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Let the building begin.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has completed demolition of the Crossroads Plaza Mall and most other buildings on 20 acres in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City and is now beginning work on its massive City Creek Center development. The 20-acre project set for completion in 2012 is arguably the biggest commercial development ever in Utah, with offices, retail stores and a number of residential buildings.
"Demolition is one thing, but people start to really feel like things are happening when buildings start to move up out of the ground," said Joey Gilbert, vice president of Associated General Contractors of Utah, a contractors trade group. "It doesn't take long for the skeletons of those buildings to start going up from here."
Gilbert said the timing could not be better.
With the downturn in residential construction, commercial projects like City Creek will help ensure that thousands of people whose livelihood depends on construction don't face unemployment.
"With projects like this, there's still a need for skilled workers, and companies are still hiring," he said.
City Creek Center, which will cost an estimated $1 billion, will be built on most of the two blocks between South Temple and 100 South from West Temple to State Street as well as across State Street in an area south of Social Hall Avenue.
Starting in late 2006 and continuing through last year, the church contractors demolished Crossroads Plaza mall, most of the ZCMI shopping center, the Inn at Temple Square and the Key Bank Tower to make way for the new development.
It will be anchored by a two-story 124,000-square-foot Nordstrom store and a three-story 150,000-square-foot Macy's department store and include about 500,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Also included is a Harmons grocery store.
Everything about the City Creek Center project is huge; the foundation pouring is one of the state's largest concrete jobs ever.
"It's a milestone in the project and we're excited for it," said Dave Kasteler, the project's general superintendent.
The construction company hired by the LDS Church, Okland Construction, and its subcontractors will pour approximately 7,600 cubic yards of concrete - enough to pave a sidewalk from Salt Lake City to American Fork - to complete the foundation of just the first of six residential buildings in the development, a 32-story tower on the corner of South Temple and West Temple.
"It will be very fun to start coming out of the ground," Kasteler said just minutes before the pour began.
When completed, City Creek Center will contain about 700 residential units.
The concrete on a high-rise building like the one in City Creek Center must be poured continuously, rather that in different stages, so that it has the strength to adequately support a large building.
That means that over a 15-hour period, about 850 truckloads of concrete are to be delivered to the site.
Although it is starting on the first residential building, the church has not yet released any information on floor plans or prices and is not yet taking reservations for any available units.