Church's role in City Creek criticized

A candidate for Salt Lake City mayor is questioning whether The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints belongs in the downtown renovation business.

Centro Civico Mexicano director John Renteria, in an e-mail Thursday to the Deseret Morning News, wrote that the church's lead role in replacing the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls with City Creek Center, a 20-acre mixed-use development expected to be completed in 2011, "begs questions."

The church, through its real-estate arm Property Reserve Inc., owns the malls and the land under them, as well as many office and retail buildings on the blocks. It plans to tear down many of those buildings and replace them with an indoor-outdoor shopping center surrounded by apartment and condominium buildings and office towers.

"Now this religious enterprise wants to pump a billion dollars for a challenging commercial venture that closes on Sunday," Renteria wrote. "So much for bridging the religious divide."

Church spokesman Dale Bills, in an e-mail response, wrote, "These issues have been addressed repeatedly in communications regarding our downtown redevelopment efforts."

Bills also referred to the City Creek Center's frequently asked questions section at www.downtownrising.com, which says the church "is committed to the development of downtown Salt Lake City as the home of the international headquarters of the Church. It is in the unique position to act as a major contributor, along with many others, to a vibrant, high-quality regional destination."

Renteria wrote that the church's plans should be of concern not just to non-LDS Salt Lakers but to church members, as well.

"A practicing Catholic, I would be even more critical and scrutinizing if our church hierarchy expended such exorbitant financial resources for commercial value rather than serving a religious purpose," he wrote.

Several Deseret Morning News readers voiced similar opinions in e-mails to the newspaper in October, when the mall plans were announced. While some readers praised the church's development efforts, others questioned the appropriateness of that role for the church and the decision to close the shopping center on Sundays.

"As an active Mormon, I am angry, embarrassed and appalled to read about the LDS Church spending one billion dollars to become a landlord, a real-estate broker and the popular savior for another fading downtown," wrote JoAnn Hayward. "What happened to taking care of the needs of the poor? Nordstrom and Macy's hardly qualify."

Another reader, who identified himself only as Jeff, wrote simply: "Why does Jesus need a billion-dollar mall?"