Large stores OK at Gateway

Almost any department store except fashion and high-fashion retailers like Nordstrom will be allowed at The Gateway, the Salt Lake City Council decided Tuesday night.

While store representatives didn't return phone calls for comment Tuesday, Seattle-based Nordstrom had petitioned the council to change the city's zoning to let Nordstrom exit Crossroads Plaza mall on Main Street for The Gateway, the sprawling mixed-use development the Boyer Co. built three years ago three blocks west of Main.

Back in October, Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White wondered how the council could consider action "that could allow large retailers, major retailers, at The Gateway but perhaps not us, and you'll forgive us if we're puzzled and disappointed that after so many years of serving your community we could be singled out in this fashion."

Councilman Dale Lambert, who voted against the new zoning, was similarly puzzled Tuesday.

Lambert said the argument in favor of allowing department stores at Gateway was that the private market should dictate where retailers locate. "If that's the case, how could you not allow Nordstrom to go to The Gateway?" he asked.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns Crossroads Plaza and the neighboring ZCMI Center and plans a multimillion-dollar renovation of those malls, didn't oppose the new zoning as it had the Nordstrom move. Council members, who are members of the LDS Church, have been accused in the past of voting the church's position on key issues like Nordstrom's relocation.

With church opposition nonexistent, the council approved the zoning changes in a 6-1 vote, with only Lambert opposed.

Several council members said the church had little influence on their decision, and the new zoning does accomplish what the council set out to do. The goal, Dave Buhler and council chairwoman Jill Remington Love said, was to limit one-of-a-kind draws like Nordstrom, which bring in shoppers from other cities and even other states, to Main Street, while allowing more run-of-the-mill department stores, like Wal-Mart, Target or Mervyns, at The Gateway.

Gateway project manager Jake Boyer said The Gateway can now concentrate its efforts on bringing a new department store, such as Target, to downtown. "We are free to move ahead," he said.