Holding pattern: Retailers are in limbo as downtown undergoes redevelopment

"We couldn't get a good answer from the landlord on what the new mall plans are," Crissy Maniar said. "We tried to find out a whole bunch of answers from them, but we couldn't find an answer. We wanted to know who was going to be there."

In addition to Whole Foods, Trolley will have a West Elm furniture and home accessories store. No other new tenants have been announced, said Dawn Katter, a spokeswoman for Transwestern, the Houston-based company that manages leases for the mall.

Katter said some tenants have decided to stay in Trolley Square, such as The Spectacle eye-wear shop, which temporarily moved to a different location while its store space is remodeled. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory left the mall in January for a renovation in its space and will get a new space in Trolley in June. Rodizio Grill recently signed a new 10-year lease.

"Our customers are still shopping," she said. "I don't see that the construction has really hurt the traffic at Trolley Square."

Bowler of Coldwell Banker Commercial says Trolley has been more forthcoming about its plans than City Creek, which has been "very close to the vest in letting the real-estate community know exactly what they're doing."

City Creek Reserve Inc., a development arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hasn't announced new tenants other than the mall's department store anchors. The City Creek Center will have a two-story 124,000-square-foot Nordstrom on West Temple and a three-story, 150,000-square-foot Macy's on Main Street.

Retailers want to know whether competing stores have signed leases. "For instance, Bed, Bath and Beyond does not want a Linens-N-Things in the same shopping center as them," Bowler said.

Stores also tend to group together in the same economic range. A Ross Dress for Less or Dress Barn would more likely group near a T.J. Maxx than a Nieman Marcus, he said.

Based on Taubman's history of shopping-mall management, Bowler believes Taubman will find good retailers for City Creek.

"It will be a building process to re-educate people and bring them back down to the malls," he said. "Anytime you shut something down for five years, shopping patterns do change."

Closing shop

Some retailers have relocated to the suburbs, hoping to someday return downtown. Others are closed permanently.

The downtown location of Curry in a Hurry, an Indian and Asian restaurant, closed in May 2007 before the building in which it was located was razed for the 222 S. Main office building.

Co-owner Saifar Nisar said he looked for eight months —including two months before closing — until he found a spot in Bountiful on 500 South.