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Before downtown Salt Lake City can bloom again as a prosperous retail, commercial and residential center, much of it will need to be torn down.

And the wrecking balls are expected to begin doing their work in November, eventually razing two of the office buildings and virtually all existing retail space on the blocks where the Crossroads Plaza and ZCMI Centers now stand.

H. David Burton, presiding bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, unveiled the church's preliminary designs Tuesday evening for its massive five-year, 20-acre City Creek Center project before the Salt Lake City Council.

The project, estimated to cost $1 billion, will encompass most of two blocks between South Temple and 100 South from West Temple to State Street. It also will spill across State Street to the area

south of Social Hall Ave.

City Creek Center is expected to be completed in 2011.

There will be up to three national department stores -- Nordstrom, Macy's and perhaps one other -- to anchor the project. Walkways lined with small shops will connect the department stores, Burton said.

New office and residential towers will rise into the downtown skyline while a Harmons grocery store is expected to open by 2011 across the street and to the north of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building.

''Our store there is very much in the preliminary stages, but it is still exciting to think about,'' said Rhonda Greenwood of Harmons.

Within the City Creek Center there will be fountains spaced among six acres of gardens and open space, a water feature representing the south fork of City Creek and underground parking for some 5,600 automobiles.

A sky bridge spanning Main Street and connecting the shopping centers also is planned, but will require city approval.

Demolition on the site will start where the Inn at Temple Square now sits. It will move from West to East although the wrecking balls will stay away from the current Nordstrom and Macy's location until the end of this year's holiday shopping season.

Nordstrom spokeswoman Brooke White said the last day that store will be open will be Jan. 20. She said Nordstrom will work with the

employees of the downtown store to help them move to other company stores nearby or find new jobs.

Almost all of the area's existing retail buildings and two of the office towers will be demolished to pave the way for the construction

of underground parking, said William S. Taubman, chief operating officer of Taubman Centers Inc., which will be handling the leasing of retail space for the City Creek Center.

The Key Bank building, which now towers above the Crossroads Plaza, will be razed to make way for new retail space. So, too, will the historic First Security Bank building on the northeast corner of Main Street and 100 South, although it will be replaced with a new office building.

A few structures will be spared.

The historic ZCMI facade, which now graces the Main Street entrance to Macy's, will be taken down, preserved and eventually returned somewhere within the project.

Utah Woolen Mills will remain along with the Crandall Building on the southwest corner of 100 South and Main and the AT&T Qwest Building one block to the east. The Marriott Hotel will be spared along with the Eagle Gate Plaza and Office Tower, the Beneficial Life Tower and the recently refurbished Zions Bank building.

Burton told the City Council that 200 residential units will be constructed along South Temple.

More residential units will go up south of Social Hall Avenue by Cowboy Partners, whose principals include Dan Lofgren, developer of

the PARC Condominiums at The Gateway.

''We couldn't be more excited about the chance to be there and in the mix,'' Lofgren said. ''We know we're within the glow of those

projects, and it's just an exciting opportunity for us to develop a residential community in a setting like that.''

Lofgren suggested that since the housing units Cowboy Partners is planning will be outside the main construction zones on the blocks where Crossroads and the ZCMI Center now sit, he may try to get his project done well before 2011, when City Creek Center is expected to be completed.

Tribune reporter Heather May contributed to this report.