Closure leaves downtown with one less parking option

The ZCMI Center parking garage closed Wednesday, reducing the number of parking spaces downtown by almost 2,400 and increasing the burden on other downtown parking structures.

Of the 2,379 spots in the garage, 1,590 were open to the public and the rest were reserved spaces, mostly for people who work downtown, said Adrian Sample, a representative of the Downtown Alliance.

The garage was closed because of its impending demolition to make way for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' planned City Creek Center, a mixed-use development set to open in 2011.

Zions Securities Corp., which owns the garage, made arrangements for those with reserved parking spaces to park in other nearby ZSC-owned parking structures, Sample said.

Most of those who reserved spots in the ZCMI garage now park in the structure on Orpheum Avenue, just south of the ZCMI Center block. That structure is no longer open to the public because of the increase in reserved parking spaces, Sample said.

Others now have reserved spots in garages at Regent Street, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Social Hall and the Plaza Hotel. Those garages and others downtown are still open to the public at an hourly rate.

The closing and change of parking venues has been "surprisingly smooth," said Bill Knowles, Downtown Rising ombudsman. "If there have been problems, we haven't heard about them," he said.

There are actually more parking spaces still open to the public than earlier anticipated, Knowles said.

On Monday, Deseret Book, the last retail store at the ZCMI Center, reopened at a different location, leaving only the food court still open in the mall. The food court will remain open until a new one is built, Knowles said.

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E-mail: dfelix@desnews.com