And the city's share of retail sales taxes from the Central Business District has been fairly stagnant, holding steady over the past three years between $5.6 million and $6 million.

Certainly, however, there are some good things on the horizon for downtown, as McFarlane noted:

• A $500 million redevelopment of the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls by the LDS Church.

• Hamilton Partners' search for tenants in its planned high-rise office tower on Main near 200 South.

• Salt Palace Convention Center Expansion.

• Light-rail extension from Delta Center to the under-construction intermodal hub.

• New housing projects, like Uffens Marketplace (45 units), Emigration Court Apartments (238 units), The Parc at The Gateway (152 condos) and Metro Condominiums (120 condos).

• KUTV Channel 2 relocated to Main Street downtown.

But with the good comes the not-so-great. Old Navy and The Gap have both skipped downtown, and the Newspaper Agency Corp. and its 800 employees are moving from Main Street to West Valley City next year.

To further help downtown's progress, the city is embarking on a reworking of its downtown master plan that it hopes will create a new matrix of projects and goals to accomplish.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com