Kirk Huffaker of the Utah Heritage Foundation has suggested those problems could be overcome by converting the tower to a residential building or other use. But Gibbons, when he announced the reconsideration of the demolition, declined to specify what alternatives the church was considering.

Work on City Creek Center, a mixed-use development planned to replace the faltering Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls, is about to begin next week — with or without a final decision on the First Security building. The Inn at Temple Square, which closed for good Sunday, is expected to come down Nov. 13, if all goes according to plan.

The Crossroads Plaza parking structure will come down next, followed by Crossroads itself, and then the Key Bank tower. Demolition on the ZCMI Center block, on which the First Security building is located, is slated to begin in about six months, although the First Security building likely wouldn't be the first to come down there.

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