Finding parking in downtown Salt Lake City should get a lot easier when the weather gets warmer.

H. David Burton, presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said parking structures for the $1.5 billion City Creek Center project are on schedule for completion in summer 2009.

"We will be starting to complete various elements of the project in 2009, and we'll want the parking to support that," said Bishop Burton, who updated the Salt Lake City Council on the project's progress Thursday night.

The parking structure on the east side of State Street already has been completed and is open for use. In addition, four levels of underground parking are complete — though not yet accessible — on the eastern portion of the former Crossroads Plaza block, bordered by West Temple, South Temple, Main Street and 100 South.

Excavation work is under way for a third parking structure, located on the former ZCMI center block, surrounded by Main Street, South Temple, State Street and 100 South. Development of that block is about four to six weeks behind work on the Crossroads block, Bishop Burton said, because the food court remained open until early October.

Bishop Burton told the City Council that parking areas will be open as soon as possible to ease the parking problem downtown.

"We're very anxious for our parking to serve the existing office buildings on site, as well as the remainder of the project," he said.

The lone change to the project noted by Bishop Burton on Thursday calls for the small building between the Zions Bank building and the Eagle Gate Tower on South Temple to be an office building instead of residential space.

"We have not been able to make that work as residential," he said.

City Creek Reserve Inc., a development arm of the LDS Church, had planned for 25 to 35 residential units in the building. Since then, developers have determined that the small building would not be profitable.

"It just didn't make sense for us economically," Bishop Burton said.

That change was not brought on by the economic downturn being felt in the development community across the nation, he said.

"We're pushing forward and moving ahead as scheduled," Bishop Burton said.

The entire project is expected to be complete by 2012.

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