Feature Story
City Creek Center Update: Worker Activity Reaches Its Peak at 1,700

The revitalization of Salt Lake City's downtown business district is progressing on a grand scale, global recession notwithstanding.

LEED-certified 222 Main, the latest office tower to grace the Salt Lake City skyline, is now open and worker activity at City Creek Center, the massive retail, residential and office project located at the heart of the central business district, is at its peak. Some 1,700 construction workers are onsite, employed by three general contractors and more than 300 subcontractors and consultants. Two of the general contractors, Big-D Construction and Jacobsen Construction, are EDCUtah investors.

Recession Buffer
Construction of the City Creek Center is credited for helping to buffer the recession in Utah. Total cost of the project has not been made public by the developer, City Creek Reserve Inc., an affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or its strategic partners, Taubman Centers, Inc., a Michigan-based developer and operator of retail environments, Harmons Grocery Stores, a Utah company, and Cowboy Partners, a Utah-based residential developer. Media estimates place the total cost at more than $1 billion. The Salt Lake Tribune recently reported that an average of $1.6 million per day is paid out for materials, services and wages for construction workers.

When complete, City Creek Center will encompass approximately 20 acres on three city blocks -- land formerly occupied by the ZCMI Center, Crossroads Plaza, the KeyBank Tower and other buildings. Among its many features, City Creek will include:

• Eight office towers, offering approximately 1.6 million square feet of office space.
• 5,000 subterranean parking stalls.
• Six acres of landscaped open space and a man-made creek that will run across the property.
• 700 condominiums and apartments in five towers.
• 900,000 square feet of retail space, anchored by Nordstrom, which will locate on West Temple Street, and Macy's, which will open on the east side of Main Street.
• Approximately 500,000 additional square feet of nationally recognized merchants and restaurants will line pedestrian walkways and link the two anchor stores.
• A retractable glass roof to protect shoppers during inclement weather.
• A Harmons grocery store, located on the south side of Social Hall Avenue, east of State Street. Construction of the grocery store is expected to begin within six months.

Other retail tenants will be announced by Taubman Centers, owner/operator of the retail center within the development.

City Creek already is reshaping downtown and serving as a catalyst for additional investment. The Downtown Alliance, an affiliate of the Salt Lake Chamber, reports that some 29 new businesses, including 17 nightclubs, restaurants and pubs have opened on or around Main Street since the beginning of 2009.

Construction on Schedule
City Creek Reserve spokesman Dale Bills says construction is on schedule with substantial progress now visible above ground. Urban homes at Richards Court, a 90-unit condominium community at mid-block on South Temple between Main and West Temple, will be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of 2010, he says. The two 10-story buildings are fully enclosed with interior work well underway.

"The Regent, a residential building on 100 South, is nearing its 20-story height, and Tower 1, another residential building on the corner of South Temple and West Temple, will top-off at 30 stories before year-end," Bills adds. "Our residential website is now live at www.citycreekliving.com and our sales center is open at 15 West South Temple, Suite 200.

The City Creek food court is also open at 28 South State Street, and KeyBank Tower sports a redesigned lobby and new office space on the building's lower floors. What's more, assembly of the steel framework for the retail center is well along on the Crossroads Mall block and moving ahead on the ZCMI Mall block. Bills says the retail center's opening is expected to be in the spring of 2012.

Background Briefing
EDCUtah President and CEO Jeff Edwards and his team of business developers recently participated in a background briefing with Bills regarding the City Creek Center development.

"We are just ecstatic about what this will do for Utah's capital city," says Edwards. "There really isn't anything like it that I have seen, anywhere. It offers world-class residential space in the center of the city, sweeping promenades, plazas, and public space. It will be a show piece as well as a hub of 24/7 activity, with boutiques, department stores, a grocer, and restaurants. There couldn't be a better way to rejuvenate Salt Lake City's downtown, and Utah is fortunate to have such a financially strong developer leading the effort."

Bills adds that City Creek Center will be a sustainable, pedestrian-friendly development that will welcome residents, office workers, visitors and shoppers with green space, water features and open walkways. The fountains and streams of recirculated water will represent the historic south fork of City Creek, which ran through the downtown area when pioneers settled the area in 1847. Plans call for approximately six acres of gardens and beautifully landscaped open space. The City Creek Center concept began as a way to bring a new style of urban living to Salt Lake City's downtown -- a more cosmopolitan atmosphere. Developers, business and city leaders hope it will bring new energy to the downtown area. Visit www.downtownrising.com/city_creek/ to view a conceptual tour of City Creek Center.