Downtown Rising.

It's the rage! Well, not yet anyway. The Downtown Alliance, along with the Salt Lake Chamber, have created a new development plan to help spur development in the business center of Salt Lake. While nothing has really been drawn up by the plans, there is a great article in the Tribune about the possibilities. These plans have been done by college students from around North America (yes, even Canada is involved, too!) and most had positive things to say about downtown Salt Lake's potential.

You can read the plan here.

Here's some excerpts I found interesting.

Using City Creek is a must, the students said. The city is already talking about bringing the river - now entombed in a culvert between City Creek Canyon and the Jordan River - to the surface west of The Gateway. The students suggest freeing it earlier, from City Creek Park, and placing it atop North Temple to link Temple Square to what will be the LDS Church's educational campus three blocks away at the Triad Center, where LDS Business College and a BYU Extension is moving.

I've always thought downtown Salt Lake City lacked any real natural environment. Some cities don't have the luxury of being built next to a creek/river, Salt Lake City not only had that luxury, but decided to force the creek under ground. That was a stupid idea and hopefully the city actually resurrects it, because I believe it could be a much needed benefit to downtown Salt Lake. The creek is small, but I don't think many can deny it would beautify downtown.

Since 100 South isn't traffic-heavy now - it terminates at the Salt Palace - the students proposed eliminating some traffic lanes between West Temple and State Street and making it pedestrian-oriented with wide sidewalks and trees. "A place where people want to go," pitched Aaron Nelson, a University of Utah graduate. They proposed something similar for 300 South - eliminating some traffic lanes and adding small buildings to the middle of the street for delis, cafes, flower shops.

I like this plan, too! Salt Lake is very unique because of its wide streets, so anything that narrows them, at least downtown, is ok by me. I think 100 South from State Street and Main is rather unexciting, so it definitely would be a benefit to the city if they try and inject some liveliness into the area.

Finally, I found this to be interesting as well.

They suggested seven districts, including a Main Street District, known for its historic buildings, a Broadway District on 300 South, renowned as "restaurant row," and City Creek District, an "urban oasis."

I can't help but love the term urban oasis, something that I don't think anyone would use to describe downtown Salt Lake City. Though with good planning, smart leadership and wise development, Salt Lake very well could turn into that, at least I hope so. It also probably doesn't hurt that Salt Lake has a nice, condensed downtown. Most of the development is built around two main thoroughfares, Main and State. There's a starting point, now let's hope the city initiates its plan and sees it through.

As for what I would do to downtown, here's my ideas.

• I think it's important that the city connects Gateway with Main Street. Currently downtown is expanding westward and that means there's more and more development west of the Gateway. However there's still a lot of work to be done, but I do think the potential (there's that word again) is strong for this area. Firstly, west of Main and around the Gateway needs to be an entertainment/residential district. With the Delta Center and Gateway Shopping Center, you've got a great starting point. Clubs, bars restaurants and most importantly PEOPLE need to be the crux of this area. You do that by building residential lofts, condos and apartments throughout the neighborhood and all this development will start showing on its own. It will also bridge the gap between the central core and the Gateway.
• A trolley loop. No need to go into detail here.
• 400 South light rail development. 400 South is a key part of downtown and with the light rail line heading east up it, this area should be ripe for development. And I'm not talking about the suburban cookie cutter strip malls that have become more and more common on that street, either. High density, urban housing should work its way up toward the University of Utah campus. The city needs to take full advantage of the light rail line and that means putting residents right at the foot of it. 400 South is in a perfect location, right between the main core of downtown and the University of Utah.
• Mixed-use development sprinkled throughout the core. Gateway and eastern downtown have their share of residential development, but central business district does not. Outside of the American Towers and a few smaller condos, downtown is still lacking in this category. The LDS Church's plans are a giant leap in the right direction, but we can't stop there. We need more mixed-use development to anchor the southern area of Main Street (how about the parking lot where the old Newhouse Hotel once stood?) and we also need this kind of development on State as well. The more people that live downtown, the more lively it will become. Downtown Salt Lake should be a 24 hour city and currently, it's only an 9-5 city.

Currently that's all I have, but maybe I'll update my list later. Downtown's future is bright, but that's the same thing they said in the 1960s, and we all know how that turned out.