So I work in downtown Salt Lake City and in case you weren't aware, it's pretty much a major construction zone. Right now The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is building its City Creek Center, a mixed use residential and commercial development, which will be so great once it's finished but right now it kind of sucks while they're constructing it. My building is in the center of the block where they're taking down the former ZCMI Center, so for the past few weeks it's been crazy being in the middle of it. Yesterday I wrote a list of all the "fun" things about working in the middle of it. I hope you enjoy it!
Top 10 Reasons why it’s so much FUN to work in the middle of a construction zone
1) It gives you practice for what an earthquake might feel like since your building regularly shakes.
2) It’s often a surprise whether or not the walkway on Main Street will be open or not, depending on what demolition is occurring that day. . . (okay I know this is really a good thing since I don’t particularly want to be crushed by a piece of falling rubble, but it still makes for an interesting trek from the parking garage to the office when you don’t know if it’s really open or closed or when it closes for 20 minutes and then re-opens again).
3) There’s so much color in downtown with all those orange vests running around.
4) South Temple might look like a street but it’s actually a maze and if you navigate it successfully, there’s a prize at the end. . . ;)
5) It’s much more fun to look out the window to see what’s going on below than it is to do actual work. (Okay this is really true when the last part of the Food Court comes down in a big chunk and the whole building shakes, and I mean really shakes, so you have to rush over to see what’s going on, and you’re having writer’s block so not much is being done anyway. . . and it’s Friday so you have the weekend on your mind. Basically you’re in the mood to waste time and this is an interesting way to do so. I promise this was a one-time only deal, and I do actually work very hard.)
6) Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like watching buildings fall down?! I think there’s a 12-year-old boy in most people that finds it kind of fascinating, even if it is a tad distracting
7) Speaking on little boys, I suddenly feel like one of my nephews because I also find it interesting to watch the construction vehicles at work, loading the rubble into trucks to be hauled away, using the backhoes to clear it away, etc. (If I were really my nephews, however, I would know the exact name of each construction vehicle, but I don’t so I guess that just makes me a faux construction fan.)
8) The landscape (okay really it’s the skyscape) keeps changing as the buildings, or what’s left of the buildings disappears.
9) The window washing business is booming because of all the dust said construction kicks up. . . (kind of a fruitless exercise, IMO, since they’re just going to get dirty again 10 minutes later, but we wouldn’t want the buildings to look dusty, now would we J )
10) There’s Port-a-Potties all over the place so if you have some kind of potty emergency while walking around downtown, well, you get the picture.
I keep telling myself that no matter how annoying all the construction, closed roads and walkways and dust might be, the end result will be worth it! City Creek Center’ll be awesome when it’s done. I’m just ready for them to be done DE-structing and move on to CON-structing, well at least in the block where my building is located. The former Crossroads site is coming along quite well. If you haven’t checked it out lately, you really should!
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