Salt Lake businesses optimistic about plans for downtown

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."

Knowlton said Crossroads and ZCMI fail in that they are "inward focused, isolated from the rest of downtown." He applauded the church's apparent interest in integrating City Creek Center with the surrounding area.

Presiding Bishop H. David Burton, chairman of the board of directors of the LDS Church's real-estate arm, Property Reserve Inc., said Tuesday in announcing the church's plans that the old-style mall was "a mistake," adding, "we hope we don't replicate that mistake."

The malls now stand on two large city blocks, and they take up almost the entire blocks. Under the church's plans for the new development, the historic Regent and Richards streets and Social Hall Avenue will bisect those blocks — Social Hall running east and west, Richards running north-south through the Crossroads block and Regent through the ZCMI block — as pedestrian walkways.

Knowlton said the openness, if combined with welcoming ground-level architecture and smartly planned sidewalks and other infrastructure, will lead to a usability that is complementary with the rest of downtown.

Tony Weller, owner of Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore, 254 S. Main, said Tuesday he likes the plans and is anxious to see the project finished. He talks not about increased competition but of the benefit the project will bring once it's open.

Jake Boyer, a partner in The Boyer Co., which developed The Gateway, agreed. "The most important thing is the fact that it's almost more downtown versus suburban locations than it is The Gateway versus the church's development."

And Tom Aaron of Allen Millo Architects, which has plans for several mixed-use retail and condominium units around Pioneer Park, said the additional housing nearby will only add value to his projects. "More housing creates more vibrancy, more interest in downtown."

While it's impossible to predict what the housing market will be like in 2011 — when the church expects City Creek Center to open — Aaron and Boyer believe the current strong demand for downtown housing will continue.

Allen Millo projects include 64 sold-out condos at the Broadway Park Lofts at 350 W. 300 South. The Metro Condominiums near the main branch of the Salt Lake City Library are still under construction, but the reservation list is full. The condominiums and apartments at The Gateway are full. And a number of other developers are working on housing throughout downtown.

These projects all serve different areas and purposes from City Creek Center, Aaron said. Salt Lake City's growth is now making it possible for such niche development.

"There's a little something for everybody, and that's really what makes cities interesting and great, when they provide a variety of options for people," said Farrington, of the Downtown Alliance.

But that variety can't rest entirely on the shoulders of the church, he said. Rather than re-creating downtown, the church is jump-starting it, and its success will depend on how other investors respond on the nearby blocks to the "catalytic effect it can have outside of that project," he said.

Burton agrees. In his presentation to the council Tuesday, he said, "If we do it right, we hope this will be the engine to energize others who have the same kind of exuberance about Salt Lake City as do those who sit at this table."

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