Provo • In the age of Google Earth and streaming video, Rick Kinateder and Ray Beckham are using a tabletop model to tout downtown Provo.

Beckham, chairman of the Provo Downtown Center Focus Committee, and Kinateder, an artist who makes architectural renderings and models, unveiled a 6-by-11-foot scale model of the city's downtown, showing current buildings as well as the proposed Utah County Convention Center, Nu Skin Enterprises' expansion and the Bus-Rapid Transit system on University Avenue.

"It is a great marketing tool for attracting businesses into the downtown," Beckham said at the model's official unveiling Thursday morning.

Beckham solicited $25,000 from Utah County, the city, Nu Skin, Zions Bank, Wells Fargo and other businesses to build the model, while Kinateder donated $10,000 in time and materials.

Kinateder, who has made models of Las Vegas Strip casinos and an island in Belize, said three-dimensional models are still an effective tool.

"When you give people a video, they watch it once and never look at it again," Kinateder said.

But a model draws attention, and people spend more time looking at it — sometimes too much. He said one of his Vegas models routinely had cars removed from it.

And, unlike a video, people can view models from different perspectives to get a sense of how the project will actually look.

A. Paul Glauser, the city's redevelopment director, said the model allows people to see the downtown in the context of how it currently looks and how it will appear when the Nu Skin expansion and convention center are completed.

He said it also highlights something that isn't evident to people at ground level: There's plenty of parking downtown. The model shows large lots behind most downtown buildings, in addition to parking garages in the area.

Municipal Councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett, who also chairs the Redevelopment Agency Board, said the model is also a planning tool. She said it provides a way to see the area's strengths and possibilities.

"There's something cool about something that is 3-D," Everett said. "You can see relationships … what we're missing and what we need to do better."

Joel Racker, president and chief executive of the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the model could also help event organizers better use downtown buildings and parks by looking at a more detailed lay of the land.

Glauser said the model will be displayed at City Center for several months. The plan is to put it in the convention center lobby when the building is completed.

dmeyers@sltrib.com

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