Downtown buildings are coming down so City Creek Center can rise.
Salt Lake City is in the early stages of a five-year makeover that will forever change the look of three prominent downtown blocks. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' 20-acre development will bring an indoor-outdoor mix of retailers, residences and office space into the core of Utah's capital city.
The development, costing an estimated $1 billion, will replace the Crossroads and ZCMI Center malls. The plan also calls for 6 acres of landscaped open space — gardens, water features, walkways and even man-made streams to represent the historic south fork of City Creek that ran through downtown when pioneers first arrived in 1847.
The demolition/excavation phase of the project began in November and will take about a year. City Creek Center is expected to be complete by mid-2011.
Downtown Rising
Downtown Rising was unveiled in March as the blueprint for Salt Lake City, a plan created by the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance to guide Utah's capital city into the future.
The plan includes the designation of six character districts, eight priority projects and suggestions for transportation, building and development. Each of the six districts proposed in the plan encompasses a general geographic area and has a certain feel. The Broadway District, for example, finds its center around 300 South and is identified by its focus on the arts, entertainment and hospitality, while the Temple Square District is quieter and more contemplative and centers around the Salt Lake Temple and the church's office complex and educational facilities.
Downtown Rising also calls for a coordinated transportation plan — from adding new TRAX routes and commuter rail, to remaking the city's main entry points so that they're more inviting, to landscaping city streets to promote walkability.
Timeline
Oct. 3, 2006 — LDS Church unveils City Creek Center plans.
Oct. 29, 2006 — The Inn at Temple Square closes after 75 years.
Nov. 7, 2006 — Demolition starts on Crossroads Plaza block with the Inn at Temple Square.
Jan. 18 — Dillard's says it will join Nordstrom and Macy's as anchors of City Creek Center.
Aug. 18 — The former Key Bank tower at 50 S. Main is imploded.
Today — ZCMI block demolition is under way.
Summer 2011 — City Creek Center expected to be complete.
Implosion
An office tower that had been part of the Salt Lake skyline for nearly 30 years is no more.
The former Key Bank tower at 50 S. Main came crashing down Aug. 18, with hundreds of employees from Key Bank, former tenants and other spectators looking on.
The 20-story tower was built in the late 1970s and housed the offices of Key Bank as well as several law firms, legal support services and other companies. It was imploded to make way for the City Creek Center development.
The building left a heap of rubble approximately 40 feet tall in its former footprint — 36,000 tons of steel, concrete and glass. It was the first building to be imploded in Salt Lake City since the Hotel Newhouse was brought down in 1983.
The Key Bank tower was the final building on the Crossroads Plaza block to be demolished for the project.
The plan
Pedestrian walkways
New design will incorporate pedestrian walkways down extensions of Social Hall Avenue, Regent Street and Richard Street. No vehicles will be permitted.
Pedestrian bridge will span Main Street.
City Creek
A man-made waterway representing City Creek will wind through open areas of the complex.
Key Bank tenants will move to Gateway Tower West