The next-door neighbors remain stubbornly against it, but Salt Lake City soon may have something officials at City Hall have been dreaming of for years - a large retail center near downtown.
No longer will city residents have to drive to the suburbs or to the edges of the city for the necessities of life. More importantly for city officials, no longer will city residents be spending so much of their sales tax dollars elsewhere.Hermes Associates has spent 30 years gathering land roughly between 400 and 500 South and between 500 and 600 East. Now, with the help of a sales-tax subsidy from the city, Hermes wants to build a smaller version of the Family Center shopping areas it has built in two suburban locations.
But before they get permission to build, Hermes officials have to persuade the city to rezone the block, and they have to overcome the objections of nearby residents, many of whom would rather see houses or apartments there.
They also have to deal with Bill McHenry. He lives on the block, where he likes to say he can see the hot cakes on the griddle at the nearby Bill & Nada's Cafe, which he also owns. He likes it that way, and he isn't about to move.
"They're going to have to go around me," said McHenry, who has lived in his house 45 years. "Before they (Hermes) ever started buying land, I said I'd keep my house."
Perry Vidalakis, special projects manager for Hermes Associates, said the parking lot could go around McHenry.
"We've designed the plan so we can build with him or without him," he said. "We're willing to be flexible with him and to work with him."
Vidalakis said the proposed project would include grocery stores, clothing outlets and a variety of other stores that aren't found in the area.
"If you live in the city, to do a home-repair project you have to drive all the way to the Brickyard (Plaza). You always forget something, and you have to drive all the way back," he said.
Vidalakis said the center will provide relatively high-paying jobs ($8 to $13 per hour) to unskilled workers and will encourage more people to move to the inner city.
But the Central City Community Council, a grass-roots group that gives advice to City Hall on neighborhood matters, narrowly voted against the project in a recent meeting. Scott Larsen, chairman of the council, said many residents would settle for a combination of housing and shopping on the block.
About 85 housing units, apartments and houses, have disappeared from the block since Hermes started buying land, city officials said.
"We'd hate to lose more housing when we're in such a housing crisis," Larsen said, adding he also worries about increasing traffic in the neighborhood. "A better location would be about 900 South and Main."
The immediate neighbors appear to be the only opponents, however. And even they aren't united. The community council's vote rejecting the plan was 30-23.
Alan Hardman, the city councilman who represents the area, said the choice is between keeping the lot mostly vacant and weed-infested or adding the kind of shopping that is desperately needed by residents from Central City to the East Bench.
While he hasn't yet decided how to vote, Hardman said no one will build housing on the block because the land costs too much.
"It would have to be extremely high-density, high-rise housing, and still it would require a $3.5 million to $5 million subsidy to make it work," he said.
The city is negotiating a subsidy with Hermes and is expected to provide about $1.9 million in sales tax breaks over several years.