Elk Grove Promenade Developer Becomes Issue in Utah Election

If misery loves company, the Elk Grove Grove Promenade may have found some in Holladay, Utah.

Like Elk Grove, Holladay is home to a "mall" owned by Chicago-based General Growth Properties (GGP). The difference is while our mall stands half-baked and has become something of a local symbol of the collective hubris display during the real estate boom, Holladay's Cottonwood Mall is a series of pits and weed patches left after GGP tore down the 45-year old structure and promised to redevelop the site.

As in Elk Grove, the credit crisis and ensuing Great Recession not only halted both projects, it forced GGP to file the largest real estate bankruptcy in the history of the United States.

Not surprisingly the redevelopment of Cottonwood Mall has become a hot-button issue in their city council elections being held two days from now. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Holladay.

With our city council elections just a little over a year away, it will be interesting if anybody uses the Elk Grove Promenade debacle as a campaign issue.