Concerns about Salt Lake malls are mulled

The architect of the LDS Church's multimillion-dollar downtown mall renovation said Tuesday planners are paying attention to the downtown streetscape and don't want to replicate a suburban mall in the heart of Utah's capital.

The comments by Ron Pastore, of Boston-based AEW Capital Management, were designed to alleviate concerns that the new project will be another enclosed mall segregating people from urban downtown rather than creating more vibrancy.

"Why would you want to put a big box over there," Pastore said, referring to the two blocks that currently house the box-like Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls. "We want to make sure this is as open as possible."

But some were still skeptical, including Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, who called on the LDS Church and its private mall developers to be more open about their plans and shy away from anything that resembles an enclosed mall.

"An enclosed mall trying to segregate people by keeping them inside the malls on these massive blocks are not what we're seeing in urban areas," Anderson said, adding that "this is a very pivotal time in our city's history."

Anderson, Pastore and several downtown revitalization experts gathered Tuesday on the 23rd floor of the Wells Fargo Center for "The Vibrant Downtown" symposium, sponsored by the University of Utah, among others.

Much of the symposium focused on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' new project, a planned multimillion-dollar transformation of the malls into a mixed-use project that will include a new retail shopping center, some 900 units of housing and office space.

The symposium drew a large crowd of downtown movers and shakers, students, academics and public officials all keen on knowing what can be done to help Salt Lake City's core.

An urban feel

As part of the new mixed-use development that will replace Crossroads and the ZCMI Center, Pastore said walkways will cut through the new shopping centers to make it easier for people to traverse the big blocks.

However, these walkways, which Pastore likened to alleys, are not to be open-air thoroughfares. Instead, they would be roofed over, likely by large ceilings of glass, giving people views of the Wasatch Front mountainscape.

Besides adding the walkways, Pastore said the new mall will have stores that face out to the abutting streets. So, mall stores abutting Main Street, South Temple or West Temple will have doors and storefronts that face those streets.

Such a design will create a more vibrant, walkable and urban feel, bringing more people downtown, Pastore said.

While Anderson remained leery, others were heartened by Pastore's comments and left feeling less concerned that the project will resemble a suburban mall.