Monday, December 17, 2012

Micron Embarks on Multi-use Project in Utah

There’s Silicon Valley, of course, but Utah is kicking the concept of its "Silicon Slopes" into a higher gear with a new large-scale project near the Point of the Mountain.

Earlier this week, the Lehi City Council approved Micron’s 735-acre business and housing development known as a "workplace neighborhood," where people can live, work, play and go to school all in the same place.

Plans call for the Micron project to be built over the next 25 years and bring with it thousands of jobs. It seeks to build on the 4-year-old initiative pushed by others to brand the state’s burgeoning tech industry and sell quality of life by evoking and highlighting the access to opportunities for outdoor recreation and the lifestyle that provides.

Doug Meldrum, economic development director of Lehi, said the timing is right for more growth in the teeming area. Thanksgiving Point is the population center of Utah and "seems to be the nexus of what is going on."

Micron plans to build around the exterior of the IM Flash Technologies center it operates with Intel to produce flash memory chips used to store data in music players, cameras and other digital devices. The development plan includes 780 housing units, including town homes, condominiums and single-family homes. Salt Lake Tribune