Panel studying plan in SLC for historic ZCMI facade

A 19-month approval process that included at least two dozen

appearances before Salt Lake City government boards and commissions is coming to

a close for City Creek Center.Partners in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' $1.5 billion

downtown project met with the city's Historic Landmark Commission on Wednesday

night to discuss the final stamp of approval needed for the development.Plans for a new Macy's to co-anchor the retail, residential and office

complex call for the historic ZCMI facade to be reconstructed on the front of

the department store. The developers need permission from the Historic Landmark

Commission because the cast-iron front is listed on the National Register of

Historic Places.The commission had been scheduled to make a decision Wednesday night but

postponed any action until July 1 at the request of City Creek Reserve Inc., a

real estate arm of the LDS Church.Alan Sullivan, legal counsel for CCRI, said all of the information needed for

the commission to make a decision "had not been adequately communicated" by

developers to city staff."This is an important decision for the project, and we didn't want to rush

that," Sullivan said.The three-story ZCMI facade underwent careful disassembly last fall and was

put into storage so the old Macy's building could be demolished.The Historic Landmark Commission approved that action in June 2007, along

with developers' plans to move the new Macy's building — and the facade — 25

feet to the north at approximately 15 S. Main.The commission now must approve the way the facade will look as part of the

new development.The developers' plans call for the new building to be the same height as the

facade, leaving the decorative peak atop the facade to stand alone as it did in

1910 — unlike the most recent reconstruction in the 1970s."This will bring something quite exquisite to Main Street, something far