The centerpiece of one of the largest sustainably designed urban communities and Utah?s newest retail and dining destination, City Creek Center covers two downtown city blocks and features a unique shopping environment with a retractable roof, a creek winding through the property, a pedestrian skybridge, and two 18 foot waterfalls. From its inception, the 23-acre mixed-use City Creek Center was aimed to feature a creek to enliven the shops and promenades and provide a respite for the thousands of people expected to live, work and shop there annually.

Designed as a 1,225-ft-long replica of Salt Lake City’s City Creek, the 23-acre City Creek Center is located directly across from Utah?s most popular tourist attraction, the historic Temple Square of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. City Creek Center features a fully retractable glass roof – the nation?s first in a shopping center – over the retail galleria so visitors can enjoy the shopping center in any kind of weather. Among many unique features, three unique fountains delight and entertain Salt Lake City shoppers with musically choreographed animations using the elements of fire and water.

Opened in late March 2012, there are nearly 100 stores encompassing 700,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, including a 150,000-square-foot Macy’s and 124,000-square-foot, two-level Nordstrom as retail anchors; 1.7 million square feet of office space; some 535 residential units, and 5,000 below-grade parking spaces. Designed by SWA Group, City Creek has earned Silver LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) as a pilot project. Sustainable principles have been applied in design, construction and operation of City Creek. For example, more than 50% of demolition debris was recycled.

?City Creek is one of the most technical and dynamic projects undertaken by SWA in our 50-year history, and will make City Creek Center and downtown Salt Lake City a destination-community unlike any other in the U.S.,? said Rene Bihan, principal of SWA. ?Residents, retailers and office tenants who are already populating City Creek Center have sought out proximity and access to this unique amenity, whether as a store-front overlooking the creek or to walk along the trickling waterway.?

The City Creek stream and promenade begin at the northeast corner of City Creek Center and meander in an S-shape across the entire project, ending at the southwest end – see plan below. The 1-kilometer-long recreated creek with live fish and other flora/fauna habitat serves as the central organizing feature for the retail/housing/office development downtown ? and is the largest flowing watercourse of its kind built on-structure in the U.S. The creek flows across two city blocks, and drops 37 feet in elevation from beginning to end. Some 600 boulders were used for the creek, promenade seating areas and other aspects.

And, as it meanders throughout the property amid pedestrian walkways and cafes, the recreated creek features three waterfalls and a fountain with 50-foot-high jets; the creek varies in width from 1′ to 28′ and from 4″ to 18″ in depth. The water portion of the creek totals about 19,000 sf of overstructure greenroof, but paving, plantings, courtyards, and roof gardens add up to a total of 90,000 sf overstructure. The largest water feature is the Regent Court Cascade, a 17-foot waterfall of 2,500 gallons per minute over native local Utah sandstone boulders of up to 14 tons, brought in from nearby sources. There is a pond with live trout, lush plantings of native material and an interactive fountain in which children can play.

Dominant native trees are Populus tremuloides – Aspen; Betlua occidentailis – Native Birch; and Prunus virginiana – Choke Cherry; in total, 627 trees were preselected for the project a year and half before installation. Trees came from five different nurseries in Oregon and Idaho. The soil depth varies from 3′ to 5′ deep and a structural soil (an engineered planting soil that can support paving over the tree root zone) was used to maximize available tree root zone. American Hydrotech supplied waterproofing and Garden Roof? components on about 3,500 sf of this project. In all, they supplied 300,000 sf of waterproofing for the entire City Creek Center.