Overwhelming public outcry has persuaded LDS Church officials to allow the historic First Security building to remain standing while much around it will come tumbling down to make way for the City Creek Center development.

Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told the Salt Lake City Council Thursday that they would not tear down the First Security building to complete their downtown development plan.

"It will not be demolished at this time," the church's Presiding Bishop H. David Burton said, adding that the public outcry, including efforts of the Eccles Foundation, very much influenced their decision.

"The Eccles were former owners and are current occupants of the building," Bishop Burton said. "It's been at the heart and soul of their family for years, and they've done tremendous things for the community."

Spence Eccles, president of the Eccles Foundation and a former chief excutive officer of First Security Corp., had said in early November that he would like to see the building preserved. He joined others, including several City Council members and the Utah Heritage Foundation, in voicing support for keeping the building standing instead of razing it to make way for a new office tower as part of the church's planned City Creek Center.

Eccles could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

Church officials have not decided how the old building will be put to use in the new plan. Bishop Burton said the building's purpose will be announced at a later date, but possibilities involve using it for residential or office space.

The church's initial plans for the mall, unveiled in October, had called for demolishing the historic building, also known as the Deseret Building. The church had said the building would require an expensive seismic retrofit, and the high costs of restoration could not be recouped.

In late October, the church announced it would re-evaluate its plans for the building. The decision came after criticism from historic preservationists and other residents about losing the building. The Utah Heritage Foundation had called on residents to make their opposition to the demolition known.

The Heritage Foundation called the 1919 building a "gem" of classical revival architecture and "one of the finest representations of the World War I era in Utah." Carved lions heads peer from atop the building, and below it is adorned with ornate buffalo and Indian-head medallions, as well as two rows of classical columns.

"It's just not a good design (for an office building), but it's lovely architecture on the outside," Bishop Burton said Thursday.

City Council members applauded the decision, thanking the church for considering residents' wishes.

"A number of people were concerned with the preservation of the Deseret Building," Councilman Eric Jergensen said. "This shows a benefit of the process and of public involvement."

Bishop Burton said Salt Lake City is not the only area the church is helping to facilitate revitalization. He said Thursday that in addition to the City Creek Center plans, the church is funding redevelopment projects in Ogden, Los Angeles and Mesa, Ariz.

"The environment around our sacred structures is very important to us," Bishop Burton said. "Preserving that is very important."

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