Temple Square, which draws about 5 million people a year.

"We're dealing with the church, and they have a lot of power, a lot of say, a lot of money," Stringham said. "The holdup is that maybe we've been expected to just roll over and play dead and do what they will."

Utah Woolen Mills has been downtown for more than 100 years, including an old mill site where Nordstrom sits now. When Crossroads Plaza was built in the 1970s, the LDS Church negotiated the 90-year lease for Utah Woolen Mills, including provisions that protected its parking and store access through construction.

The company is negotiating to move during construction and to have guaranteed space once the project is complete, but "we're kind of stuck in the middle," Stringham said. "We're talking, but that's as far as it's gone."

Other firms have already moved, including another venerable downtown business, Bennion Jewelers. The company, which has roots back to the 1860s, had been in a building adjacent to the ZCMI Center on Main Street. After negotiations and a move to the southeast corner of First South and Main streets, owner Bill Bennion told the Deseret Morning News recently, "I'm not just happy to be here; I'm thrilled."