Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024

A rendering depicts the first phase of The Point, a project state leaders have envisioned on 600 acres of land now freed up for development after the state moved its prison from Draper to Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority)

Utah’s top state leaders — Gov. Spencer Cox, Senate President Stuart Adams, and House Speaker Mike Schultz — and other dignitaries all gathered at a construction site in Bluffdale to don hard hats and climb into several big excavators.

After briefly learning the controls, the governor, House speaker and Senate president dug the machines’ clawed buckets into the dirt to ceremoniously break ground on a crucial road for the first phase of a massive, state-owned development on 600 acres of prime real estate near the south end of the Salt Lake Valley. 

“It’s unlike anything else happening in the country,” Cox told the crowd during the ceremony.

The project — called The Point, named for its location in the Point of the Mountain area, also home to Utah’s tech hub known as Silicon Slopes — has been more than a decade in the making. But Tuesday marked a major milestone as crews began work on Porter Rockwell Boulevard, which Point of the Mountain State Land Authority planners say will be a “critical backbone” that will “catalyze” The Point’s development at the heart of the property. 

State leaders including Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz, and Senate President Stuart Adams operate excavators as part of the ceremonial groundbreaking for the initial phase of The Point on Dec. 17, 2024. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch)

Up until last year, the land situated near the state’s fastest-growing area had been locked up — occupied by the former Utah State Prison. Now, that prison is no more, moved elsewhere.

After years of debate, political wrangling, controversy and a painful siting process, Utah’s political leaders in 2014 and 2015 decided it made financial sense to knock down the dilapidated prison facility to free up the land for development and build a new prison in a remote swath of Salt Lake City, west of the Salt Lake City International Airport. 

That move and the construction of the new Utah State Correctional Facility, which opened in 2022, cost the state more than $1 billion. And that was just for the prison. 

State leaders say the investment will pay off by freeing up hundreds of acres for a “historic” and “unique” development — a project they say will usher in a “new era” for Utah and further elevate the state’s already burgeoning tech sector. 

The Point of the Mountain State Land Authority is in the process of planning the development with a mix of housing, retail, shopping, entertainment, parks and trails, and an “innovation district” that focuses on industries including tech, biotech, fintech and energy.

“We’re going to create tens of thousands of high-quality jobs, right here, and provide economic opportunity for all Utahns,” Cox said. “We’re going to facilitate cutting-edge technology that advances innovation across the state and literally change the world in powerful ways.” 

Using an economic contribution analysis in 2022, the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute projected that when The Point is fully built out — which could take decades — it could spur the creation of 46,500 jobs, $4.4 billion in annual earnings and $7 billion in annual gross domestic product for Utah. 

What will The Point include?

The Point’s planners envision it will ultimately become Utah’s Innovation Community — one that will “foster innovation and technological advancement, provide parks and open space, support economic opportunity and enhance Utahns’ quality of life.”

But first, in order to pave the way for the first, 100-acre phase of the project, construction crews need to extend Porter Rockwell Boulevard as a critical piece of infrastructure. 

“The road itself will not just be built for cars,” said Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, who is a co-chair of the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority’s board. He said it will be “intentionally designed for both vehicular and pedestrian use, including bike lanes and sidewalks, offering an important thoroughfare for commuters while creating convenient paths for pedestrians, cyclists and visitors.” 

In 2022 and 2023, the Utah Legislature approved a $165 million loan fund to help finance infrastructure at The Point. The loan, Schultz said, will be paid back with interest from revenue generated by future ground leases as The Point’s development progresses. Along with Porter Rockwell Boulevard, The Point will also need other infrastructure projects for power, sewer, water, and telecommunications. 

But Tuesday’s ground breaking marked the building of “much more than just a road,” Teuscher said. “We’re building a community.” 

“You can imagine as you look out here in the future, seeing shops, cafés, office buildings that will line that boulevard, incorporating a human-centered design that creates an impactful experience and fosters a sense of place,” he said. 

Along with a restaurant hub called “Taste of Place” and an “outdoorsy urban hub” called “Central Green, the first phase of The Point is planned to include a 1.4-mile paved trail, named “River to Range,” which will connect the Jordan River Parkway to the foothills of Draper’s Corner Canyon mountain biking trails. It will also include “The Promenade,” a development with over 2 million square feet of office space, about 3,000 multi-family housing units, and 222,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and grocery stores. 

A rendering depicts the “river to range” trail as part of the first phase of The Point’s development on 600 acres of state-owned land now free for development after the state moved its prison from Draper to Salt Lake City. (Courtesy of the Point of the Mountain State Land Authority)

Why is the state overseeing The Point’s development?

Teuscher acknowledged that “a lot of people” have asked him: “Why is the state involved in a development project? Why not just sell it off, turn it over to the free market and let them build what the state actually needs?”

That’s because of the innovation district, Teuscher said, meant to “rapidly advance the commercialization of new ideas and products emerging from the groundbreaking research conducted here at The Point.” 

“This is not just another development,” Teuscher said, adding that its proximity to Silicon Slopes, universities at the north and south ends of the valley, and Utah’s capital of Salt Lake City is “unique,” and because of that Utah faces a “generational opportunity.” 

The innovation district, he said, “will attract the best and brightest from around the world to come here to solve some of our nation’s most pressing challenges and create a more prosperous future for the rising generations of Utahns.” 

“The Point will be known globally and loved locally,” Teuscher said. “Our children and our grandchildren will look back on this day to remember The Point as an inflection point for our state.” 

What about housing?

Cox also applauded The Point as a project that will bring “thousands of new housing units to help address our housing shortage, including much-needed affordable housing.” 

The first phase, however, isn’t slated to include affordable housing — but rather apartments that will be offered as market-rate rentals, Michael Ambre, The Point’s executive director, told reporters. Rather, he said future phases of The Point’s development are expected to include owner-occupied housing, and it’s not yet known how much will be considered affordable.

“We’re still doing a lot of studies on housing and what the best, appropriate housing solution will be,” Ambre said when asked about how much housing — and affordable housing — The Point will include. “I can’t tell you exact numbers at this point, but there will be a lot of opportunity for housing.” 

It’s hard to say exactly how long it will take to fully develop all 600 acres of The Point, Ambre said, but it will likely take decades — maybe three.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but it’s a lot market driven,” Ambre said. “But I would expect a 30-year timeline. We have about a 15-year on phase one. We’re hoping to improve on that. … It really depends on interest rates and (the) market.” 

Gov. Spencer Cox sits in an excavator while talking to Sen. Jerry Stevenson during the ceremonial groundbreaking for the initial phase of The Point on Dec. 17, 2024. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch)

Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, — a lawmaker that’s long been involved in efforts and legislation to move the prison and make The Point a reality — attended Tuesday’s ceremony, but he kept to the crowd and didn’t offer a speech. 

However, in brief remarks to Utah News Dispatch, Stevenson joked the only role he missed out on when it came to involvement with the project was being a “prisoner” at the Utah State Prison. 

“We’ve come an awful long way,” he said, recalling when he visited the old prison and learned it was in dire need of expensive renovations to adhere to federal standards. 

While acknowledging there’s still a long road ahead to see The Point fully built out, Stevenson predicted it will be developed “faster” than three decades thanks to Utah’s rapid growth and development pressures. 

“It’s so ideally located,” he said, noting it sits between airports in Salt Lake City and Provo. “It has all the implications of being very convenient for business on a nationwide basis. And that’s turning into a bigger and bigger deal.”

While Ambre said it could take three decades to fully build out The Point, Stevenson was more optimistic, especially given the Olympic Winter Games are slated to return to Utah in 2034. He expects it to also include “opportunities for some things tied to sports or entertainment,” though he said it’s too early to say what those will be.

“Once there’s some pipes in the ground, I think you will see this take off very very rapidly,” Stevenson said. “Maybe as rapid as any project we’ve seen in the state of Utah in a long while.”

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