Credit crunch leaves trendy mixed-use developments on shaky ground

HOLLADAY — On a drizzly day last spring, the mayor of Holladay climbed into an immense yellow tractor to help break ground at the site of the Cottonwood Mall.

Accompanied by bombastic symphonic music and the cheers of construction workers and local dignitaries, Mayor Dennis Webb then overturned a load of rocky soil, signifying renewal of the mall property into a walkable "European village."

Almost a year later, the dead of winter is again sprouting into a verdant spring but the mixed-use project on the eastern foothills hasn't taken root.

The fenced lot is now blocked off to the public. Its 57 acres are devoid even of tractors, footprints or "coming soon" signs.

"It's sad they haven't built it," said Ellie Drees, who was shopping recently in Macy's department store, the only business open on the block. "I was looking forward to it."

Drees, a German immigrant, used to shop Cottonwood Mall from end to end, she said. She now misses the bustling of customers in the almost-empty Macy's and fears the store could go out of business, like the nearby T.G.I. Friday's restaurant.

Similar scenarios have played out across the Wasatch Front, from Layton to Orem. The largest projects all have stalled, with the exception of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' City Creek Center development in downtown Salt Lake City.

Smaller projects financed prior to last year's credit crunch are moving forward, but few if any mixed-use ventures — those featuring residential, retail and office space — are seeing the light of day.

Many of the largest projects were billed as one-of-a-kind proposals that would put their respective cities on the map by using New Urbanism trends such as "walkability" and structures built to "human scale."

Some, such as Sandy's high-rise Proscenium, did feature unique architectural plans. But taken as a whole, the trend toward mixed-use projects is more like a flavor-of-the-decade than a novel notion.

"Where it is a problem is where this has become formulaic," said Stephen Goldsmith, a professor of urban planning at the University of Utah. "These are so scientifically produced — housing and retail for a target market (of 13- to 30-year-olds) and a splash of Coldwater Creek. That's what removes the vibrancy. Instead of these organic, self-organizing streets, they might as well become Disneyland."

But Goldsmith was quick to add that he isn't against mixed-use development.