Well-designed skybridge can be a plus

Discussion of the proposed City Creek Center skybridge to this point has been interesting. County Councilwomen Jennifer Wilson says she supports the skybridge because the City Creek Center will be environmentally sensitive. City Councilman David Buhler says the skybridge is "kind of a no-brainer." Miss Wilson's non sequitur, combined with Mr. Buhler's apparent lack of interest in study, fail to appropriately frame the issue. I would like to give the people of Salt Lake a little deeper insight into my study of the issue and hopefully provide some valuable information along the way.

The proposed skybridge is designed to connect two sides of the City Creek Center. Supporters of the structure cite a few arguments to support its construction, but chief among them is that the City Creek Center is separated not only by a street and odd topography but by a TRAX line. This, they say, was a huge problem for the ZCMI and Crossroads malls and would cause similar problems for the new development.

Opponents cite multiple issues with the skybridge: Removing pedestrian traffic from Main Street and hampering view corridors, to name two. They make compelling arguments.

I have met with Mayor Rocky Anderson and urban planners and have read available commentary on skybridges from around the nation. I also met personally with the developer of the City Creek Center, Taubman Partners. Without such input, any study would have been incomplete.

I traveled to New York to visit with Bill Taubman in person. Our scheduled 30-minute meeting lasted more than two hours. His explanations proved to be informative.

Mr. Taubman explained that the City Creek Center was a small development as compared to their normal build parameters. Though it is an outstanding project, the City Creek Center has only 300,000 square feet of retail space. Taubman developments generally require 500,000 or more. Compound that with the fact that the retail is divided into two portions by Main Street and TRAX. It is actually two developments of 150,000 square feet each. Mr. Taubman explained that without the skybridge physically connecting the two sides of the project, the development would not be viable. He stated that "the Taubman Company will drop the project if the skybridge is not permitted."

While in New York, I also met with an independent real estate developer, who has no financial stake or connection to the project. He independently verified that the connectivity provided by the skybridge would be an indispensable component, required by any responsible developer.