Borders will close soon

Borders Group Inc. confirmed Tuesday it will close its Crossroads Plaza store effective July 21, a move it attributed to the LDS Church's planned downtown redevelopment project.

The Borders closure is the latest in a slow tenant procession away from the two downtown malls, started when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced nearly three years ago its plans for a massive mixed-use development.

Now, with two anchors remaining — Nordstrom at Crossroads and Meier & Frank (soon to be Macy's) at ZCMI Center — amid a dwindling array of smaller vendors, the church remains mum on the progress of the project. Spokesman Dale Bills declined to comment Tuesday on the Borders closure or the larger redevelopment plan.

But others suggest that the Borders closure signals movement, bringing the project one step closer to its start date — that when the church's Presiding Bishop H. David Burton told the Salt Lake City Council in April that there were some tenant issues left to be resolved, perhaps Borders was among them. And, now that the book store is vacating, perhaps it is an indication that the church's plan is progressing.

"From day one, from the very beginning, we knew that as these malls were torn down and reconstructed, we knew we'd see the majority of tenants either relocated, or out of their space so they (the church) could go ahead and accomplish their purpose," said Lane Beattie, president and chief executive of the Salt Lake Chamber.

"The fact that there's one more, all you have to do is go to Crossroads or to ZCMI Center to know that there is a trend. They are moving ahead, and unfortunately, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Some tenants will have to be relocated, and some will close. We hope that they will come back once the project is completed, but we are confident that the decisions the church has made were made with sound business principles."

Beattie declined to speculate on when the church will unveil its final plan.

"I'm not predicting that it will happen next week or next month," he said. "But we are more confident in the process that they're going through to do it right. They're going to do it in the right way and in the right timetable — and that doesn't mean it doesn't create frustration. We know it does."

Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White said the upscale retailer had nothing new to report since it confirmed plans to remain at Crossroads as part of the redevelopment. When complete, Nordstrom said back in August 2004, the retailer will have a 124,000-square-foot store on two levels somewhere in the retail complex. Once tentatively slated to open in 2007, White said that has now been pushed to a 2009 target date.