St. George is angling to become the next tech hub: Tech Ridge is hoping to attract tech companies and talent to Southern Utah.

• Author: Ciaramella, Elainna

Isaac Barlow, the visionary behind Tech Ridge, describes the development crowning St. George as a city within a city on top of a hill.

On a beautiful day in St. George, Barlow led me on a walking tour of the ridge. According to Barlow, the mixed-use development will have offices, residential living space, restaurants, a grocery store, a dog park, a hotel, a chair lift, an adventure park, a zipline, a gym, hiking trails, and a chair lift. He hopes it will appeal to people who want to be a part of the action, and for locals and visitors who want things to do, day or night.

As for people who choose to live there, Tech Ridge anticipates many of its residents will be working from home, thus in need of a professional office in their residence. So, they are designing many of their condos and apartments to facilitate that demand with comfortable office dens and high-speed internet.

ATTRACTING TOP TALENT TO ST. GEORGE

Located at the historic St. George airport, Tech Ridge sits on top of a mesa with breathtaking views of the St. George Valley. There will be 60 acres of parks, trails, and open space. Thirty of those acres will be a rim park and trail allowing people to walk or run the perimeter of the mesa while enjoying the best views in St. George, Barlow explained.

Barlow, a Salt Lake City native, grew up in the construction industry, and like many who relocate to St. George, he did so for a climate change. When he was younger, his family would spend spring break in St. George, so it was a place he visited regularly. He ended up moving his excavation business down to St. George in the mid-2000s.

At the time, Barlow was trying to grow his company, busybusy but it was very difficult to recruit and retain top talent, so he put himself in the shoes of his recruits: If you are top talent, do you want to live in St. George? If it doesn't work out at busybusy, where do you go? Do you have to pick up your family and move because there aren't enough tech companies in Southern Utah?

Like many brilliant ideas, this problem led to an incredible solution: Tech Ridge.

As it turns out, the city, leadership at Dixie Tech, and local educators had their own challenges with lower wages in Washington County and a short supply of tech jobs for graduates. Some of them, including the mayor, wanted to do more than sell the land to the highest bidder; they wanted to create a tech center on the site of the original St. George Municipal Airport, and Barlow thought, "Why not...