Like living in the Land of the Free? Try this on for size:
A night's stay at the Little America Hotel, ski equipment rentals, a bus ride to Deer Valley Resort, lift tickets, lessons from a ski instructor and a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team and a cocktail party near Park City -- all gratis.Sound tempting? The Boyer Co. is counting on this cornucopia of comps and conviviality to draw selected retailing executives to Salt Lake City this week to tour, and hopefully lease space in, its newest commercial developments: Salt Lake's Gateway and Murray's Chimney Ridge.
But some organizers of the Mountain States Idea Exchange, an annual trade show of the International Council of Shopping Centers designed to recruit major retailers who may be interested in opening shop in the Salt Lake area, are scratching their heads over Boyer's timing.
The developer's extravaganza coincides exactly with the exchange, which comes to Utah once every five years.
They're not accusing the local developer of trying to siphon off retailers, nor are they criticizing Boyer for its aggressive marketing campaign to find tenants for two of the most ambitious commercial developments in the valley.
It's just that the folks who opt for the Boyer package won't be around to hear the sales pitches from local mall and shopping center officials -- unless they can be in two places at once.
"I'm disappointed they're having an activity the same time we are," said Floyd Hatch, state director for the ICSC, an association of shopping center developers, brokers and tenants. "It's not going to hurt us . . . but I just wish they had joined us."
A number of downtown merchants have voiced fears the Gateway project will drain business away from a central business district that is still recovering from light-rail construction.
"There are people having their fits" about Boyer's promotion, conceded Bob Farrington of the Downtown Alliance. "But I'm not going to throw it.
"Certainly there are people (downtown merchants) who are concerned about it," he said. "It's a competitive environment and the Boyer Company is certainly pulling out all their sales efforts to secure tenants.
"But folks downtown are doing somewhat the same thing," Farrington added, although, "not to that extent."
Boyer special projects manager Stephen Caine said none of the approximately 10 retail representatives and companies coming to the ski trip planned on attending the ICSC gathering.
"These are people who have not come to this market before, and were not planning to come to this market," he said. "We're trying to bring them to get to know the market and, hopefully, give them a reason to stay an extra day. . . There is no crossover with ICSC."
Caine confirmed that the ski-day attendees include California Cafes/Napa Valley Grill, Edwards Theaters and other California-based retail outlets.
Boyer representatives say the head-bump in scheduling was coincidental, and Hatch said he's confident Boyer Co. was not attempting to take advantage of the exchange.
"The bottom line is they will have their event and we'll have ours, and we'll all just get on with it," Hatch added.
City Council members, some of whom have been dubious of Boyer's Gateway development because of its possible impact on downtown, generally view Boyer's lavish Deer Valley excursion as "the free enterprise system at work," in the words of Councilman Carlton Christensen.
"Businesses have hospitality suites at these conventions all the time," said Council Chairman Keith Christensen. "This is just like the hospitality suite at any convention -- a bit grander in scale."
Caine acknowledged that Boyer has been in discussions with representatives of The Gap, a store already in Crossroads Plaza, to persuade them to place a store either in the Gateway or in the company's Chimney Ridge development in Murray. But he also indicated there are no other dicussions with other retailers already in the downtown area.
The agreement between Boyer and the Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency puts conditions on Boyer trying to take away existing tenants from downtown malls -- Crossroads and ZCMI.
If a tenant is taken away, the developer loses the portion of the tax increment incentive earmarked for that parcel.
"The intent is not to sabotage," Caine said. "(Downtown retailers) haven't been the focus of our effort at this point. It's the people who haven't been to the market who we are trying to get to come."