Not in the same space, mind you. The company will get a new store as part of the redevelopment of Crossroads, and will be able to stay in its current digs until the new space is ready, sometime in 2007.

Nordstrom's surprise announcement that it will be a part of the new Crossroads mall, after repeatedly vowing to leave when its current lease expires a year from now, is a vindication for the Salt Lake City Council. A previous council made a strategic decision in 1995 to concentrate fashion department store retail on Main Street, and the current council voted last year to stand behind that policy, even in the face of heavy pressure from Nordstrom to rewrite zoning laws to allow it to move to The Gateway.

Nordstrom said at the time that it could not foresee reaching an accommodation with the owner of Crossroads, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to address Nordstrom's business concerns, including tenant mix and parking.

But last week, Nordstrom announced that just such a deal has been struck. It signed a letter of intent with Taubman Centers Inc., the real estate investment trust that is working with the LDS Church to redevelop Crossroads, together with the ZCMI Center on the other side of Main Street. Blake Nordstrom, the company's president, credited the LDS Church and Taubman with meeting Nordstrom's concerns. He said he is excited about the prospects for the remake of the mall as a mixed-use development.

Unfortunately for curious Salt Lakers, that's about all Nordstrom said. None of the parties to the new agreement, including the church and Taubman, is willing at this date to release details about what the new Crossroads will look like. They wouldn't even say where on the block the new Nordstrom will be located.

Blake Nordstrom did say that the store would be closed on Sundays, in keeping with religious teachings of its landlord. How that will play on Main Street retail is uncertain, but in Nordstrom's case, at least, the terms the church offered must be good enough to assure the company a profit despite Sunday closing.

Some people, including the Convention and Visitors Bureau and Mayor Rocky Anderson, have worried that if the church's two malls are closed on Sundays, downtown will not be attractive to tourists and other shoppers. But downtown now is more than the Main Street malls, with entertainment and shopping available on Sundays at The Gateway and elsewhere.

That diversity is part of an evolving downtown, and it is reassuring that Nordstrom will remain an important part of that.