The Crossroads Plaza parking garage permanently closed Wednesday and, permits pending, will be demolished later this month.
Demolition will move west to east on that block, moving to the ZCMI Center block as early as late spring 2007 in preparation for construction of downtown's City Creek Center, the project's spokesman said.
Tenants at both projects either have already or are in the final stages of terminating their leases and preparing either to move or shutter their stores.
"We're not outlining an overall (deconstruction) schedule because as permitting and other things change, that schedule changes," said Dave Smith, spokesman for City Creek Center, the mixed-use project of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is now under way.
Nordstrom in Crossroads will close midmonth. Parry's Office Supply in the ZCMI Center will be gone by April, at the same time FranklinCovey moves its store to The Gateway. Clothier Mr. Mac says it likely will be in its current location until late April or early May, after which it will move to a nearby, as-yet-undisclosed location.
"Our feeling is that they want to start some demolition on this block at the beginning of summer, which means we're sitting on what will be rubble," Stuart Christensen, co-owner of Mr. Mac, said of the City Creek Center project. "So, we'll need to move before then."
"Deconstruction" on the project swung into gear late last year with the demolition of the Inn at Temple Square. When complete by 2011, the church's estimated $1 billion project will include retail, office and residential components.
"We will start deconstruction/demolition on block 75, which is that (ZCMI Center) block, in the April/May time frame of this year, and it will run for one year," Smith said. He did not disclose a building-by-building demolition schedule, but he did say the wrecking ball will swing from north to south on that block. On the Crossroads Plaza block, demolition will move west to east.
The LDS Church is finalizing negotiations with the bulk of ZCMI Center tenants interviewed by the Deseret Morning News.
Christensen said Mr. Mac knows where it will relocate but will wait to make an announcement until contracts are signed. One prominent rumor puts the new store in the old Arent's building at 160 E. South Temple — a rumor Christensen said he could not confirm.
"We have a pretty good idea that we'll be here, close-by," Christensen said. "But we don't want to do anything to scuttle the deal."
Macy's spokeswoman Kimberly Reason said its ZCMI Center store had no firm closing date as of Wednesday, but that the expectation remained that it would be "sometime soon after the first of the year."
FranklinCovey will relocate to The Gateway, likely in early April, according to Gordon Wilson, the company's senior vice president for stores, call centers and public programs.
"What we'd like to do is close one day and open in our new store the next day, so we don't miss any business," Wilson said.
The new store will be located directly above the Apple store, at The Gateway's north end.
"The Gateway has really become the merchandising or retail center for downtown Salt Lake City, at least for now, during the construction phase for City Creek," Wilson said. "People already seem to gravitate there naturally, and with the accessibility of TRAX, we're still going to get customers, like the downtown business people, who are coming to The Gateway to shop and for lunch."
Leading up to their moves, ZCMI Center retailers said they are going all-out to lure shoppers to the mall.
FranklinCovey is offering $10 coupons to customers who shop its current location, which will be redeemable at its Gateway location. Mr. Mac said it will offer "aggressive" discounts on merchandise.
"Our message is that we are open for business," Christensen said. "There's plenty of parking, there's access, and we're definitely open for business into the spring.
"We recognize that there's less foot traffic in the area and suspect that it will become more and more so. So we'll be mounting a full-fledged moving sale at some point."
E-mail: jnii@desnews.com