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DOWNTOWN CITY CREEK DEVELOPMENT TO BRING AREA OUT OF RECESSION Panelists met Wednesday, May 25, to discuss the City Creek development project in downtown Salt Lake City. "Salt Lake City could be the epicenter for growth [in the west] for years to come. We're talking about sustainable growth. Office space in many western cities is going at fire sales prices," one panelist stated. "You can buy office space at 20 cents per square foot in some cities, but then you have to live there." In addition to 222 S. Main, the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Deseret Book's new headquarters and Blue Lemon restaurant, the City Creek development, spanning from Main Street and South Temple to 300 South, has seen a resurgence of 30 new small businesses opening at the street level. "People who shop downtown, work downtown," said one panelist, quoting a local retailer. With the activity and excitement in downtown, other companies that have fled to the suburbs may move back. Salt Lake's newest office building, 222 S. Main, was touted as one of the bright developments in the city. Besides the law firm of Holland and Hart, where the discussion was held, one of the building's newest anchor tenants will be Goldman Sachs, a New York based securities conglomerate. City Creek's $1.5 billion project developed by the City Creek Reserve, a development arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, progressed rapidly during the past 22 months. The project alone has been responsible for retaining more than 1,000 construction jobs in an industry hard hit by the recession. Mark Gibbons, president of City Creek Reserve, said, "We have passed the 20 mile mark in the 26 mile marathon." Harmon's supermarket will soon break ground. Richard's Court, a 90-unit residential project is filling with tenants. Key Bank has two new office floors, leased to Tanner and Company, a local accounting firm. The opening for the retail portions is slated for March 2012, when the rest of the development will be fully operational. Panelists were asked, "What we've got here is an impetus from good times carried over to bad times. There's lots of space, can we fill it?" Lane Beattie, president of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce replied, "Alfalfa is not our main crop, children are. We have one of the hardest working, healthiest workforces in the nation. We're growing all over the place. One of the great advantages is that we are in difficult times. Forbes predicted Salt Lake City will lead the country out of the recession." Even with all the enthusiasm, there were some cautionary comments. The building at 222 South Main is 65 percent leased. And although the first buyers have moved into their residential units, there are still plenty of housing units for sale in their projects. "We must persuade people that living downtown is attractive," said Gibbons. The developers in the room echoed the sentiment that times have changed. Banks now want developers to have a bigger equity in their projects. Developers will now be required to put 30 to 35 percent equity down. This may have a positive effect on the quality of projects being built. Developers will no longer build simply because they can receive the funding. Now, there must be some serious consideration about the viability of the project.
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