Main Street may get a food court

A mall-like food court could be the next new addition to Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City.

With several eateries inside the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls set to be displaced because of mall renovation, certain downtown property owners have a plan to cobble together a new food court right on Main Street.

Currently the two food courts inside Crossroads and ZCMI are among the few hot spots in the otherwise struggling malls. But with a $500 million renovation coming in the near future, those eateries will likely be closed for remodeling.

"It's a very opportunistic moment to pick up a lot of the little eateries that will be displaced in the near future," said Downtown Merchants Association President Tony Weller, who is one of the property owners involved in the proposed Main Street food court.

The new food court — located in the northern half of the David Keith Building, 254 S. Main — would be jointly owned by Dahle Management Corp. and Weller and could handle eight to 10 of the displaced tenants. It may also harbor some of the local restaurants that will be displaced by the imminent construction of the Hamilton Partners tower near Main and 220 South.

While some may cringe at the notion of a mall-like food court — complete with a common eating area — on Main Street, Weller says the idea can work if it's done right.

For starters, all or most of the eateries should be locally owned, not McDonalds-like chains.

"The part of it that reminds me of a mall I have to say I'm not enthusiastic about," Weller said. "If the food court is all local food owners, it could have the character that would make it pretty neat. If it's going to be a food court with the tenants that you find in a normal mall, I wouldn't be that excited about it."

Real estate broker Vasilios Priskos, who owns Internet Properties, is attempting to put the food court deal together for Weller and the Dahle family.

If financial ends meet, the project will be a good thing for Main, Priskos said, adding it would be especially nice to fill the rest of the Keith Building because it has been vacant so long. The space is about 7,500 square feet and could be divided into smaller, individual areas that would be cheap enough and small enough for small eateries to afford.

"Finding small space on Main Street is very difficult," Priskos said. "All the spaces are very long. This is a good solution. The smaller space and lower rent will allow for smaller businesses. They will feed off each other."

Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency executive director David Oka said he expects his agency will be involved as well. Already the agency has allocated $200,000 for grants and loans that can aid mall tenants who may be displaced because of reconstruction. That money can go to make the type of building improvements needed to turn the building into a place for food service.

Priskos has also been working with the LDS Church, which owns the two malls, to relocate any tenants he figures could succeed on Main Street.

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E-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com