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Smith's Food and Drug to Anchor Holladay Major Mall Redevelopment

File: Howard Hughes Corporation

Smith’s Food and Drug will be the anchor grocery store for the development at the former Cottonwood Mall in Holladay. Activity at the 57-acre multi-use project stopped at the start of the recession. Marsha Gilford is vice president of public affairs for Smith’s. She says the new 78-thousand square foot store will be built just north of Macy’s and have two levels of below-store parking.

 
“It’s exciting to be able to reach into a community where we’ll be able to welcome people who live a block from our store and walk in everyday and those also that need to drive,” says Gilford.
 
Robert Dahle is the mayor of Holladay. He says the announcement by Smith’s marks a major turning point for the city.

Credit Bob Nelson
Mt. Olympus view to the east of the old Cottonwood Mall. More activity has recently been seen as rumors circulate in the community of a pending major announcement from developer Howard Hughes Corporation.

“That’s been kind of the key piece to the puzzle and so though they’re not formally announcing they are going to start the project, we feel like this announcement really is the beginning of very exciting news to come very shortly from Howard Hughes Corporation,” says Dahle.
 
Dahle says the city has been in negotiations with the current developer since it took over the project from bankrupt General Growth Properties. He says he discovered during his recent campaign for mayor that this project was by far the number one issue on the minds of Holladay residents.

Bob Nelson is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in mass communications. He began his radio career at KUER in 1978 when it was still in Kingsbury Hall. That’s also where he met his wife, Maria Shilaos, in 1981. Bob left KUER for commercial radio where he worked for 25 years, and he is thrilled to be back at KUER. Bob and his family are part of an explorer group, fondly known as The Hordes and Masses, which has been seeking out ghost towns and little-known places in Utah for more than twenty years.
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