Oct. 28, 2008

   A Publication of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah
CEO Jeff Edwards

President's Message

EDCUtah Investors Enjoy Quarterly Investor Update at Swaner EcoCenter


EDCUtah held its Quarterly Investor Update last Wednesday evening in a wonderful setting at the Swaner EcoCenter, a Platinum-Certified LEED building at Kimball Junction. We extend special thanks to Park City Mayor Dana Williams for taking time to welcome our group to his "neck of the woods." We are also deeply grateful to the Swaner EcoCenter's co-CEOs, Colleen Reid Rush and Jeanne Davison, and to Jo Kelly and Lauren Hanely for helping to make the evening a successful one.

I mention the Swaner EcoCenter’s LEED certification because LEED is becoming such an important part of new building design across the country. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It promotes five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water conservation, energy efficiency, materials selections and indoor environmental quality. More and more, environmentally-conscious companies are looking to locate in LEED-certified buildings. Coincidently, our feature story this week highlights the construction progress of another building to be LEED-certified, 222 Main, a 22-story office tower under construction in Salt Lake City. 222 Main will probably be the first Class-A office tower in Utah to receive a LEED Silver Certification.

Another interesting aspect of the Swaner EcoCenter is the role so many EDCUtah investors had in its construction. For example, Salt Lake City Councilman and EDCUtah investor Søren Simonsen and his team at Cooper Roberts Simonsen Associates designed the Swaner EcoCenter. Other EDCUtah investors with roles in the Swaner EcoCenter’s construction include:

  • Big-D Construction
  • Bank of Utah
  • Henriksen-Butler
  • Rocky Mountain Power (The Blue Sky Program)
  • Stoel Rives
  • Wells Fargo
  • USTAR (Executive Director Ted McAleer serves on the Board of Directors at the Swaner EcoCenter)

Thank you again to all of our investors who were able to attend this quarter’s Quarterly Investor Update. These events continue to provide an excellent opportunity for us to give up-to-date, relevant project information that can be used in your businesses planning, prospecting and networking efforts.

Today's Economic Review also includes links to many of the ED-related news stories from last week. As always, if you have comments, suggestions or topics you'd like to see in the Economic Review, please contact us by clicking the “Comments” link at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

Jeff Edwards

Jeff Edwards
President and CEO

Feature

222 Main: Destined to be Salt Lake's First LEED Silver-Certified Office Tower


It may not be the tallest building on Salt Lake City’s skyline, but when it is complete in November 2009 the 22-story high-rise office building named 222 Main is apt to be the first Silver Certified LEED office building of its kind in the state.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, third-party verified system designed for rating new and existing commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings. It has become the standard by which green building performance is rated.

The 222 Main office tower is under construction and expected to be complete by November 2009“Becoming LEED certified is very important to us and we look forward to the Silver certification,” says Bruce Bingham, partner with Hamilton Partners, 222 Main’s developer and owner. “We’ve considered environmental efficiency in every aspect of the building.”

The tower features a highly efficient heating and cooling system and a reflective exterior that will allow light in but stop the heat from sun rays. Storage and exercise areas were designed to facilitate bicycle transportation. A recycling system was developed to capture rainwater for landscape use. 222 Main’s many unique design features will make it one of the most intelligent and efficient buildings in Salt Lake City.

Bingham says a 20-foot tall wall veil at the top of the building will reflect the sun during daylight hours and cast a halo effect around the building at night. With reflective glass on virtually every side, the tower will offer spectacular views of the central business district as well as the Wasatch Mountains.

In addition to its state-of-the-art infrastructure and energy efficiencies, 222 Main has been architecturally designed to help companies maximize their office space and increase employee productivity. With no interior columns, 222 Main will provide tenants with a unique, open floor space that can be easily customized to fit many different needs. Each office floor offers approximately 22,000 square feet of customizable space. Forty-foot lease depths and nine-foot ceilings are typical throughout.

The lobby and adjoining 9,000 square feet of street-front retail space will also be spacious affairs with 14-foot 9-inch ceilings throughout. An inviting fireplace in the lobby will provide a welcoming statement for tenants and visitors entering from Main Street. 222 Main is commuter friendly and provides tremendous accessibility to mass transportation with the TRAX Gallivan Plaza station just outside its doors.

Bingham says Hamilton Partners, a privately owned real estate and investment company, will celebrate the building’s “topping out” event on December 3. Topping out is the point when construction crews have reached the building’s full height of structured steel and the last piece is set in place. The 315-foot tall building will be supported by 4,378 tons of steel.

Next up, construction crews will begin putting up the curtain wall on the exterior in November. After that, the rest of the construction work will be internal to the building, Bingham says.

222 Main will return 425,000 square feet of much needed Class “A” office space to a market that has lost 600,000 square feet of space over the last two years. Three major tenants have already locked in their office space in the tower. The law firm Holland and Hart is the lead tenant and will be taking the tower’s top three floors. Another floor will be taken by real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, and the law firm Brinks Hofer has also committed to lease space in the building.

“Hamilton Partners is very pleased to be part of Salt Lake City community and its growth. 222 Main will be a worthy contributor to the Salt Lake City skyline and the flagship for other construction projects,” Bingham says. “Furthermore, we appreciate the partnerships we have with EDCUtah, the Salt Lake City Office of Economic Development, the Downtown Alliance and the many people that have been instrumental in helping us get the project identified and marketed to prospective tenants.”

222 Main was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, a firm that has designed several prestigious skyscrapers, including the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower in Chicago.

CALENDAR


Dec. 17: Holiday Open House (EDCUtah)

EDCUTAH INVESTORS

Current Investors
Why Be an Investor?
Board of Trustees

 

The Utah Work Ethic

The Economist, in an article titled "The Mormon work ethic," looks at why Utah's economy is soaring above its neighbors. The article has a lot of nice things to say about Utah and ends with this paragraph: “Mormons do not come to work nursing hangovers, and they are inclined to stay put in the promised land rather than pursue better-paying jobs elsewhere. Matthew Donthnier, who is hiring for a new Procter & Gamble plant, has only one complaint about the local workforce: it can be a little difficult to persuade people to toil on Sundays.” Story also in the Morning News.

In The News

Economic Development Headlines from the Past Week

Oracle facility to employ at least 100 people

- A patch of land at 6136 W. 10120 South contains only dirt, but in a couple of years, it will be home to a state-of-the-art data center. Actually, it will be so state-of-the-art that Oracle Corp. isn't even calling it a data center. The company prefers that the 179,000-square-foot, $285 million facility be known as a "compute center" as the company moves from providing infrastructure and support to a full-service organization using technology to help businesses through service. (Deseret News) (LocalNews8)

USTAR building gets $15M boost

- The late medical-device inventor James LeVoy Sorenson amassed Utah's largest fortune in myriad ways and his family is sharing this wealth with equal variety, from arts education to cultural centers to support for the deaf. (Salt Lake Tribune) (Deseret News)

S.L. Airport ranks 8th best in U.S.

- Salt Lake City International Airport was ranked the eighth-best airport in the United States in Conde Nast Traveler magazine's Business Travel Awards, featured in the October issue. The annual survey asks 2,500 business travelers about their experiences with issues such as location, access, customs, baggage, food, shops, amenities, safety and security. Portland International Airport in Oregon ranked No. 1, the magazine said Thursday. (Deseret News)

Iron County mine officially reopens; iron ore will be bound for China

- Thursday's official opening of an iron mine west of Cedar City was a blast. Literally. About 100 dignitaries gathered at Iron Bull Mining and Milling to watch a ceremonial rock blast in the open-pit mine. (SL Tribune)

Coalition rebranded as Envision Utah

- The venerable Coalition for Utah’s Future will soon be known as Envision Utah, and the confusion between the two groups will be gone. On Wednesday, Coalition Chair Pamela Atkinson announced that the Coalition board had unanimously decided to jettison the Coalition name and consolidate all operations under Envision Utah. (Utah Policy)

Ogden lands big triathlon event

- Ogden's courtship of the outdoor recreation industry landed another prize Tuesday: Next September it will play host to the Xterra USA Championship off-road triathlon. But the relationship has been elevated. Team Unlimited, which owns Xterra and produces nationally syndicated programs on the competition, has signed an agreement with the Utah Sports Commission to stage its summer national championship in Utah Sept. 25-26.
(SL Tribune) (Standard-Examiner)

Ogden's future Wal-Mart

- Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey described Wal-Mart's purchase last week of property in downtown Ogden as a milestone in bolstering commercial development within Ogden's business district. (Standard-Examiner) 

Sandy approves skyscraper plan

- A planned Sandy skyscraper can climb to 560 feet - and have an architectural spire that soars to 852 feet above street level. Sandy's Planning Commission has approved the height and architectural design of the first phase of The Proscenium, a 2.3 million square-foot project envisioned near 10000 South and Interstate 15.
(SL Tribune) 

Economic slowdown: Forecasters say Salt Lake City will ride out crisis

- The fundamentals of Salt Lake City's economy are wobbly but sure to stand up straight soon. Such is the forecast by economists, planners, developers and business leaders who say Utah's capital is well-positioned to withstand an economic slug despite the financial chaos gripping much of the country. (Salt Lake Tribune) (Deseret News)

Spot for Draper rail stop still undecided

- The city council here is welcoming a commuter rail stop despite concerns about defiling open space and disrupting American Indian artifacts. The city also is halting plans to renovate the historic Park School, saying its location near a planned light rail stop could provide a great place for additional transit-oriented development. (Morning News)

CEO says innovation flourishes

- With the world economy in seeming free fall, the head of one of the world's most prominent technology companies told a Utah audience Friday that the role of government is crucial to long-term stability and technological advances.
(SL Tribune)

Rio Tinto to sink $300M into smelter

- Rio Tinto, parent of Kennecott Utah Copper, said Wednesday it will invest an additional $300 million into the modernization of the Kitimat aluminium smelter in British Columbia. The company already has allocated $200 million to the project, which is designed to increase yearly production from 250,000 tons to 400,000 tons. (SL Tribune)

Minefield won't last forever, says economic expert

- You're strolling through a peaceful mountainous meadow, and you realize you're in a minefield. You stop. When someone tells you to keep walking, you're cautious at best. That's the nation's economic situation, said Peter Linneman, a professor of real estate, finance and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania. But the crisis won't last forever, he said Tuesday at NAI Utah's economic and real-estate summit in Salt Lake City. NAI is a commercial real-estate service. (Deseret News)

Panel to discuss Korea-Utah ties

- Korea. Half a world away from Utah, right? Only geographically. Economically and historically, the two have stronger ties that you might realize. Those ties, and their future, will be explored Thursday at a panel discussion at Westminster College. (Deseret News)

Small businesses get some good news

- The sun will come out after this economic storm, and until then, small businesses — dubbed the backbone of the economy — have access to more offerings to keep them going, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration said at a Tuesday conference here. (Deseret News)

Light construction to kick off on light rail spur to airport

- The Salt Lake Valley's two biggest traffic drivers - downtown and the University of Utah - were first in line for light rail a decade ago. Now work is starting to connect No. 3: Salt Lake City International Airport. (SL Tribune)

BLM OKs Milford wind project

- The Milford Wind Corridor, a planned wind-energy facility north of Milford in Beaver County, has received approval from the Bureau of Land Management. First Wind LLC, a Massachusetts company that wants to build the wind-power project, said Monday that the BLM had conducted an environmental assessment of the project and issued the findings with a decision to approve the project.

(Deseret News)

Utah Tourism Office Launches Online Adventure Planner

- Travelers who are planning a vacation to Utah have a new online tool to help them create their own travel itineraries. The Utah Office of Tourism has launched a new Adventure Planner on its consumer Website www.utah.
(Utah Business Magazine registration required)

Salt Lake Board of Realtors Reports 13 Percent Increase in Home Sales

- Sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums in Salt Lake County in September totaled 1,033 transactions, a 13 percent increase compared to 913 sales in September 2007. September’s sales increase was the first time in 20 months (since January 2007) that showed a year-over-year increase in sales. September’s sales were down a slight 1 percent compared to 1,046 sales in August.
(Utah Business Magazine registration required)