last update: October 23rd, 2007

The Downtown Trade

A UTAH STORIES INVESTIGATION:
How Main Street Was Traded for Wall Street

Introduction

I:The Great Divide

II:Post WWII suburban growth

III:The decline of Main Street

V: The downtown trade

IV:The rise of the mall

VI: skybridge debate of 1978

VII: collapse of the local giants

VIII: Investigation Conclusion

	Photograph taken after completion of the new and "improved" Z.C.M.I mall. (note: this photograph was taken long after completion of the Z.C.M.I Center mall but the facade shown here is as it remained after completion.)

While The Z.C.M.I Center became a great success with shoppers, downtown still had many areas blighted and in need of repair. Mainly, across the street from the Z.C.M.I at the Constitution Building (pictured bottom of page). An old yet architecturally beautiful relic in need of serious repair, the Constitution was bought by a local developer on a loan from Zion Securities (the profit arm of the L.D.S church) in order to get the new mall underway.

1978:Crossroads Plaza Finally Gets Started-- June 25, 1978 Salt Lake Tribune

The illustration has much more architectural detail than the final Crossroads Mall ever had.

	Crossroads Plaza Finally Gets Started   courtesy of the Utah State Archives

	The Constitution Building   courtesy of the Utah State Archives

The most historic building razed in building the malls was the Constitution Building. This photograph, taken in the forties shows what a beautiful building this was. A later photograph, however, tells a little different story. The building was in serious need of renovation and at the time if its demolition it might have taken some real vision to imagine the work required to bring this back to its previous form. It would be years latter before anyone would realize that was a big mistake. To the West of the building (right-hand-side) is Richard's Street, this entire city block would be demolished and replaced by the Crossroads Mall.