SALT LAKE CITY — Buoyed by the continued pull of the lavish 2-year-old City Creek Center, downtown Salt Lake City shops reported record sales last year.

The downtown retailers brought in $800 million in sales in 2013 — up about 3 percent from 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The growth is being fueled by younger residents, suburban dwellers and tourists who sought out downtown restaurants, bars, stores and night life.

City officials and others say the figures show downtown is on its way to becoming a bustling, vibrant place to live and work. They say it’s a stark contrast from the boarded-up, dormant look of the city in the 1990’s.

“Our downtown is fundamentally different than it was just a few years ago,” said Linda Wardell, general manager for City Creek Center.

The open-air shopping center opened in March 2012 and was built by City Creek Reserve Inc., a for-profit firm owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is believed to have cost at least $1.5 billion, though the church has never released a figure.

The hope that the shopping center would attract other development has come to fruition.

Last year, dozens of new office buildings, residential complexes, hotels, theaters and sizable public structures broke ground within the 500-acre central business district. Vacant storefronts and prominent parking lots aren’t erased from downtown’s landscape, but business leaders say the city is quickly transforming.

Construction has begun on a new performing arts center, the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater, as well as the 111 Main office tower.

Three in four Utah residents say they have a positive perception of downtown Salt Lake City, shows a survey that serves as an annual snapshot of the local economy. About half of people in the survey say they have a sense of ownership and connection to the city, compared to only a third in 2009.

“Downtown doesn’t belong just to the people who live or work downtown or just to the people of Salt Lake City or Salt Lake County,” said Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance, the Tribune reported. “It really is a statewide asset, and it’s important that residents of the entire state feel that way.”

Increased use of public transit and growth in urban jobs are also spurring downtown’s rise, officials say.

Employers are increasingly drawn to new downtown office projects because they see them as a way to attract talented workers, said Scott Wilmarth, senior vice president with CBRE, the commercial real estate service firm.

“We’re maturing as a business community,” Wilmarth said. “We’re starting to see the value of having a labor force that can live and work in the central business district.”