KEEPING UTAH'S LIFE 'ELEVATED': AMIDST CHANGING COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPES.

• Author: Allen, Lloyd E.
• Position: UB VOICES BY CBRE

As anyone who has lived in the state for more than ten years can attest, Utah is undergoing some major growth spurts-from Cache County down to the southern corner of Washington County. Word has spread about our access to recreation, highly skilled employees, robust job market, and quality of life. In addition to our natural population increase, which once again topped the national average, in-migration continues to be steady. In fact, new census data reveals that Salt Lake City gained 17,000 residents to reach a population of 1.22 million. When considering the adjoining Ogden and Provo MSAs, the Salt Lake City metro population is 2.5 million and is the 23rd largest U.S. metro just after Charlotte, NC and just ahead of San Antonio, TX.

But with these growth spurts come growing pains as the state adjusts to this rapid progress. Our infrastructure is being tested, our housing availability and costs have been stretched, and in an effort to keep up with this surging growth, development is beginning to occur in places previously untapped in the market. The face of Utah is changing, so how is this affecting commercial markets?

Commercial real estate literally houses organizations of commerce. As a result, it is directly tied to economic indicators and can be thought of as an "Economy in a Box." If you were to take all the pieces of the local economy--job growth, unemployment, demand indicators, etc.-and box them up, you could see the effects mirrored in the local commercial market. The state's monumental growth has affected commercial development, and although there are a number of projects occurring throughout the state, no other region has seen the rapid change that is occurring at the Point of the Mountain--the place where Salt Lake and Utah counties meet and the current site of the Utah State Prison (the Prison).

To make way for much-needed infill development at the Point of the Mountain, the Prison, which has resided in Draper since 1951, is being moved to the Northwest Quadrant of Salt Lake City. The implications of this change are so impactful that the State Legislature created a coalition--the Point of the Mountain Commission--to formulate an all-encompassing master redevelopment plan of the area. This change is also creating two major development hubs along the Wasatch Front by opening up new land in these areas--the prison site in Draper (the new prison is scheduled to open in 2021), and the previously untapped Northwest Quadrant. Let's...