International Marketplace contract finalized

West Valley City has finalized an agreement for the development of an international marketplace by agreeing that shops in the project be dedicated to specific geographic regions or ethnicities.

The agreement with Ascent Construction comes after a summer of wrangling over the mix of shops in the planned project, which would connect 3500 South to the Jordan River east of Redwood Road and near the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

A contract approved Tuesday by the City Council says 80 percent of the shops will have to meet ethnicity requirements, but no more than five shops can be chain retailers. No ethnic group would be allowed to take up more than 40 percent of floor space in the project as a whole, according to the agreement.

That will ensure that no one ethnicity will take over the shopping center, City Council members say.

— Rebecca Palmer