Ever since Salt Lake City's downtown malls were built in the 1970s, they have been accused of sucking the life from the rest of downtown.

The one-stop shopping, detractors said, forced other downtown retailers out of business. But as the trend toward malls spread throughout the valley, suburban residents no longer needed to come downtown to shop, and the downtown malls themselves started to founder.

Now, as plans are laid out for a new-and-improved complex for shopping, living and working in the heart of downtown, business and community representatives alike say this time it will be different.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' plans for the City Creek Center, the business leaders say, will boost the rest of downtown by bringing people back to the city and encouraging them to move there.

"If nothing is done in those two block areas with regards to retail, the impact to the capital city is huge in a very negative way," Salt Lake Chamber President Lane Beattie said Wednesday.

The difference between now and when Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center were built is that, instead of replacing downtown shopping, City Creek Center is expected to spur more of it.

"It's a piece of the puzzle, but it's not the end-all and be-all any more than The Gateway is the end-all and be-all of downtown," said Bob Farrington, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, a consortium of downtown businesses, residents and property owners. "It's not just a one-street downtown. It's not just a Main Street like it was in the '50s."

Today, he said, Salt Lake City is bigger and more diverse, and that has made room for more variety downtown. In the 1970s and 1980s, the business opportunities in Salt Lake City were more limited. Today, the potential is greater.

Farrington and others — including Salt Lake City Council members, Mayor Rocky Anderson, community watchdogs and business owners — tout the idea of distinct districts throughout downtown, each with a unique character. There's the library district, which differs from The Gateway district, which differs from Broadway Boulevard's emerging arts and culture district.

As cities grow, that districting occurs naturally, they say. The church's plans to raze the malls to make way for the mixed-use City Creek Center set up the potential for a new district to emerge.

As long as it's done right.

Ted Knowlton, planning director at Envision Utah, a watchdog group that advocates smart growth and development, sees potential in the church's plans. As the buildings' architectural design and other fine tuning take place, he said, the church and its partners should "strive to completely reverse the mistake of the old malls and have this new development really turn outward and greet the broader city."