George Frey / Bloomberg

The City Creek Center, being built across the street from the Mormon Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, features a retractable roof overhead and a 1,200-foot-long man-made creek.

Mall construction has screeched to a near-halt across the country, with stores such as San Francisco's Gap shuttering hundreds of locations.

But in Salt Lake City the future of retail is bright: On Thursday, a 700,000-square-foot mega-mall will open in the city's heart. Construction was funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

City Creek Center is the nation's only regional mega-mall slated to open this year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, and more than 90 stores and restaurants are moving in. One-third of the retailers are new to Salt Lake City, including Tiffany and Coach. Nordstrom and Macy's are also on board.

Designed by the church's real estate arm, City Creek Center is replete with a retractable sunroof, an artificial creek and fountains that spew fire and water. Apart from elaborate design features, the redevelopment project - estimated by the Mormon-run Deseret News to have cost roughly $1 billion - includes offices, condos, apartments and 5,000 underground parking spots. The mixed-use project is owned and run by mall operator Taubman Centers, which has a long-term lease and revenue-sharing agreement with the LDS Church. Stores will be closed Sundays.

This kind of project isn't new to the Mormon Church; the institution owns many commercial enterprises, including hunting grounds, radio stations, newspapers and insurance companies - not to mention a $1 billion, for-profit cattle-and-citrus ranch in Florida and a Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Its newest investment will sit directly across the street from the church's monumental Temple and Tabernacle.

Why the big investment in retail?

"These are the two major city blocks that sit across from the headquarters of the Mormon Church and they were poorly designed," says Bill Taubman, chief operating officer of Taubman Centers, who says City Creek has replaced two failing fortress-like shopping centers. "The church ... decided that a major mixed-use project with retail as a centerpiece would be the best way to rejuvenate and stabilize downtown."

In some ways, the Mormon mega-mall investment isn't surprising. The religion's history with department stores dates back to 1868, when Brigham Young, the church's second president, founded Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution. ZCMI, sometimes referred to as "America's First Department Store," was sold to the May Department Stores Co. (now Macy's) in 1999.

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Mormon Church building mega-mall in Salt Lake City

Alberta Baptist Church, shown Thursday, is expected to be demolished starting this week. The building was one of 22 churches in Tuscaloosa County damaged or destroyed by the April 27 tornado.

TUSCALOOSA | Demolition is expected to begin this week on what remains of Alberta Baptist Church.

The building on University Boulevard was one of 22 churches damaged or destroyed by the April 27 tornado and one of the first to begin working with city planning officials to discuss reconstruction based on new building regulations and zoning requirements.

Church members said there were questions about whether to rebuild at all, relocate or even merge with another congregation. The church has been at 1761 University Blvd. E., a gateway to the Alberta community, for more than 90 years. Prayers and contemplation led to the congregation's decision to stay there.

It became obvious that we needed to be back in Alberta and Alberta needed us to be there, said John Matthews, who heads the church's long-range planning committee. This has been a disaster in every sense of the word, but it is an opportunity for a fresh start.

Although the building was destroyed, the church and its congregation are still strong, said building and grounds committee chairman Dan Turner.

In the days after the tornado, church members helped residents in Alberta find food, clothing and family members. Since then, church members have continued to provide assistance to the community from a trailer and tent in the church parking lot.

The congregation has been meeting at Open Door Baptist on McFarland Boulevard on Sundays.

We've had a wonderful ministry, Turner said. It's been a spiritual blessing to us.

The city's plans to improve the nearby Jaycee Park with an upgraded facility for the Boys and Girls Clubs of West Alabama, a BMX bicycle track, a playground, a baseball diamond and a three-court basketball gym will give the church an opportunity to be involved in those community activities, Matthews said.

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Building demolition will give Alberta church a fresh start

An engineer hired by a New Holland-area mega church distilled a 643-page traffic study in 45 minutes on March 13 at an East Earl Township supervisors meeting.

"We're not here for any approvals," said Bob Murphy, senior project manager for Larson Design Group, on behalf of Petra Christian Fellowship, which plans to expand its campus in four phases over the next 15 years at 565 Airport Road.

Murphy said PCF is preparing a secondary submission of preliminary plans. The original plan was proposed to the East Earl planning commission in March 2010.

PCF will submit the plan to the Earl and East Earl township planning commissions, who will make a recommendation to their respective township supervisors as to whether the conditional preliminary plans will move into final design.

"(PCF) anticipates submitting a final phase 2 plan in a few months," stated Murphy in an email. "Construction will hopefully begin by late 2012 or early 2013."

The first phase of the expansion was completed in 2011. The second phase is in its planning stage. Projected completion dates of the third and fourth phase projected completion dates are 2017 and 2027, respectively.

In the first phase, the church added 92 parking spaces to the original 448. Construction began in April 2011 and was completed in September of the same year.

In the plan's second phase, 55,739 square feet will be added to the original 61,400 square-foot facility. The church would add another 340 parking spaces, build a new classroom and subdivide 10 acres into six lots along Ranck Road to help pay for expansion costs.

The plan's third phase, Murphy said, would add an additional 36,689 square feet to the facility by constructing a gymnasium. Possible road work may be required to Airport Road as well.

In the plan's final phase, the church would add an additional 40,781 square feet to the facility by building a new chapel and narthex, doubling its seating capacity to 3,600, and expanding the church's sanctuary.

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New Holland church shares plans for expansion

At left, Nivea Wright helps missionaries check out of the MTC.

Ravell Call, Deseret News

Enlarge photo

PROVO Provo will receive a towering new landmark when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completes its planned new nine-story building on the Missionary Training Center campus.

Construction activities for the as-yet-unnamed building are scheduled to begin in late summer 2012, with completion anticipated in late 2014.

The decision to construct the new building was announced last August, when LDS officials indicated the Melvin J. Ballard building (known to tens of thousands of missionaries who have passed through the MTC as the home of the MTC bookstore, mailroom and the Training Resource Center) will be demolished to make room for the new building.

At that time, church spokesman Scott Trotter indicated that the Ballard Building was in need of significant upgrades, and that LDS leadership determined that razing the old building and constructing a new, larger, state-of-the-art facility was a better option.

It is only recently, however, that the church publicly indicated just how much larger the new building will be. At nine stories, it will be one of the tallest buildings in Provo, ranking behind the Spencer W. Kimball Tower on the BYU campus (12 stories) and the Nu Skin headquarters (10 stories) and equal to the Provo Marriott, which is also nine stories.

In order to talk about possible neighborhood impacts of the construction process for the new building, the church will hold a neighborhood meeting on Thursday, March 22, at 6 p.m. in the Rock Canyon Elementary School gymnasium (2405 N. 650 East in Provo attendees should enter in the west door from the lower parking lot off of 2230 North).

Church representatives will be on hand to answer questions and respond to neighborhood concerns.

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MTC prepares to start construction for new nine-story building

Boston black leaders plan to travel to Los Angeles next week to push minorities there to boycott OneUnited Bank over its plans to foreclose on Roxburys historic Charles Street AME Church.

We stand here today ... calling upon the black community to withdraw every dime they have in OneUnited Bank until they have worked out their differences (with the church), the Rev. Eugene Rivers III said yesterday at a protest convened outside the banks Grove Hall branch to launch the boycott.

In a week or so, (we) will be going to Los Angeles to meet with black church leaders (there) to organize the boycott until OneUnited Bank comes to the table, Rivers said.

Boston-based OneUnited which has branches in Massachusetts, California and Florida plans to foreclose on Charles Street AME next week.

The black-owned bank is taking action because the 194-year-old congregation failed to pay off a $1.1 million balloon mortgage that came due in December.

The overwhelming majority of our community lives up to their financial responsibilities, OneUnited said in a statement.

Charles Street says it would have refinanced into a new loan, but couldnt because of a long-running legal feud with OneUnited.

The bank sued the church in 2010 over a $3.6 million construction loan that the congregation took out to build an adjacent community center.

OneUnited cut off funding in 2009, leaving the project unfinished and the church unable to raise money to pay off the debt.

Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) and Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson joined ministers in calling for the boycott.

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Bank, church fight escalates

PROVO -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans Thursday to construct a new state-of-the art building at the center of the Missionary Training Center campus. The new building will replace the Melvin J. Ballard Building, which will be demolished as part of the construction process.

The LDS Church has several major ongoing building projects in Utah County including a large multi-stake complex at 300 N. and 900 East, the $90 million science building at Brigham Young University, the Downtown Provo Temple and the Payson Temple among others.

MTC representative Richard Heaton indicated that the LDS Church had yet to file for a building permit Thursday. However, they will hold a neighborhood meeting at 6 p.m. March 22 at the Rock Canyon Elementary School gymnasium, 2405 N. 650 East.

"We want to be good neighbors," Heaton said. Church representatives will be on hand to discuss the project.

Neighborhood chairman R. Paul Evans encouraged residents to attend and give their opinion. He said some in the area are not thrilled with the nine-story building.

"We would like to see two five-story buildings rather than one nine-story," he said. "This will be the only meeting held on the matter."

According to a news release from the Church, the Melvin J. Ballard Building has served as home to the MTC bookstore, the MTC mailroom, the training resource center and four large-group meeting rooms. During the demolition and subsequent construction process, the bookstore and mailroom will be moving into the soon-to-be-completed east wing of the Jacob Hamblin Building.

While the existing Ballard Building has two floors above grade, the new building is designed to have several more floors above grade. The new building will house classrooms equipped with modern technological resources.

The ground on which the MTC sits is already zoned for the proposed building. Because the new building will be built in the center of the Missionary Training Center campus, no adverse impact is anticipated for the surrounding neighborhoods throughout the construction process.

However, Missionary Training Center representatives will be available to area residents to answer questions and address concerns as the changes take place.

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LDS Church announces nine-story building at MTC

An employee of Beth-Allen Scaffold & Equipment out of Allentown moves a plank of scaffolding on the sixth level on the tower at St. Matthew Lutheran Church on Wednesday afternoon.

(THE EVENING SUN CLARE BECKER)

St. Matthew Lutheran Church is beginning a $1.3 million construction project that could take several years to complete.

The project at the 90-year-old Hanover church is divided into two phases, and construction for the first phase started Tuesday, Pastor Dan Yeiser said. The work is being done for safety reasons and to keep the building on Chestnut Street in good shape.

"We're just trying to preserve and enhance it for ourselves and for future generations that pass through the hallways," Yeiser said.

The first phase includes restoration of the north side of the tower, which started Tuesday with the erection of scaffolding. Yeiser said that work could take two weeks to complete.

After Easter, the second

A worker monitors the materials being elevated to the upper scaffolding levels on Wednesday outside of St. Matthew Lutheran Church on Chestnut Street in Hanover. (THE EVENING SUN CLARE BECKER )

The construction will not interrupt any services at the church.

The last time the church received renovations was in 2000, and that was mostly for the interior, Yeiser said.

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Hanover church begins restoration

By Nikki Gaskins ngaskins@abcnews4.com

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCIV) -- Five months after a Georgetown church was destroyed by fire, members broke ground on a new building to be located on High Market Street.

"This is an enjoyable day for us to have a groundbreaking and to have our new church being built," said excited church member, Terry Fulton.

Janette Graham, a long time Georgetown native who lives by the location of the new church, agrees.

"It's wonderful. It's really nice," she said.

Last October, a fire destroyed their original building located on Winyah Street. Ever since, members have held service at neighboring church, Duncan Memorial United Methodist.

"They have a little chapel that we're using," said Fulton.

The new church will sit just blocks away from the original site. According to the church's pastor, the total price tag for the land and building adds up to $1.8 million dollars.

"The church is going to be 20,000 square feet--the church and the family life center. And we're going to have parking all around, a walking trail," said Rev. Carl Anderson.

Anderson says construction is expected to begin March 20th on the 3.1 acres of land.

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Church members work to rise from the ashes

14 March 2012 Last updated at 13:15 ET By Huw Williams BBC Scotland reporter

It's been called Grand Designs meets Scrapheap Challenge.

But for me it's more like what could have happened if Stig of the Dump or Uncle Bulgaria had been ministers of the Kirk.

Colston Milton Parish Church is fund-raising, to put up a new building and community centre. Nothing too unusual about that, you may think. But it's going to be built of recycled rubbish.

To be specific: four tonnes of beer cans; a dozen redundant shipping containers; 300 industrial pallets; and 500 used car tyres.

But they're starting small.

There's something deeply right that in God's economy nothing - from people, to time, to materials, to resources - is wasted

Work is starting on the first building that'll go up on the site - an "energy awareness hub".

It'll be based in two containers - the sort of thing that's used to ship goods around the word.

They've reached the end of their useful life, and were due to go for scrap. But they're finding a new life - perhaps been born again? - hosting a small exhibition on how to reduce your carbon footprint.

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Building Glasgow's rubbish church

For the members of Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester, the idea of building a Community Center for the congregation and community has been in the works for nearly 40 years.

However, the dream became a reality in September of 2011 and on Saturday the community was welcome to learn about Central Community Center and experience its amenities themselves during an open house.

The idea of building this center was talked about when I was a kid here, said Lauren Rieger, a member of the congregation since she was 2 years old. Although I didnt get to use it when I was a kid, I get to see it in good use with my boys who are ages 13, 9 and 5. It is a fabulous place.

The 17,000 square-foot facility sits behind the church on Steelman Road and provides services to church groups, sports clubs, local musicians and much more.

About three or four years ago the church really started talking about making this wish a reality, said Central Schwenkfelder Church Activities Coordinator Juli Apple. At such a tough economic time, we wanted to make sure we were able to do this without financing the building.

A community center committee was created and the group decided to press forward with their planning if the church was able to support 80 percent of the funds after submitting for permits within the township and county.

A combination of faith and dedication came together as church member Allen Koehler described it, stating that the church was able to collect $1.7 million in less than a year to complete the project.

The church, community, friends and family all came together to make this happen, Koehler said. God will use this in many different ways.

Koehler, whom the building is dedicated to, is correct about the building being used for many groups, including the churchs youth ministries, the YMCA Lansdale branch, Towamencin Youth Association, Montgomery County Special Olympics and CAL Sports Academy. Continued...

The Central Community Center contains a multi-sport gymnasium, two classrooms, a lounge and kitchenette.

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VIDEO: Central Schwenkfelder Church invites public to see new community center