Deseret News | City Creek is rising on schedule despite the economy

Reader comments
City Creek is rising on schedule despite the economy

Anonymous | 12:00 a.m. April 12, 2009

The church, in right of god himself, is underwriting this project. It is right that you boutique shop six days a week. Economics have nothing to do with this exercise.

Anonymous | 1:48 a.m. April 12, 2009

Please don't make dumb comments. My goodness!

nottyou | 6:26 a.m. April 12, 2009

Please KEEP making dumb comments...that's why I read the Reader comments!

Comments continue below

I'm optimistic | 7:49 a.m. April 12, 2009

Let's hope this massive investment will be a positive project for our city and it's residents.

Spectacular! THANK YOU! | 9:53 a.m. April 12, 2009

I live and work downtown- we just moved and LOVE it! We sold a car and save a lot because we don't drive south of 400S -City Creek in my opinion is nothing less than spectacular! From a non-mormon I am very grateful to the LDS church for investing in downtown. I've been on a waiting list for 3 years to see what they're offering-those condo's are going to be BEAUTIFUL- I'm sure very exciting for those that are fortunate to purchase/live there.
I can't imagine living in dense housing in one of the new projects in Sandy or anywhere other than downtown (charging $300 a sq foot to live in a nondescript -no charm, no restaurants, no theatres, non diverse neighborhood vs living in downtown for the same price? Depressing!
Look out Sandy- City Creek is coming and will make all those that purchased your overpriced condo's regret it big time! Nothing else can compete for location!
I can't wait until Harmons Grocery store builds downtown- please come soon!

Ben | 10:24 a.m. April 12, 2009

How unfortunate you'll never go past 400 south. You'll never get too eat at moochies!

John | 10:26 a.m. April 12, 2009

I for one can promise you this.....i WILL never spend 1 penny on any of the shops, eating establishments or what ever is down there.

to John | 10:41 a.m. April 12, 2009

yes you will.

goofy people | 10:55 a.m. April 12, 2009

Why not give thanks that the church had the forsight to renovate this delapidated city. And the timing could not have been more perfect.
While the polititians are trying to destroy jobs and the economy, the church is providing jobs and strengthening the local economy.

jp | 10:58 a.m. April 12, 2009

The key is getting people to live down there--where you have people, you will have business. Smart move to put condos downtown. Here's to hoping the whole thing is a success, for the sake of our fair city (and despite the pessimistic Mormon-haters who want everything to fail).

Randall | 11:29 a.m. April 12, 2009

How Much More Ice Cream Do We Need Downtown?

I thought Gateway.... | 12:01 p.m. April 12, 2009

...was supposed to do that? All it did, was kill the downtown malls.

Now City Creek, if successful, will kill what's left of Trolley Square and Sugar House. Then we'll have even more gaping holes in the ground.

There is not enough population that spends *big* money to support all of these shopping centers.

reality check | 1:28 p.m. April 12, 2009

Gateway did not kill the downtown malls
retail has about a 25-30 year life span
like Cottonwood and Ogden.

University mall remains competative because it has reinvented itself multple times

Like Valley fair; Crossroads and ZCMI were simply due to be rebuilt

Trolley Square has also been handed around from owner to owner and the shootings require a remodel (tragic accidents usually result in businesses failing)

Change is the norm City Creek will morph again in 25-30 years (and hopefully dump the skybridge)

Fashion Place has done well... | 1:46 p.m. April 12, 2009

...despite its age and the economy. Why? Because it has good parking and attractive stores.

AND....we can shop there on Sunday.

If I can't shop downtown on Sunday, or have a drink at a restaurant, I'm not going to shop downtown.

Former Salt Laker | 2:32 p.m. April 12, 2009

I live in Spokane now and a major project like City Creek was planned for the North bank of the Spokane River down town. It was going to be called Kendall Yards. The project had tenants pull out, its investors pull out, retailers decide not to come, dirt everywhere, no building of any kind, after 5 years. Count yourselves lucky that the Mormon Church is bank rolling this incredible project and will get it done and done right. I love Spokane but admire how Salt Lake is able to dream big and then make it happen. Your light rail system is another huge success story!

Dear Former | 4:46 p.m. April 12, 2009

The LDS Church may build it, but will they come?

How many department stores want to close 14& of the time (on one of the two weekend days)?

How many restaurants want to forgo their largest profit center (wine and liquor)?

How many JOBS are there downtown, for all of these tenants to walk to work?

We've travelled extensively the past 2-1/2 years, and nearly EVERY city has multiple "multi-use" developments. They're all alike, with the same low-level chain stores and eateries. Cookie-cutter stuff from coast-to-coast.

Wouldn't it be nice, to just have downtown back...with angle parking and four-hour meters?

Lola | 6:45 p.m. April 12, 2009

I think it's cool. I would love to have a condo there. Of course, I own a house in nearby southern Davis county, so that's kind of a stupid trade on my part. It would be awesome to be so close to all the culture. The Symphony, Ballet, shopping. I absolutely love downtown and am so grateful it won't be a trash heap.
I never shop on Sunday and avoid stores open on Sunday as much as possible, prefering to support the ones who keep the sabbath holy according to my christian beliefs. There are others like me, obviously no one as big as the LDS church is going to invest their wad on something doomed to failure. Shops closed on Sunday? Well, go Saturday.
Some of my Jewish friends shop Sunday, not Saturday, I respect that a lot, I would welcome a Jewish funded project with shopping closed Saturday. And yes, I'd frequent it on Monday through Friday. Lets respect instead of bash! Who knows, maybe we'll all find something way better than shopping on both weekend days!

Jeff R | 7:35 p.m. April 12, 2009

Just be thankful the LDS church has the backing and the will to do this. This will help downtown SLC from getting anymore of an eyesore. SLC is booming and we need to make way for that. Build it, and they will come. If not, we could use some more sewing and quilt outlets :D:D:D

rezone the whole state | 8:29 p.m. April 12, 2009

Where's Port O'Call?
Where's The Zephyr?
Where's The Dead Goat?
Where's DV8?

Salt Lake has lame nightclubs, over-priced, marginal restaurants- at best, and alot of superficial people all dressed up with nowhere to go.

@rezone | 9:24 p.m. April 12, 2009

If its such a nightmare to live here, well, you don't have to..

Downtown enthusiast | 10:54 p.m. April 12, 2009

Downtown Rising indeed! With Trax to the airport, a new federal courts complex, the new high rise on Main Street, a Hyatt Place at Gateway and City Creek Center we will take a giant step toward a more vibrant downtown. Hooray for the whole state.

Ernest T. Bass | 7:33 a.m. April 13, 2009

Blessings, even rich blessings, are in store for us all when this opens.

SLC | 7:39 a.m. April 13, 2009

This is going to be really cool, I am sure...but who is going to buy/live in these 700 condos/apartments? Salt Lake City is "booming?" In what way? We all love to talk about this supposed "influx" of people moving here ALL THE TIME. Who are they? Californians aren't exactly swarming over here with all their equity anymore.

We have over a year's worth of inventory in the real estate market here, most of which is priced about 15% - 20% above what the market can bear (in terms of incomes). I'm really concerned about what this extra flood of units is going to do to property values. I hear there is going to be a BYU campus downtown in a few years, so maybe there will be students able to occupy some of those spaces. Surely they'll be priced for student budgets, right? HA.

Either way, props to the Church for putting some cash into our downtown, which has so much potential to be really charming.

TO SLC | 9:21 a.m. April 13, 2009

I don't think they will have any problem selling out. These condos overlook the SL Temple. If you go to their website you will see many of them are already reserved.

BYU has a campus downtown colocated with the LDS Business college.

I live out of state but plan on retiring to downtown SLC. I grew up downtown when my family had a restraunt on main street. It has been sad to see the decay over the years.

Moracle | 10:19 a.m. April 13, 2009

Is there any effort being made to insure that residential units go to owners who will actually be living in them -- rather than to wealthy purchasers who only want a place to stay on occassional visits to Utah for skiing, conference, etc.?

If not, the residents living locally could be too few to make the businesses of City Creek thrive and survive.

Clifton | 11:28 a.m. April 13, 2009

Either own or rent a condo, the outcome is the same. So what if rich people buy just for ski vacations? Seems to me you complainers down there don't have enough to do! Maybe you ought to get a job!

Fredd | 12:13 p.m. April 13, 2009

I thought the church wasn't going to impose "close on Sunday", "no alcohol in restaurants" rules. Was I mistaken? This is a business venture not a religious project. It would be dumb to impose rules that would make it non-competitive.

re SLC 7:39 | 1:29 p.m. April 13, 2009

Have you been to the City Creek condo site? I just received my first email on the public offering and looks like over half of those condo's are reserved already. AMAZING, considering this market. It's a unique location and a property that will appeal to lots of wealthy especially LDS people because of the location across from the Temple. City Creek will have NO PROBLEM selling out, wish I could buy one in the opening round because they will go up eventually. I'm sure there are some speculators on that list- but I bet a lot are people that want them. I'm sure it's a second home for a lot, and will be home to lots of LDS faithful. Kudos to the company marketing them- the site shows the views and what the condo's will look like, appears as though not one condo has the same floor plan, I love them already!

Dixon - part 1 | 2:07 p.m. April 13, 2009

Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway Inc) regarding Sunday closings:
Excerpt from 1999 Chairmans letter
Here's a remarkable story from last year: It's about R. C. Willey, Utah's dominant home furnishing business, which Berkshire purchased from Bill Child and his family in 1995. Bill and most of his managers are Mormons, and for this reason R. C. Willey's stores have never operated on Sunday. This is a difficult way to do business: Sunday is the favorite shopping day for many customers. Bill, nonetheless, stuck to his principles -- and while doing so built his business from $250,000 of annual sales in 1954, when he took over, to $342 million in 1999.
Bill felt that R. C. Willey could operate successfully in markets outside of Utah and in 1997 suggested that we open a store in Boise. I was highly skeptical about taking a no-Sunday policy into a new territory where we would be up against entrenched rivals open seven days a week. Nevertheless, this was Bill's business to run. So, despite my reservations, I told him to follow both his business judgment and his religious convictions.

Dixon - part 2 | 2:08 p.m. April 13, 2009

Bill then insisted on a truly extraordinary proposition: He would personally buy the land and build the store -- for about $9 million as it turned out -- and would sell it to us at his cost if it proved to be successful. On the other hand, if sales fell short of his expectations, we could exit the business without paying Bill a cent. This outcome, of course, would leave him with a huge investment in an empty building. I told him that I appreciated his offer but felt that if Berkshire was going to get the upside it should also take the downside. Bill said nothing doing: If there was to be failure because of his religious beliefs, he wanted to take the blow personally.
The store opened last August and immediately became a huge success. Bill thereupon turned the property over to us -- including some extra land that had appreciated significantly -- and we wrote him a check for his cost. And get this: Bill refused to take a dime of interest on the capital he had tied up over the two years.

Dixon - part 3 | 2:09 p.m. April 13, 2009

Excerpt from 2001 Chairmans letter
heres a postscript to a story I told you two years ago about R.C. Willeys move to Boise. As you may remember, Bill Child, R.C. Willeys chairman, wanted to extend his home-furnishings operation beyond Utah, a state in which his company does more than $300 million of business (up, it should be noted, from $250,000 when Bill took over 48 years ago). The company achieved this dominant position, moreover, with a "closed on Sunday" policy that defied conventional retailing wisdom. I was skeptical that this policy could succeed in Boise or, for that matter, anyplace outside of Utah. After all, Sunday is the day many consumers most like to shop.
the store immediately became a huge success  and it has since grown.
Shortly after the Boise opening, Bill suggested we try Las Vegas, and this time I was even more skeptical. How could we do business in a metropolis of that size and be closed on Sundays, a day that all of our competitors would be exploiting? Buoyed by the Boise experience, however, we proceeded to locate in Henderson, a mushrooming city adjacent to Las Vegas.

Dixon - part 4 (end) | 2:10 p.m. April 13, 2009

The result: This store outsells all others in the R.C. Willey chain, doing a volume of business that far exceeds the volume of any competitor and that is twice what I had anticipated. I cut the ribbon at the grand opening in October  this was after a "soft" opening and a few weeks of exceptional sales

Fredd | 2:41 p.m. April 13, 2009

Interesting. I note the stores were still in the "Mormon Corrider". But my real point was I thought they church said they weren't going to impose closed Sundays and no alcohol in the venues. Back to RC Willeys; I would shop based on price especially for big ticket items like furniture, its not exactly an impulse buy so I would see Sunday being okay to be closed. But if you have people living in City Creek and the pull is the mixed use, then you would make it unattractive to non-LDS if you put LDS restrictions in.

Anonymous | 6:24 p.m. April 13, 2009

I'm sure RC Willey is being blessed by god!

LOL!

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