Zions Bank hails rededicated site

Much has changed since Brigham Young organized Zion's Savings Bank & Trust Co. 134 years ago. Downtown Salt Lake City has grown, and waned, and is on the cusp of another major renovation.

A lot has changed, too, at Zions Bank, which Thursday celebrated the rededication of the renamed Zions Bank Building at One South Main.

The dedication ceremony included a dedicatory prayer by President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was attended by dignitaries including Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the Rev. France Davis, businessman Larry H. Miller and former Brigham Young University football coach LaVell Edwards.

"This building was the first new high-rise in modern-day Salt Lake City," Harris Simmons, Zions Bancorp. president and chief executive officer, said at the ceremony. "It was part of the vision that President Nathan Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had to ensure the vitality of the downtown area. It's a commitment that the church has continued to uphold, as this Zions Bank Building becomes an anchor for the marvelous new development that will rise up around us."

The renovated building — formerly the Kennecott Building, and later as Gateway Tower East — was improved to include seismic upgrades, upgraded elevators and new electrical and mechanical systems, in addition to the new "skin" that adorns its exterior.

More than 600,000 pounds of Kennecott copper was removed during the renovation, replaced by granite, limestone and glass. The building mirrors the adjacent Gateway Tower West and will anchor the church's City Creek development, now under way.

"This is a cornerstone property of the City Creek project," Huntsman said. "It is an example of what is to come. And if this is an example of what is to come, then our entire community should be very, very excited, indeed, about what our city is going to look like in the years to come. Indeed, we are a state on the move, and transforming very, very quickly."

Huntsman called the building a "beacon of industry" and the bank a beacon of hope to Utah.

"This is not just a financial institution," Huntsman said. "It permeates so many good causes around the state, it lifts us to better heights and (does) so many things that otherwise would be left to government to do."