LDS church announcing downtown plans tonight!
 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=536868

I am very excited to hear about this. $2 billion cost- this should be cool.

I agree that it will be really nice, especially if there is an 18 hole golf course. :)

I love what they are proposing. This is exactly what downtown needed. Couple this with an arts district, and SLC rapidly becomes a fantastic destination city.

The only 2 changes I would recommend are:

1. Bury Trax on the portion of Main Street between the two malls. It would cost a fortune and disrupt Trax service for some time. Nevertheless, it would be fantastic for the city when completed. Make Main Street a green park with outdoor dining and quaint shops. A free-flow of pedestrian traffic on that street could only be good for the area. Nobody really drives down Main Street anyways for that part of it. It is too burdened with traffic lights, Trax and people already.

2. I would propose an international center. The state and city could get together and set aside a few blocks of land (which they would have to purchase) for the development of my international center. It could have high rises for businesses conducting international business, a downtown international center campus for BYU or Utah (with a foreign exchange program), an international arts and culture museum or something similar, etc. The city and state could subsidize some of the costs of imaginative businesses and individuals through tax credits or other means. SLC is uniquely positioned to be an international capital. It has foreign language skills and foreign experience rivaled by few other cities in the world. We should take advantage of that.

I like your idea about TRAX, though I don't see it happening for the reasons you stated - expense and disrupted service.

As for an international center, that's also a good idea. SLC is already starting to see the beginning of a Little Italy at about 300 S and 300 W with a number of Italian restaraunts and a great deli (Caputo's). I go down there every so often to brush up on my Italian and have some great food.

I once heard that there are more languages spoken in SLC than any other city in the country. That doesn't surprise me at all with the missionary program.

Yeah, a very cool website. It is amazing to see how much is happening in SLC right now.

I submitted by suggestions, which I am sure have already been lost in the mounds of other suggestions received.

BTW- check out the area to be demolished. This is a massive project.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650195930,00.html

I like that the mall appears will have a clear awning.

Ishtar

I think that will be great for Downtown Salt Lake. Nobody wants downtown SLC to end up like downtown Ogden... well, except Fus maybe.

Seriously, this seems very strange to me. Spend $2 billion to attract heathens to Mecca, surrounding the sanctum sanctorum with all the glitz and latest trappings of popular Western culture--fancy hand bag shops, multi-plexes, sushi bars, bars. It sums up LDS culture's myriad contraditions. It actually reminds me of some ill-fated Soviet initiative in Siberia. Whatever, it's your tithing dollars at work.