Money for the project is not coming from LDS Church members' tithing donations. City Creek Center is being developed by Property Reserve Inc., the church's real-estate development arm, and its money comes from other real-estate ventures.

PRI has owned the ZCMI Center since the mall was built in the 1970s. That block has been home to the Zions Co-operative Mercantile Institution department store since it was founded in 1868 with the church as a major backer. ZCMI was sold to the May Company in 1999 and became a Meier & Frank store, and later became Macy's when May was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 2005. But the mall remained PRI property.

The church bought Crossroads Plaza in 2003 and announced it planned to give the two blocks a major face-lift. Since then, the church has unveiled ideas for that renovation that have been nixed by city leaders. The City Creek Center incarnation, unveiled in September, has received widespread praise and has already received several city approvals.

In October, the church received its first demolition permits from the city, and by the end of that month, the historic Inn at Temple Square, on the southeast corner of West Temple and South Temple streets, had closed its doors for good. A month later, demolition had begun, making way for one of the planned condo towers.

Today, demolition work is well under way on the adjacent Crossroads parking structure.

The LDS Church has also been given initial approval from the Planning Commission for three of the planned residential towers, including the 415-foot-tall one. Those towers needed special approval because they exceed the 100-foot height guidelines for midblock buildings — that is, buildings not built on corners.

But the plan hasn't been without some controversy. Among the first debates was the church's initial plan to demolish the Deseret/First Security Bank building on the northeast corner of 100 South and Main Street.

Calling the building a "gem" of classical revival architecture, the Utah Heritage Foundation led the charge to save the almost 90-year-old building.

Built in 1919, it was originally home to Deseret National Bank, which early church President Brigham Young opened on the same corner in 1871. It later became headquarters of the Eccles family's First Security Bank, which in 2000 merged with Wells Fargo.