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Taylorsville • Demolition got underway Tuesday to clear the way for a planned new retail development on 20 acres just south of 5400 South and west of Redwood Road — an area that has become blighted with vacant and deteriorating buildings.

"It's really the heart of Taylorsville," said city economic development director Wayne Harper. "They'll probably have about 220,000 square feet that will be laid out much better and it will be an entertainment/restaurant-themed development."

S-2, of San Diego, is the developer of the planned Crossroads at Taylorsville.

The city has been an active participant in the project, helping the previous owner find a buyer who would redevelop it, but without investing any public dollars or offering incentives, Harper said.

"We've been working with them for over a year creating a plan and a vision ... so it really looks like a destination area, not just isolated."

The project will feature the first Regal theater in Utah, a 12-screen multiplex. It also will be home to a relocated Cafe Rio, an ice-cream parlor and several other restaurants.

Plans call for the theater and several of the eateries to be open by November 2016.

The project is separate from redevelopment across the street on the north side of 5400 So.

That project — that required knocking down the old Furniture Warehouse store — will see a number of restaurants and retailers.