He was referring to the mammoth new Falcon Hill development. Over the next 15 to 20 years, it will encompass 550 acres, stretching from Roy to Clearfield, potentially employing upward of 75,000 people.
Ground was formally broken for the multi-billion dollar project that has been a several-year effort between city, county, state and federal officials. They are also partnering with private developers.
“With this initiative, the future looks very bright for Hill Air Force Base,” said Maj. Gen. Kathleen Close, base commander.
The project will mean more than a million square feet of new office/production facilities for the base, including replacement of the old “1200 Series” buildings, some built in World War II, some up to two decades before.
Private developers Woodbury Corporation of Salt Lake City and Hunt Development Group of Texas will create the new buildings. They are joining together as Sunset Ridge Development Partners, LLC.
Through “enhanced use leasing,” land will be retained by the base and non-base buildings leased for 50 years. Some will be built “behind the fence,” on base, and other development will be outside the base.
Aerospace and other defense-related firms are expected to occupy much of the office and production space. A couple of hotels, including one in Clearfield, as well as restaurants and other retail space, to meet employees’ needs, will also be built.
The governor compared this development to the start, 40 years ago, of the University of Utah Research Park. It now employs more than 7,500 people working for 42 firms, 69 academic departments in 37 buildings. It is housed on 320 acres.
“This is one of those moments that people years from now will say was a pretty good job,” Huntsman said.
Sen. Orrin Hatch was strong in his praise of Falcon Hill.
“As one who has been in the Senate for 32 years, and involved in every BRAC fight (Base Realignment and Closure) – this is a site that is going to be one of the richest, most important areas in the world.”
“Creativity” and “the commitment of this community” were how U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop described ways this project has come to be.
“Thinking outside the box” by such an entity as the Pentagon was also praised by the Kaysville native, who added, “this is the forefront, it’s cutting edge.”
“This is a mission critical to take people in quality buildings to do their mission better,” said Robert Moore, deputy chief, Asset Management and Operations Division of the Air Force.
“My commitment is that there won’t be roadblocks that stand in the way. You have made this happen,” he said of Close, while also praising efforts of Hatch, Bishop and others.
“Many days in the past, over five years, I didn’t think it would happen,” said Jeff Woodbury, CEO of Woodbury Corporation.
“Herculean” efforts were required to make it happen. “There were all kinds of reasons not to work on this. It was too complicated. There were all the details to go through, security, logistical issues, that took hours and hours.
“But everybody said if you create something, this will be a model for our country. We view this as an investment in the people at Hill AFB, the community, and the state of Utah.
“I have four children who work outside of the state. I want my children here. This will provide worthwhile jobs for this community,” he said. “This will create an important corridor,” perhaps comparable to Silicon Valley or the Washington corridor.
tbusselberg@davisclipper.com
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