Nov 24, 2007

Mall threat a familiar tale for Provo retailersBy Donald W. MeyersSLTrib.com

Provo – Karl Thalman hasn’t forgotten what happened to downtown Provo when University Mall opened in neighboring Orem.

He said the mall – which opened in the early 1970s – almost killed the downtown business district as merchants either relocated to Orem or struggled to find ways to survive the new competition to the north.

“When they built University Mall, I wanted to go out there but didn’t, and I kicked myself in the butt,” recalled Thalman, a former municipal councilman who ran a downtown jewelry store for decades. “But I’m glad I didn’t.”

Although Thalman said the proposed Southgate Center – which was announced earlier this month – will be good for Provo in general, he worries whether downtown will be hurt, especially if the city neglects it in favor of the new development along its southern edge.

But city officials say downtown will be fine as it evolves into more of an arts and professional office district than a shopping center. And the downtown merchants say the secret to survival is, and has always been, to find a niche that can’t be filled at a big-box store.

This past week, Provo unveiled plans to turn a portion of the Reserve at East Bay Golf Course and an old industrial area that once housed an animal-rendering plant into an $80 million retail-and-office development akin to Salt Lake City’s The Gateway.

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