"The prospects for here are good," Lang said. "They have been good in other places, and it has worked out."

Still, little is known of the timing or plans of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the redevelopment of its Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls. Relatively few people today live downtown, although the church has indicated it plans to create 900 housing units as part of its redevelopment.

Dale Bills, spokesman for the LDS Church, said Wednesday that church leaders are still considering how they will participate in the Downtown Rising planning process.

Natalie Gochnour, vice president of policy for the Salt Lake Chamber, said its work in defining a vision for the city is not about "master planning."

"We will leave the microscopes to someone else," Gochnour said. "Our aspiration is to use a telescope to bring the future closer. We don't want to do a master plan. We wouldn't be good at it."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com