Salt Lake Council OKs motion to build City Creek skybridge

The Salt Lake City Council approved a motion Tuesday night that will allow the LDS Church to build a skybridge over Main Street for the City Creek Center. Council members Carlton Christensen, Van Turner, Eric Jergensen, Jill Remington Love, J.T. Martin and Soren Simonsen approved the motion.

Luke Garrott voted against it. "I'll be voting against this proposal because I'm against this type of development in general," Garrott said. "I don't think you develop downtown through mega-projects."

The LDS Church and its partner, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers Inc. are building a $1.5 billion development of housing, offices and retail in the space that formerly was ZCMI Center and Crossroads Plaza.

"We are one of the few cities in America that actually has construction happening now during a recession," Remington Love said.

Before passing the motion, however, the City Council added four new requirements to the development: That Block 74 on which Harmon's grocery will be built contains urban design and architectural elements similar to other City Creek blocks; a mid-block crosswalk on State Street that will connect City Creek Center to Social Hall Avenue; that the West Temple part of City Creek Center become more attractive to more pedestrians, possibly through furniture and canopies; and that the developer continue to fine tune the Main Street entrance of Macy's.

---

E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

Comments