A Catalyst for Downtown Economic Activity

Amid the bustling energy and recent growth of Provo’s downtown Center Street, the $40 million Utah Valley Convention Center has risen. Located on 220 W. Center Street in Provo, the 83,578 square-foot convention center is projected to bring many visitors to Utah Valley as well as cater to the needs of local residents.

Plans have long been brewing for a convention center in Utah County. In 2006, John Q. Hammonds broke ground for both a hotel and convention center in Pleasant Grove, only to have it come to a halt a few months later as the economy took a nose dive. Utah County took matters into their own hands, financing Provo’s Utah Valley Convention Center, which broke ground in June 2010.

The return on investment for a convention center is different than most commercial buildings. Revenue is distributed to the city rather than to the facility itself. Thus, convention centers facilitate financial opportunities for local businesses. Visitors require lodging, entertainment and transportation – all which influence the economy of the county.

“A lot of people think it’s only the businesses right around the convention center that are benefiting,” said Wheeler. “But there’s a thing called compression.When you get people into downtown Provo, they’re staying in the Provo Marriott, and the people that would have been staying there are now staying in Orem and Lehi. It spreads it out for the entire county.” Utah Facilities

Utah Valley center already booking lots of big business

Even though it doesn’t officially open until Saturday, the Utah Valley Convention Center has been a busy place. Even as construction workers slap on the final coats of paint, the center has hosted a high-school prom, a business-college graduation and a Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting.

County officials are optimistic that activity will only grow, and boost Provo and Utah County’s economy in the process.

Jared Morgan, executive director of Downtown Provo Inc. predicts the city’s downtown will thrive among the center, Nu Skin Enterprises’ new headquarters complex, a new LDS Temple and the planned arrival of FrontRunner in 2013.

The convention center is a joint project between Provo and Utah County. The city provided land, while the county is paying the $41.8 million price tag. The county is using proceeds from hotel room taxes and the county’s share of the Tourism, Restaurant, Cultural and Convention Center tax, also known as the restaurant tax, to cover the cost.

Job Fair at American Fork Employment Center

Come to the American Fork Employment Center on Wednesday, February 15, from 9:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m.

Bring your résumé and be prepared to talk to hiring representatives about customer and sales representative positions.

For more information, click picture to enlarge>

Employers - Workforce Solutions

Meeting your workforce needs just got easier.

Find out how the Department of Workforce Services can help you.

Employer Orientation is Thursday, February 2nd at the Provo Employment Center.

For more information click on the flyer>>

Central Utah Telephone gets $2.5 million from stimulus

A second round of federal stimulus funding for broadband projects will make its way to the Beehive State through Central Utah Telephone Inc. The Utah company will receive $2.5 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture funds. The money will pay for installation of more than 70 miles of middle-mile underground fiber optic cable in Juab and Millard counties. The Deseret News

Utah school for disabled to lay off workers

The State Developmental Center in American Fork will lay off up to 45 workers in upcoming weeks because of a $6 million budget cut.

Superintendent Karen Clarke said the school has been discussing the impact of budget cuts with parents, staff and community.

More than 200 developmentally disabled residents who are unable to speak or care for themselves live at the school. The Deseret News

Utah career college to hire 300 to meet demand

Stevens-Henager College is looking to add 300 jobs this year, positions it says are needed to service an influx of students using recession-driven downtime to increase their educations.

The private career college, founded in Salt Lake City in 1891 and now part of a group called CollegeAmerica Services Inc., is advertising for a variety of positions, from admissions representatives to instructors and managers.

Salary levels will range from $30,000 per year for some entry-level positions to a base salary of $175,000 for an upper-level manager, said Eric Juhlin, CEO of CollegeAmerica Services. The Salt Lake Tribune

Hotels see boost in May

Utah hotels saw a nice little bump in business last month, especially compared with May 2009. Typically a slow travel period, May of last year was even worse than usual, with hotel occupancies across Utah dropping to less than 55 percent each night.

But this May, hotels statewide were 59 percent full on a nightly basis. The average daily room rate did not increase commensurately, but pretty much held steady.

Although occupancy was up 4 percent, the statewide room rate could not keep pace. Still, it rose about $1.50, to $86.70 nightly last month, according to figures from the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report. The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Hotel Occupancy

Hotels statewide generally filled more rooms last month than in May 2009 (in parenthesis):

Salt Lake County » 66.3 percent (59.4)
Ogden » 68.5 (67.2)
Davis County » 68.3 (68.0)
St. George » 59.0 (54.4)
Utah County » 58.9 (55.0)
Logan » 52.3 (37.4)
Cedar City » 46.5 (51.9)
Mountain resorts » 24.9 (25.7)
Rest of Utah » 71.4 (68.3)
Total » 59 (54.9)

Source » Rocky Mountain Lodging Report

Construction of Utah County Convention Center gets under way

Officials broke ground in downtown Provo for the $38 million Utah County Convention Center.

County officials hope that the three-story, 120,000-square-foot convention center will capture enough of the state's convention business when it opens in March 2012 to justify the public expense.

Joel Racker, chief executive of the Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, estimates that Utah County has missed out on $18 million over the past five years because the county didn't have facilities large enough to attract convention business of all types. The Deseret News

UVU approves plans to expand 100 acres in new development

Utah Valley University announced expansion plans on Thursday after acquiring 100 acres at the south end of the former Geneva Steel site, which is being developed into a mixed-use community in Vineyard.

The UVU Board of Trustees approved the 100-acre purchase, valued at $20 million, with Geneva's developer who plans to donate half of the value to UVU.

"Utah Valley University is still growing to meet the higher education needs of Utah residents," said Val Peterson, UVU vice president of administration and legislative affairs, in a press release. "We are excited at the prospect of expanding our campus into Geneva. Surroundings are important to learning, and we anticipate a beautiful setting for our students, faculty and staff surrounded by a vibrant community."

The 1,700 acre mixed-use development, which has space for residential, retail, office and industrial tenants on the eastern shore of Utah Lake, is located on land previously occupied by Geneva Steel. The Deseret News

Credit-card processor opens Utah headquarters

A California-based company that helps businesses process credit-card transactions has sold off its software division, renamed itself and is moving into new headquarters in Pleasant Grove.

Accelerated Payments Technologies is scheduled to open its new Utah County office July 1. Once in place, it plans to have 60 people on staff and predicts it will keep expanding its workforce as its sales revenue grows.

Previously, the company was named CAM Commerce with headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif. But Banks said he and CFO Kyle Pexton, who both live here, believed that Utah was a better location. The Salt Lake Tribune

Allstate looking to open 30 offices in Utah

With roots reaching back to the Great Depression, Allstate insurance company believes tough times like now are ripe for expansion, so it is looking to open 30 offices in Utah.

Allstate, which already has more than 14,000 exclusive agents and financial representatives in the United States and Canada, is recruiting "self-motivated entrepreneurs" to become agents in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Logan and Provo.

The company does not charge a franchise fee, its website noted, and gives selected agents the independence to run their own offices. Agents get commissions on their sales as well as several benefits affiliated with Allstate's stature as a Fortune 500 firm with $133 billion in total assets and 13 major lines of insurance.

Those benefits include access to an education curriculum with information about insurance product and sales skills, help with marketing, website development and signage, technical and customer service support from headquarters and bonuses and performance incentives. The Salt Lake Tribune

$1.1M grant to help streetlights in rural Utah towns go green

Some rural Utah towns are using state dollars to 'go green' as they make the switch to high-tech night lighting.

The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems Smart Energy initiative Wednesday received a Utah State Energy Program Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $1.1 million.

The grant will enable 14 UAMPS member municipalities to retrofit a portion of their existing streetlights with new, energy-efficient LED lamps and fixtures.

Based in Salt Lake City, UAMPS is a nonprofit agency that provides wholesale electricity to 52 community-owned power systems throughout the West, including in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming.

The participating members include the cities of Eagle Mountain, Enterprise, Ephraim, Fillmore, Holden Town, Hurricane, Monroe, Morgan, Oak City, Parowan, Payson, Santa Clara and Springville, as well as Heber Light & Power.

The grants are awarded through a competitive application process. UAMPS was the first organization selected to receive this award through the program. The Deseret News

In April, Park City didn't issue a single new-building permit

The Park City Building Department in April did not issue a permit for a new structure as contractors instead focused on work on existing buildings, according to the department's monthly report.

The Building Department valued the work in April at just less than $1.9 million. The department said it issued 52 permits for alterations or additions, with 45 of them granted for work on dwellings and the remainder issued for work on commercial buildings.

Meanwhile, the department in April also granted eight permits for relocations or demolitions and two permits for signs.

For more than a decade it has been rare for the Building Department to go a month without issuing a permit for a new dwelling. The Salt Lake Tribune

Lindon to convert church into senior center

Lindon has big plans for a small historic church near its city center. After receiving a $212,000 Community Development Block Grant, the city will purchase the church at 25 N. Main from the LDS Church and use the funds to convert a portion of the building into Lindon's first senior center. The rest will be remodeled and used as a community center. The Deseret News

Paper mill not likely for Goshen Valley

A paper mill rumored to be coming to Goshen Valley may be built someday but not in the foreseeable future.

However, other businesses also are looking at a 3,400-acre site the county has targeted for industrial development, with residential to follow, Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson told a group of local officials and business people Tuesday at the ninth annual Nebo Economic Summit.

The site is near the crossroads of U.S. 6 and state Route 68 on the west side of Utah Lake. It could develop into a new Utah County city, Ellerston said, because the county is not in the development business. Property owners, the county and the Economic Development Corp. of Utah are working together on it, he said. The Deseret News

Utah home-security company hiring about 300 for call center

Pinnacle Security, an Orem-based company that sells residential and commercial security systems, is looking to hire 300 people for its call center operations.

About 200 of those new workers will join about 335 existing employees at a call center in Lindon that was recently expanded by 9,500 square feet. The other 100 hires would work from home using upgraded call center technology. The positions are full and part time, Pinnacle Security President Kelly Walker said in a hiring announcement.

Call center work involves the creation of new customer-service accounts, scheduling technicians to install security systems, collections and the handling of customer-service and technical support issues.

A 9-year-old company, Pinnacle Security said it has provided security systems to 250,000 people nationwide in the past three years. The Salt Lake Tribune

FiberTEK is awarded $1.25 million Industrial Assistance Fund grant

A $1.25 million Industrial Assistance Fund grant was awarded to FiberTEK at its Nephi plant. The money was a state incentiveto draw the fiberglass insulation plant to Utah in the form of a grant which was to be presented once the Nephi plant was built, workers were hired and production had begun. The plant now has 80 employees and is at about one-third of capacity. The Nephi Times-News

National park visits boom amid recession

Despite the recession, or perhaps because of it, 286 million visitors flocked to national parks last year, an increase of 10 million people. Utah's national park units attracted just over 9 million visitors during the year, up by 300,000. In Utah, Zion National Park attracted the most visitors of any park unit in the state: 2.7 million, up by 45,000. That set a new all-time visitation record. Zion also ranked No. 7 in visitation among parks nationwide. Elsewhere in Utah, park visit increases and decreases varied widely. Remote Rainbow Bridge National Monument attracted the biggest increase by percentage — 18.7 percent, or a jump of nearly 18,000 visitors. The biggest decrease was at Cedar Breaks National Monument, where visitation dropped by 8.5 percent or by nearly 46,000 people. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Lake Powell) attracted the second-most visits of any park unit in the state: 1.96 million visitors, up just 13,000 from the previous year. Bryce Canyon National Park attracted 1.2 million, up by a booming 16.6 percent.Arches National Park attracted 996,312 visitors, up 7.3 percent; Capitol Reef National Park attracted 617,208 visitors, up 2 percent; Canyonlands National Park attracted 436,241, nearly unchanged from 2008; and Dinosaur National Monument attracted 203,862, up 1 percent. Also, Timpanogos Cave National Monument attracted 138,571 visitors, up 12 percent; Natural Bridges National Monument attracted 92,023, nearly unchanged from 2008; Golden Spike National Historic Site had 45,334. The Deseret News

Work on Utah County convention center set for fall

Construction slated to begin on a $45 million Utah County Convention Center this fall. The center will be built on the corner of 100 North and Center Street, occupying space now used by Atchafalaya bar, the Food and Care Coalition and Mountainland Community Health. The county and Provo officials entered into an agreement to build the center. The center will feature a 21,000-square-foot exhibition hall on the first floor, an 18,000-square-foot ballroom and space that can be partitioned into meeting rooms. The Salt Lake Tribune