Posted: Monday, August 29, 2005 12:00 am
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Mormon church said its redevelopment plan for a pair of downtown malls will allow a few of the restaurants to obtain liquor licenses, but it's drawing the line on Sunday shopping.
The arrangements were disclosed during a radio program hosted by Mayor Rocky Anderson with an official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Church spokesman Dale Bills said it was the church's "goal" to allow wine sales at restaurants that open after the $1 billion redevelopment of the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Center malls.
"That's going to be good news for a lot of people in this community," Anderson said Friday on KCPW's "Midday Metro" radio program.
The news came unexpected from a church that eschews alcohol consumption - and it plans to distance itself from the restaurants by selling the land under them to an outside developer. The church has no plans to allow private drinking clubs or beer taverns at the malls.
"It's a real show of their support to make downtown a vibrant, livable, attractive city," said Scott Beck, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau. "They understand those things (alcohol) are important to people, certainly not important to them. It shows a lot of tolerance."
The church plans to mix 900 housing units in the new malls, where Macy's and Nordstrom will join other retailers and office towers above the malls will stay.
"A limited number of high-quality restaurant tenants who will operate on land not owned by the church may apply for licenses to serve alcoholic beverages in accordance with existing state regulations," Bills told The Salt Lake Tribune.
The church keeps the ZCMI mall shut down on Sundays and plans the same for Crossroads after buying up that mall. Both front Main Street downtown.
Salt Lake City Councilwoman Nancy Saxton said the church struck a good balance. She said Sundays were not big shopping days in Utah, and others noted Sunday shoppers had an option at The Gateway, an outdoor retail center four blocks to the west of the malls.
Anderson applauded the church's decision to allow alcohol sales and new plans for the malls.
"It's going to bring so much excitement, so much vibrancy, so many more residents living in the downtown area," Anderson said. "Even if there's a certain area of retail that's not going to be open, there's going to be plenty else happening in the downtown area very largely because of this project."
Church architect Bill Williams told the radio show that making the malls environmentally friendly was "key to our concerns because we build for the future. We don't build for the short term."
The church is keeping design plans of its Michigan-based mall developer, Taubman Centers Inc., under wraps, but Anderson, who has seen preliminary designs, compared exteriors to the glass-walled look of the city's new Library.
The malls would remain enclosed, but shoppers will be able to see the sky, surrounding buildings and "as much daylight as humanly possible. We'd like to open it up so it feels like streets," Williams said.
Anderson also said he couldn't imagine a "better spot for anybody to live" than above the malls, with views of Temple Square and the Wasatch mountains.