Salt Lake City has given The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the official go-ahead: Five years of work on the planned City Creek Center can start tonight.
The city on Monday granted the first permits to Property Reserve Inc., the church's real-estate arm, for the planned revamp of two blocks at the heart of downtown. That means the barricades can go up and the Inn at Temple Square can come down.
"We are all thrilled that the first tangible work on this site is about to proceed," PRI president Mark Gibbons said Monday. He added this assurance: "Downtown and these blocks will continue to be open for business."
Sometime after 10 tonight, PRI's construction contractors will close the sidewalk on the east side of West Temple from South Temple midway to 100 South. Along with the sidewalk, the right-turn lane from West Temple to South Temple will close.
That has at least one business owner worried.
"We just can't imagine not being able to make a right turn on West Temple," Utah Woolen Mills Clothiers owner Bart Stringham said. His store, at 59 W. South Temple, plans to remain open during construction and once City Creek Center opens. "That's the main thoroughfare. We've been assured that our right-of-way and access to our business won't be denied."
But the right-turn closure is necessary to allow a staging area for construction trucks, according to Bill Knowles, ombudsman for Downtown Rising, a coalition of businesses plotting downtown's future.
"We will guarantee that business access is fully respected and maintained," he said.
Stringham said he's not sure yet how he will respond once the turn lane closes.
Salt Lake City transportation director Tim Harpst said the closures will have little effect on traffic in the area, and PRI and others involved remain hopeful that will continue throughout the entire project, which will ultimately see the demolition of most of the blocks currently housing the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls.
"This is the opening of downtown," Salt Lake Chamber president Lane Beattie said. "This is the beginning."
While City Creek Center will be a "monstrous project," said Downtown Alliance director Bob Farrington, it represents only 20 acres out of 400 acres making up downtown's core. He said it will be fully contained, so there will be almost no impact on the surrounding shops, restaurants and offices.
The work will have no effect on Christmas shopping at Nordstrom and Macy's, both of which will remain open through the end of the year, he said. And the work "will have no bearing" on downtown holiday lighting displays or the Gallivan Center's First Night celebration on New Year's Eve.
Crossroads Plaza's parking structure will remain open as the inn comes down, with just one entrance closing, immediately south of the inn. The sidewalk on the south side of South Temple will also remain open, though part of it will be covered.
Utah Transit Authority spokesman Justin Jones said at least some bus routes that run down West Temple between 200 South and North Temple will be detoured to run along 200 West.
Once the barricades go up, construction crews will have some pre-demolition work to do before the inn comes down in mid- to late November, according to PRI's estimates.
The permits allow demolition work on the inn to last through the end of the year. After the inn, buildings will continue to fall one by one, roughly west-to-east. The Key Bank Tower will be the last to come down on the block.
In about six months, demolition will start on the ZCMI Center block, and the fate of one building there remains uncertain. Gibbons on Monday said PRI had made no decisions and had no updates on the Deseret Bank/First Security building, a historic building that was originally slated for demolition but is now being re-evaluated in the wake of public opposition.
Downtown Rising will use its Web site, www.downtownrising.com, to keep residents and visitors updated as the project progresses, detailing upcoming demolitions and closures as they are announced.
Knowles said he expects the biggest issues that Downtown Rising, PRI and others will face will involve speculation and some of the perceptions "that downtown is going to be one great big orange cone" rather than any serious traffic or access problems.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com