Utah banks enter 2010 in better shape

Utah banks enter 2010 in better shape
Recession » State supervisor says it's too soon to tell if the industry has touched bottom.

By Paul Beebe, Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:04/10/2010 06:45:27 PM MDT


Several community banks in Utah struggling with bad loans tied to real estate appeared to turn a corner for the better at the end of 2009.

But with two failures already this year and other banks still carrying overdue or defaulted real estate loans on their books, it's hard to know with certainty that lenders are firmly in recovery mode.

Lenders say their banks have raised new capital, written off toxic real estate loans and boosted reserves for future loan losses. And despite ongoing weakness at many banks, depositors' money -- insured up to $250,000 per account by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. -- isn't at risk, they say.

Still, many admit the danger isn't over. While a slow recovery is taking hold, they think home prices will continue to sink this year, leaving banks with little margin for error.

Meanwhile, bank lending remains weak, threatening the ability of businesses to finance expansion and new hiring that could drive Utah's 7.1 percent unemployment rate down from its highest level since 1984.

"We believe that we won't make a lot of progress in the economy until the last quarter, and then in the last quarter things hopefully will start to rebuild," said Paul Mathews, president of Holladay Bank and Trust.

"If I were guessing, we are probably at least a year away from the bottom," said Ron Spratling, the bank's chairman.

Holladay was one of an assortment of community banks with precarious levels of real estate loans to enter 2010 in better shape than just three months earlier.

Prime Alliance Bank of Woods Cross, SunFirst Bank and Village Bank in St. George, Capital Community Bank of Provo and First Utah Bank in Salt Lake City also stabilized or reduced the proportion of their troubled loans to their capital and loss reserves.

The six lenders also fattened their capital cushions to levels exceeding the FDIC's standards for well-capitalized banks. Shareholders of First Utah Bank, for example, added $1.5 million in December, President David Brown said.

And while First Utah's "troubled asset ratio" of capital to bad loans still exceeded 100 percent at the end of the fourth quarter, much of the real estate it took back when borrowers didn't repay the bank is under contract to be sold, Brown said.

"Things are perhaps better than you see," he said.

Community banks are probably holding their own, said Tom Bay, supervisor of banks for the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. But, he went on to say, it's too soon to tell if the banking industry has touched bottom and is recovering.

"They are tied to the economy like everyone else. They are just hoping, like everyone else is, that things will start to fall into place, as far as the economy is concerned," Bay said.

Some lenders weren't able to weather the Great Recession. In January, Bay's department seized Barnes Bank after its troubled asset ratio to capital climbed to 320 percent, bringing the Kaysville bank to its knees. Rumors the bank was in trouble caused a huge run on its deposits, depleting its capital.

Last month, the department closed Ogden's Centennial Bank. Its ratio had ballooned to 829 percent. Both banks had lent heavily to land developers who defaulted when real estate values plunged.

Two banks heavy into real estate lending -- Gunnison Valley Bank in Gunnison and Orem's Western Community Bank -- saw their troubled loan ratios climb during the final three months of 2009. Neither has failed, but both face different futures.

Western has reached a deal to sell 51 percent of the bank to a Utah County group calling itself Rock Canyon in Organization. The investors intend to expand into retail, manufacturing and agricultural lending.

Gunnison, in Sanpete County, is profitable, and President Paul Andersen believes the bank "is looking a lot better."

Gunnison has lined up $4 million in new capital. It has stopped making real estate construction loans and is focusing instead on agriculture and consumer lending. And the bank has cut the value of most of its real estate loans because they are no longer worth the amount shown on its books.

"Things have stabilized. We've still got some [real estate loans] out there, but they've been written down. So our losses are going to be nowhere near what they were," Andersen said.

In February, the FDIC ordered Village Bank in St. George to develop a plan within 60 days for boosting its already hefty capital reserves. The agency also told Village Bank to purge its worst loans within 10 days.

President Douglas Bringhurst said Village Bank has raised additional capital and is foreclosing and writing off loans in order to bring the size of its portfolio into line with its capital.

But while Bringhurst says the bank is doing better, he won't say it's healthy.

"I don't have an answer to that," he said. "We have signed an agreement with the FDIC to work through the problems they have identified, and we are in the process of fulfilling their wishes and doing what they want us to do."

Some bankers think regulators are too pushy. Howard Headlee, who directs the Utah Bankers Association, said Bringhurst may have been unwilling to make a stronger case for Village Bank because of his contact with FDIC examiners.

"I know he's tired," Headlee said. "Dealing with the regulators is an exhausting process. But when you take a step back and take a look at their numbers, [Village Bank] has a lot to be proud of.

"They are a long way from what most people would consider an unhealthy bank," Headlee said.

Spratling, chairman of Holladay Bank, said Barnes and Centennial banks could have survived if the FDIC had given them more time to work out their problems.

That view is gaining some traction in Congress. Two weeks ago, Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., asked the Government Accounting Office to assess whether federal and state banking regulators are being unreasonable in their examinations of community banks.

Overzealous field examiners are also provoking banks to curtail their lending, which exacerbates the economic downturn, Minnick and Frank said last month in a letter to the acting comptroller general, whose agency supervises national banks.

EDCU: Commercial Real Estate Recovery: Are We There Yet?

Has Utah's commercial real estate market hit bottom? Are the capital markets unthawing? Will the retail sector be the first to rebound? Will investors swoop in and gobble up record bargains on distressed properties?

Like other areas of the country, Utah's commercial real estate market was hit hard by the recession. In fact, 2009 was a difficult year for the market in most respects; however, 2010 looks much more promising and 2011 even better. While no one has a crystal ball, EDCUtah's partners from the commercial real estate sector say they are cautiously hopeful that improvements in Utah's job market will lead to the recovery of the commercial real estate sector.

You can read the enlightening story about Utah's commercial real estate market and where it is headed in EDCUtah's spring Site Selector Quarterly (SSQ) newsletter, which is being distributed this week to site consultants, real estate brokers, business leaders, and many other interested parties across the state and nation. Written from the perspective of EDCUtah's partners in the commercial real estate market, the feature story provides an engaging look at the market, its challenges, and how it is connected to the state's job market.

Read the full story online in our Site Selector Quarterly newsletter.

Utah job picture shows improvement

Utah job picture shows improvement

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 9:34 p.m. MDT

SALT LAKE CITY — A rise in national employment is pointing to some positive results for Utah small businesses.

The Zions Bank Small Business Index for Utah jumped to 95.9 in March, up from a revised 91.6 in February.

The strongest U.S. job gain in three years was seen as one more sign of renewed national economic growth, ultimately a positive development for Utah's small businesses, according to Kendall Oliphant, senior vice president at Thredgold Economic Associates who compiled the data for the report.



"We do have evidence that Utah job growth is improving," Oliphant told the Deseret News. "The gain in March marks six consecutive months of improvement in the small-business index."

The index measures business conditions from the viewpoint of the Utah small-business owner or manager. A higher index number is associated with more-favorable business conditions. The index uses 100.0 for calendar year 1997 as its base year.

Factors that are moving the index higher include stronger economic performance in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as across the U.S. and around the globe, Oliphant stated.

"In addition, the pace of Utah job losses is slowing, and we anticipate monthly employment gains to be reported by summer," Oliphant said.

Utah's unemployment rate was estimated at 7.1 percent in the latest month, up from the revised 6.9 percent rate in the prior month. Total Utah employment fell an estimated 27,700 jobs during the past 12 months.

In contrast, the U.S. economy gained an estimated 162,000 net new jobs in March. However, the national unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent in March.

"Utah follows fairly close to what happens across the U.S.," Oliphant said.

He stated that job growth would likely be the trend in the Beehive State in the very near future.

"We anticipate (year-over-year employment) to turn positive in the next few months," he said.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com

Utah business-conditions index rises in March

Utah business-conditions index rises in March

By Brice Wallace, Deseret News
Published: Thursday, April 1, 2010 11:33 a.m. MDT

Utah's business conditions improved just a hair in March, according to a monthly gauge released Thursday.

The Goss Institute for Economic Research said Utah's Business Conditions Index was 55.9 in March, up from 55.8 in February.

The index ranges from zero to 100, with a figure higher than 50 indicating an expansionary economy over the next three to six months. It is derived from a survey of the state's supply managers.

Components of Utah's overall index for March were new orders at 59.5, production or sales at 60.6, delivery lead time at 51.1, inventories at 57.1 and employment at 51.1.

"When the government releases March employment data, I expect it to show that Utah's level of employment was virtually unchanged for the first quarter of 2010," Ernie Goss, the institute's director and also director of Creighton University's Economic Forecasting Group, said in a prepared statement.

"Based on our surveys over the past several months, Utah will add jobs, albeit at a slow pace, for the second quarter of 2010. Even as the state adds jobs, I expect the state's unemployment rate to remain above 6.5 percent for the remainder of 2010."

The three-state Mountain region — consisting of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado — posted an index of 56.6 in March, a figure Goss described as "healthy" despite being down from February's 58.6. Still, it was the sixth consecutive month for the index to be above growth-neutral 50.0.

Utah was the only state of the three to see month-to-month improvement.

"While the region has yet to record overall and significant positive job growth according to government data, surveys over the past several months indicate that the region experienced slight positive job growth for the first quarter of 2010," Goss said.

The region's manufacturing and value-added services sectors are experiencing strong business activity, Goss said, adding that he expects the increase in activity to extend to the rest of the regional economy in the months ahead.

Colorado's index, above 50.0 for the sixth straight month, was 57.0 in March, down from February's 58.8. Wyoming's index in March was described as "still healthy" at 57.5 despite falling from 65.0 in February.

The Goss institute uses the same methodology as a national index undertaken by the Institute for Supply Management. ISM said Thursday that the national figure in March was 59.6, up from 56.5 in February. It represented the eighth straight month of expansion and the fastest growth since July 2004, when the index was 59.9.

Contributing: Associated Press

e-mail: bwallace@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Provo-Orem area projected to have largest growth nationwide

Provo-Orem area projected to have largest growth nationwide

Heidi Toth - Daily Herald | Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 5:43 pm

PROVO -- People may complain about Utah's large families, but if CNN Money is right, that birth rate is going to be the biggest factor in getting Utah a fourth seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

CNN Money on Tuesday predicted that the Provo-Orem metropolis would grow by 47 percent from the last Census 10 years ago, which is more growth than any other city in the nation. One big reason for the growth: for every death, more than six babies are born.

There's more to the story than that, said Mayor John Curtis; Provo consistently has high rankings for quality of life, health, recreational opportunities, safety and well-being. New people are moving here, and people are having large families, and both new and old people are staying, which is how the city's population jumped.

"This is clearly a place where families like to stay and have extended family close by," he said.

In addition to the possible fourth seat, the cities could receive additional Census-related funding above the $300 million received in 2008 and additional sales tax funding, which is partially determined by population. Curtis will be making a cameo on CNN today to discuss the growth.

"We'll make sure we pick out his tie really wisely," Deputy Mayor Corey Norman joked.

April 1 is Census Day, and preliminary results based on the 52 percent of U.S. households who have returned their Census forms will be released. About 53 percent of Utah households have returned their Census forms, according to the U.S. Census, although that varies widely by neighborhood.

A report released in December by Election Data Services showed that if congressional districts were redrawn at the end of last year, Utah would gain a seat. CNN sourced Election Data Services in its predictions, which at the end of the day are still just predictions.

"Whether their predictions pan out, I don't know," Provo spokeswoman Helen Anderson said.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1003/gallery.Census_winners_losers/index.html

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/

Utah’s job losses 'more moderate' in February

Utah’s job losses 'more moderate' in February

The Deseret News
Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010 8:53 p.m. MDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's economy is slowly improving, with more moderate job losses in February, according to an employment summary issued Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Services.

February employment numbers show that Utah's nonfarm wage and salaried job count has contracted by 2.3 percent over the past 12 months, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. Since February 2009, about 27,700 jobs have been lost from the state's economy, leaving total wage and salary employment at just under 1.17 million.


The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 7.1 percent, up 0.3 percent from January and a full percentage point higher than just one year ago.

Last month, 95,300 Utahns were considered unemployed. Nationally, unemployment stayed at 9.7 percent.

The report noted that "the employment change number is noticeably improving because of the time frame now under reference. … Last year's rough patch makes this year's modest declines look less severe."

The report added, "There is also building evidence that the job market is starting to slowly awaken and that the employer community is beginning to again look for workers with which to expand their business output."

For example, Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs on Thursday announced the expansion of its Utah regional operations to approximately 1,150 employees, up from about 720 currently.

Despite that optimism, one local analyst expressed a bit less confidence in the jobs market.

Unemployment numbers are expected to rise in coming months, not because the economy is getting worse but because would-be workers who had given up will again start looking for work, said Randy Shumway, chief executive officer of The Cicero Group, a market research and consulting firm that tracks economic indicators.

"Despite an increase in jobs, unemployment will creep to 10 percent or higher," Shumway said. "As there's positive energy, more will enter the labor market," and that trend will be followed by "hopefully, stabilizing and tapering off" of the unemployment rate.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com, jlee@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Mountain West output, jobs trail nation in economic recovery

Mountain West output, jobs trail nation in economic recovery
Recession» Study says Ogden-Clearfield a beacon of strength thanks to exports.

By Brandon Loomis
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 03/16/2010 06:46:22 PM MDT

The Intermountain West is heading into new and unwelcome economic territory, according to a quarterly report by the Brookings Institution's regional study program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

For the first time in 35 years, the region is lagging behind the rest of the nation's recovery from a recession and may need some "soul searching," according to Brookings Mountain West co-director Mark Muro. Heavily invested in real estate and construction in such previous growth areas as Las Vegas, Boise, Idaho, and St. George, he said, the region as a whole crashed hard and needs diversification.

It particularly needs export businesses, he said. One exception is the Ogden-Clearfield metropolitan area, whose high export levels have put it in relatively strong position heading out of the downturn. The report singles out Electronic Arts, a video game maker that's technically in the Ogden-Clearfield zone because of its location in south Davis County, as performing exceptionally well through export royalties.

EA has announced it will soon move its 100 employees south to downtown Salt Lake City.

"Places that are exporting have been relatively fortunate and had something else to draw on," Muro said. That's why Ogden-Clearfield and Albuquerque, N.M., are the only two major metros in the region to have returned to their pre-recession economic output in the fourth quarter 2009, according to the Brookings report. They're also the only two to add
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jobs in the fourth quarter, though they're not anywhere close back to pre-recession employment levels.

"It's quite an accomplishment to be simply not losing jobs right now," Muro said.

Exports account for about 16 percent of Ogden-Clearfield's economic output, compared with 10.8 percent in the Salt Lake metro area.

Utah as a whole is faring better than much of the region. Salt Lake's employment is off 4.9 percent from pre-recession peaks, compared with losses of 10.7 percent in Boise, 10.6 percent in Phoenix and 9.8 percent in Las Vegas, according to the quarterly report. That's no surprise to University of Utah economist Pam Perlich, who said Utah consistently ranks among the nation's most diverse economies.

Since shedding its 1970s image as having little but energy production and federal jobs, she said, the state has developed substantial manufacturing, military, biomedical and technology sectors. The state's universities help drive the economy, she said, and people have continued moving here even as jobs were lost over the past three or four years -- an indicator that they're betting on Utah's recovery.

What saved the Wasatch Front from bottoming out the way Phoenix has?

"Salt Lake's not known for second homes," Perlich said. Though St. George's retirement-based construction sector took a hard hit, she said, Utah as a whole didn't ride as high on the real estate bubble as much of the West did.

The Ogden region also benefits from relatively high levels of high school graduation, Brookings finds. Education levels -- especially in college towns with many bachelor's degrees -- appear to buffer the recession, Muro said.

"It's good to be educated when the bottom falls out," he said.

Ogden-Clearfield -- including all of Weber, Davis and Morgan counties -- has increased its "Gross Metropolitan Product" 1.8 percent from its pre-recession high, Brookings finds. That's good for a No. 8 ranking nationally.

Salt Lake's output remains down 1.9 percent from before the 2007 start of the crash, and Provo-Orem is down 1.5 percent.

Construction-heavy economies continue to suffer more. Boise's output remains down 4.1 percent. Las Vegas is off 4.4 percent.

In previous recessions the Intermountain West carried the promise of many jobs, even if they weren't always the best jobs, Muro said. This time, employment in the region's metro areas remains 7.4 percent below pre-recession figures, while the nation's top 100 metros are down 4.6 percent and the nation as a whole is down 4.9 percent.

"It's a time of maybe needed deep reflection about the sources of future growth in a region that has always promised rapid snap-back [before]," Muro said.

A good place to start would be in producing more, he said, instead of relying on consumption, including real estate.

bloomis@sltrib.com

Utah beckons California companies

Utah beckons California companies

By Lois M. Collins
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:45 p.m. MDT

Consider Holly-wooed.

And San Francisco and Los Angeles, too.

Utah's been romancing West Coast residents with its "Life Elevated" ad campaign. Now the Governor's Office of Economic Development is going after businesses, hoping California companies looking for a place to grow or simply to go will come to the Beehive State.

GOED launched the first of a quarter-million-dollar, eight-ad series Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal's California edition. "Instead of Looking for Good News in the Financial Section, Try Looking in Utah," the ad advises.

"We're trying to brand Utah as a place to do business, to grow your bottom line," said Clark Caras, director of marketing for GOED.

Utah's youthful, well-educated and growing work force is front and center in the sales pitch, along with the state's quality of life, competitive tax incentives, location as the "crossroads" of the West and its balanced-budget policies that keep the state from drowning in debt.

As one ad states, Utah's ride through the recession has been smoother than some states': "From Up Here, You Can See the Economic Recovery."

Adds another, "You Know the Saying, 'When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going?' Here's Where They Go."

Richter7, a Salt Lake advertising agency, won the bid to design the campaign. It is working with the staff of Development Counselors International to measure how effectively the campaign reaches its target audience, who Caras called "high-level executives."

In the three months since GOED kicked off what it calls a "West Coast Initiative," 164 California companies have been identified that might be interested in a close business relationship with Utah. GOED hopes the campaign helps expand that list to 1,000.

The budget for such promotion is $1 million, including events, ad creation and related expenses, Caras said. Initially, the Legislature set aside twice that amount but drew half back when the recession pinched the state's overall budget.

It's not the state's first campaign targeting California businesses. A decade ago, then-Gov. Mike Leavitt announced a "Silicon Valley Alliance" to forge strong business ties between the two states.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Utah economy sputters to life, but pain remains

Utah economy sputters to life, but pain remains
Recession » Though pace of decline has eased, recovery will take time to take hold.

By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:03/13/2010 05:08:21 PM MST

Maybe the best that can be said about Utah's economy is that it is neither in deep recession nor in full-on recovery mode.

Instead, the $110 billion amalgam of goods and services is in limbo, straddling an amorphous line between shadow and light, no longer shrinking rapidly but growing too slowly to help 91,000 of out-of-work Utahns any time soon or erase the upheavals endured by the unemployed since the U.S. slump began 27 months ago.

In fact, some labor experts say, a jobs recovery that gets us back to numbers close to those in early 2008 may not happen until 2013 at the earliest -- five years after the slide began.

Still, a consensus is building that the worst of the recession is over.

"We have Utah in a moderating recovery, which means that it is still contracting but at a slower pace than last year, and I do think the Utah economy will be entering recovery in the next couple of months," said Augustine Faucher, an economist with Moody's Economy.com.

Enough evidence exists for Gov. Gary Herbert to assert Utah has crossed into this twilight. In his State of the State address in January, Herbert insisted "the economic tide is turning," even though a $750 million deficit hung over lawmakers' heads as they began their session.

Although there is agreement among politicians and some economists, the view among many jobless Utahns isn't as optimistic.

"It might be getting better for the president and the governor because they have all the money. But for people like me, we don't have the money to pay for rent or groceries," said Jesse Espitta, 31.

Espitta is afraid. Unless he finds a job immediately, he will be homeless at the end of this month. A string of unskilled jobs ended in November 2008, and he has been struggling ever since to find work.

"I'm so scared right now," Espitta said. "There are so many other candidates that have more experience than me."

Yet in the realm of economic prognostication, agreement is forming around the governor's message, and the harmony is coming from several directions.

"We can agree with that. The worst part is definitely over," said Jeannine Catalzi, an economist with IHS Global Insight, an economic think tank in Lexington, Mass.

Said Jim Judd, president of the Utah AFL-CIO federation of about 50 union groups: "We are turning the corner on the economic downturn in the state of Utah."

To assert better times are coming means forecasters must conclude that ongoing drags on the economy are outweighed at least slightly by a string of positive signs.

On the one hand, nonresidential and commercial construction activity is still sluggish and almost 13,000 construction workers are out of work, according to the Associated General Contractors of America.

On top of that, mortgage foreclosures are still piling up, real estate values remain weak and federal tax credits for home buyers will dry up in April.

Yet, the pace of job losses is moderating. Job postings at Workforce Services offices have doubled in the past year, and initial claims for unemployment benefits are declining.

Sales of existing and new single-family homes have turned up, although numbers are still low. Deals in the months between June and January exceeded those in the same months a year earlier, said Jim Wood, director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.

"There are signs that retail sales have bottomed out. Declines were running at 10 percent in the first two quarters of 2009. They've dropped to about 2 percent by the end of the year," Wood said. "All of this plays into the (state) revenue numbers. They aren't as bad as first thought."

But whether Utah is poised to exit the recession at the same pace as the nation as whole is not as clear. Global Insight's Catalzi says it will, but others are more cautious.

With a diverse economy, young population, comparatively stable work force and reasonably priced homes, the state will be a leader among western states and emerge "probably along with the economy as a whole," she said.

But Moody's Faucher doubts that Utah's unemployment rate will ease before at least September. And because the housing market collapsed later in Utah, the recovery will lag other states, he said.

Paradoxically, as the economy gathers steam, the unemployment rate probably will rise even more.

The rate stood at 6.8 percent in January, highest since March 1997. But with rising numbers of job postings, idled workers are trickling back into the job market. Until they find work, they will push the rate up, said John Mathews, northern region economist at the Department of Workforce Services.

The rate will stay high until employers see enough demand for their products and services to warrant recalling or adding new workers, Mathews said.

Using unemployment numbers that have been adjusted to remove seasonal fluctuations, the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget believes the dreary drumbeat of month-over-month job losses ended in August.

But, economist Juliette Tennert added, "that doesn't mean we are in a phase of month-over-month growth. Basically we are getting to the point where we are bouncing around the bottom."

The number of jobs lost to Utah's economy during the recession is unmatched by any downturn in almost 60 years. Employment numbers peaked in January 2008 at 1.26 million. If the bottom was reached in August, the economy shed 61,300 jobs, a decline of 4.9 percent.

"It certainly stands alone. We haven't seen that since the 1950s, and that was when we were shutting down the Korean War," said Mark Knold, chief economist at the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

Jobs were lost across virtually the entire nonfarm employment spectrum. Heaviest hit, however, were construction, manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade. About the only sectors that didn't suffer heavy losses were health care, education and government.

Knold thinks the soonest Utah will get back to 1.26 million jobs is 2013 -- five years after the economy began to shed jobs -- for a net gain of zero.

"And that's just getting back to where we were in 2008," he said. "That's not creating jobs to absorb the people who are (graduating from high school or college and) ageing into the work force."

Philip Nguyen can't wait another three years for the job market to loosen. The 45-year-old cook has been out of work since his employer's Chinese restaurant closed four months ago. His prospects for another job aren't promising.

Nguyen has been living at the Road Home shelter in Salt Lake City for two months. He is skeptical of the governor's claim of an economic recovery any time soon.

"It's really hard. I (have been) looking for five, six days a week. I apply everything, but nothing coming up," Nguyen said.

If there's a silver lining, it is that high unemployment rates drive lots of people back into the education system. Those who might have quit high school when the economy was expanding return to receive their diplomas and perhaps go on to college. Same for college and university graduates. They might go on to earn advanced degrees.

"So what you end up with down the road is an even better-educated work force than when the downturn started," Knold said.

In time, historians may come think of this decade's two recessions as really just one economic decline interrupted by six years of growth. The seeds of the dot-com recession of 2000-2001 and the downturn triggered in late 2007 by the subprime crisis and the ensuing credit crunch had their beginnings in the 1990s, Knold said.

"Yes, you have two separate downturns. But both are correcting the excesses of the 1990s -- the easy credit and the disrespect of risk that is inherent in a capitalistic economy."

pbeebe@sltrib.com

Duncan Aviation clears Capitol hurdle

Duncan Aviation clears Capitol hurdle

Heidi Toth - Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010 12:25 am

PROVO -- The last hurdle between Provo and what city leaders hope will be a major business partner cleared the Utah House of Representatives today.

The passage of Senate Bill 73 clears the way for Duncan Aviation, an aviation service business, to bring its first wave of business to Provo. The Nebraska-based company expects to employ about 100 people in a leased facility and be open for business by August.

The bill, which now only needs the governor's signature, eliminates sales tax on businesses classified under a "maintenance, repair and overhaul provider," of which Duncan would be the first in the state. Duncan officials have said they would not be able to do business competitively in Utah if they had to charge their customers sales tax on transactions.

"We were watching it very closely and worked closely with the state on that," said executive vice president Bill Prochazka.

Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who sponsored the bill, said he does not expect any more difficulties on making the bill law.

"This will allow Duncan now to proceed with their expansion at the Provo airport," he said. "The expectation is that this will stimulate significant job growth in Provo."

Deputy Mayor Corey Norman said he and other city officials have been at the Legislature throughout the session reminding legislators how important this bill was for Provo, Utah County and the Provo Municipal Airport. They also had to lobby to keep the state from attaching any financial stipulations to the bill; their argument was the bill would not cost the state any money because the company already is not paying sales tax here since it is not located here and would not be without this bill because it would go somewhere else.

They also spent time with Gov. Gary Herbert with the same arguments.

"The governor said, 'I'm all on board for it,'" Norman said. "He was ready to go with it."

Duncan originally planned to build its own campus by the Provo airport, but when the economy turned sour the company decided to lease a building and keep its Provo operations small. Prochazka said they still will build a campus and employ about 600 people but are waiting for good news out of their industry.

Lately they have seen an uptick in people taking planes out, which indicates better times to come.

"If people aren't flying, they aren't going to need maintenance," he said.

• Daily Herald reporter Joe Pyrah contributed to this story.

California company chooses SLC -- twice

California company chooses SLC -- twice
Business » Specialized Bicycle Components expands.

By Mike Gorrell
The Salt Lake Tribune

Specialized Bicycle Components' decision to keep its western distribution center in Salt Lake City is the kind of story state economic development officials love to tout.

The California company opened the facility on Salt Lake City's west side in 1999, liking the location for its relatively inexpensive square footage, its proximity to two Interstate highways and an international airport, and the character of the workforce.

As Specialized's 10-year lease neared its end, the company took a second look at the decision, a review affected by the economic downturn.

Its conclusion was to move -- not out of Salt Lake City, but to a much larger building.

The 250,000-square-foot distribution center at 1475 S. 5070 West was dedicated last month in a ceremony that involved appreciative economic development officials from the city and the state.

"That's a pretty good testimony to Salt Lake City when you get a company like them to say we chose Utah, not once but twice," said Jeff Edwards, president and chief executive of the Economic Development Corp. of Utah.

Native Utahn Kim Peterson, Specialized's corporate distribution manager, said the review confirmed conclusions reached a decade earlier about Salt Lake's logistical advantages.

"The icing on the cake is that Utah is a fantastic place to live and raise a family, with unlimited outdoor recreation possibilities," Peterson said.

"There's also a great population of cyclists here," he added. "Specialized believes in cycling and the future of the sport and believes things will recover here. So we decided to make the investment and set up a new lease for a building with expansion capabilities."

Specialized handles just about every type of component there is for every kind of bicycle, be it mountain bikes, road bikes or their emerging hybrids, "crossbikes."

"We have racks and racks of bikes and all the other equipment," said Peterson, noting that bikes and parts are shipped from this center to about 1,200 independent bicycle dealers throughout the West.

He said the internal layout of the larger distribution center was reorganized to make the facility 25 percent to 30 percent more efficient for collecting, packing and shipping parts.

In addition, locker facilities were added to the men's and women's restrooms to let employees freshen up after midday bike rides.

"We have a lunch ride every day," said Peterson, who was not a cyclist when he joined the company, but now is (as is his whole family). "It's part of our culture. Instead of going to lunch, we jump on the bike, ride hard for 45 minutes, take a shower and get back at it. ... It's amazing how much better we work in the afternoon."

The "we" he referenced is the distribution center's 80 employees, up from 25 when the company first opened here. While no new jobs were added with the expansion, Specialized has not cut back either.

Part of the reason for that is the quality of people now on the payroll, Peterson said. That's the kind of endorsement Edwards relies upon while trying to convinced other companies to relocate to Utah or expand here.

"Specialized found a lot of people here who find biking important. They show up to work on time, like what they do, bring a lot of workforce skills companies don't find in other places," Edwards said.

"That's our No. 1 asset," he added. "Do we have great geography? Yes. Do we have great transportation? Yes. But the real secret is our workforce. That's nice to hear."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Canadian firm buys warehouse in Salt Lake City

Canadian firm buys warehouse in Salt Lake City
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 8:54 p.m. MST

LINDON — Profire Energy Inc. said this week it has purchased a warehouse and office space as part of its expansion into U.S. markets.

The facility at 321 S. 1250 West will serve as the U.S.-based headquarters of the company. The Canadian headquarters will remain near Edmonton, Alberta.

Profire Energy manufactures, installs and services oilfield burner management systems and related combustion products.

The company said the facility will be configured for inventory storage and for assembly of products and systems to be sold and shipped throughout the U.S.

Utah's unemployment rate rose to 6.8 percent in January, but economists upbeat

Utah's unemployment rate rose to 6.8 percent in January, but economists upbeat

By Mike Gorrell
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:03/02/2010 02:04:09 PM MST

Despite a slightly higher jobless rate in January (6.8 percent), state economists said monthly employment data released Tuesday reinforce perceptions of economic improvement.

"Signs that the worst of the economic downturn are behind Utah continue to emerge," said Mark Knold, chief economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

The number of nonfarm wage and salaried jobs in Utah in January was down 2.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, he noted. That rate of contraction, which translates into 35,300 fewer jobs, was up a bit from December (2.8 percent). But it was still below year-to-year comparisons for the summer and fall of 2009. They were up to 4.5 percent.

Knold also cited continued evidence of new jobs being created. "The number of Utah job openings posted on various Internet Web sites have been rising for several months. In addition, new unemployment insurance claim activities are beginning to moderate noticeably," he added.

Still, the unemployment rate rose to 6.8 percent, up from December's revised figure of 6.6 percent (December earlier was listed at 6.7 percent).

At 6.8 percent, about 91,500 Utahns were considered unemployed in January compared to 77,600 a year earlier. The U.S. unemployment rate for January, announced two weeks ago, was down to 9.7 percent, from 10 percent in December.

Acknowledging that a higher unemployment rate seems to contradict perceptions that the worst is over, Knold said a rise in jobless numbers "is expected at this stage in an economic rebound.

"The worst of the employment slide seems to have found its bottom around August 2009, although the job market is still in more of a stabilizing than an expansion mode," he added. "At best a slight economic recovery is underway, and if so, historically, the unemployment rate continues to rise during this stage for an undetermined length of time."

Knold said the unemployment rate also tends to creep up during this phase of recovery because idled workers who previously had stopped looking for work, "begin to trickle back into the job search arena ... Until they find a job, they actually push up the unemployment rate."

All gauges point to modest growth

All gauges point to modest growth
Utah manufacturing improves but trails Wyoming, Colorado

By Brice Wallace
Deseret News, March 1, 2010

Utah's economic outlook continues to improve, according to a monthly business conditions gauge released Monday.

The Goss Institute for Economic Research's monthly business conditions index for the state rose to 55.8 in February from January's 52.7.

The index ranges from zero to 100, with a figure higher than 50 indicating an expansionary economy over the next three to six months. The index figure is derived from a survey of the state's supply managers.



Components of the overall index for February were new orders at 59.5, production or sales at 60.3, delivery lead time at 49.9, inventories at 59.2, and employment at 50.2.

Utah's overall index generally has been rising since last April. It is at its highest point since reaching 60.6 in October 2007.

"Manufacturing firms in the state have lost more than 11,000 jobs over the past year, or more than 7 percent of the state's manufacturing base," Ernie Goss, director of the institute and Creighton University Economic Forecasting Group, said in a prepared statement. "Based on surveys over the past several months, I expect slight manufacturing job gains and flat overall job growth for the state for the second quarter of 2010."
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The three-state Mountain States region saw its overall index rise for the fifth straight month. It climbed to 58.6 in February from January's "healthy" 55.6, Goss said.

"Readings over the past several months indicate that the regional economic rebound that is under way will pick up steam in the months ahead... . The likelihood of the regional economy dipping back into recessionary territory has diminished significantly according to our surveys of supply managers. While I expect the overall regional economy to expand in the months ahead, I continue to expect job growth to be subdued, especially for rural areas of the three-state region."

Colorado's index rose to 58.2 from January's 56.2. Wyoming's grew to 65.0 from January's 62.8.

The Goss institute uses the same methodology as the Institute for Supply Management uses for a national index. The nationwide figure was 56.5 in February, down from 58.4 in January.

Contributing: Associated Press

e-mail: bwallace@desnews.com

Salt Lake transportation system best, Forbes says

Salt Lake transportation system best, Forbes says

Deseret News
Published: Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 5:40 p.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital is the best in America for commuters, according to a new Forbes Magazine list.

Salt Lake City topped a list that featured Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., and Milwaukee, Wis.

The magazine measured travel time, traffic delays and road congestion as it ranked the nation's 60 largest metropolitan areas.

Forbes credited the city's commuting experience to the state's investment in public transit systems, as well as the 20 percent of commuters who carpool in the city's 44 miles of HOV lanes or who ride buses and trains.

"Salt Lake City was a large part of the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the country last year and we see every promising sign of this trend continuing," Mayor Ralph Becker said in a statement Friday. "We are excited to be recognized nationally for our transportation vision and continue to strive to improve options throughout the city."

Also on Friday, city leaders said they will be initiating an independent review of the city's traffic signals to develop and implement timing plan changes. Results of the review are expected in 2012.

Work on Utah County convention center set for fall

Work on Utah County convention center set for fall
Provo » Officials say facility will help boost economy of the area.

By Donald W. Meyers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:02/19/2010 08:11:15 PM MST


As Utah County Commissioner Gary Anderson sees it, the county is riding a "perfect storm" with its proposed convention center.

First, due to a down economy, the county was able to get a low interest rate on the bonds for the project, and bids for the work are coming in below engineers' estimates.

And, with construction slated to begin on the $45 million project this fall, the Utah County Convention Center should be ready to take advantage of an upturning economy. Businesses should be ready to spend money on conventions and conferences when it opens in the spring of 2012.

"The thing I think is best about it is that it is not our taxpayers who are going to pay for it," Anderson said. "It is the tourists." The county will use tourism tax money to pay off the bond and cover its operating costs.

The county announced Friday that construction will begin on the project this fall and unveiled architectural renderings of the center prepared by Salt Lake City architect MHTN and Kansas City, Mo. designer Populous. 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. Provo purchased the clinic and the food bank buildings and in turn sold them to the county for the convention center. The city will also provide parking for the convention center.

The brick-and-glass building is designed to harmonize with the city's historic downtown. The front of the building would include a plaza to serve as a downtown gathering place.

Inside, the center would 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.

Anderson and Joel Racker, president and chief executive of the Utah Valley Convention and Visitor's Bureau, said the center will be a boon for Utah County as it will hopefully attract large conventions to the city and keep meetings in town that would otherwise go north.

"It won't be the Salt Palace or the South Towne [Exposition] Center, but we will be able to keep Nu Skin and other big people down here," Anderson said.

Racker said the ballroom at the Provo Marriott is not large enough to accommodate Nu Skin's annual conventions, which go to Salt Lake County. He sees the center extending the county's reach to Salt Lake City and possibly beyond.

"We are going to be able to compete with some groups regionally for conferences," Racker said. "This will allow us to host many regional events."

dmeyers@sltrib.com

Outlook improves for Utah small businesses

Outlook improves for Utah small businesses
Deseret News
Feb. 9, 2010

The outlook continues to improve for Utah's small businesses, according to a monthly gauge released Tuesday by Zions Bank.

The Zions Bank Small Business Index for Utah was 88.7 in January, up from a revised 82.5 in December.



While the experts believe that what's being called "the Great Recession" ended in the summer of 2009, after a nearly two-year run, unemployment continues to dog recovery. Normally, having low unemployment rates is considered a bad thing for the index, which looks at economic conditions through the eyes of small-business owner or managers. Higher unemployment rates usually mean businesses have a larger pool from which to pluck good employees.

Utah's unemployment rate, estimated at 6.7 percent last month, was a continued climb from the previous 6.3 percent rate of the month before, with 34,700 jobs lost over 12 months. A year earlier, unemployment was 4.1 percent. Nationally, more than 8 million jobs have been lost.

The high unemployment, coupled with weaker consumer spending, has created "business challenges" that negatively impact the index, according to Jeff Thredgold of Thredgold Economic Associations, which prepares the report. A rising jobless rate "also suggests weaker job gains or greater losses, lesser income growth and slower retail spending, all factors which lead the index lower," he wrote.

The index notes that unemployment rates "have likely peaked in many states" but said others may move slightly higher in coming months.

The good news is that the U.S. economy has seen some growth over the past six months, and that will eventually benefit the states, which are still suffering effects of recession, according to Thredgold.

The index uses 100 points for calendar year 1997 as its base year and is revised as new data becomes available.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

City Creek development update

Move-in plans, new restaurants mark City Creek development's progress in downtown Salt Lake City
Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 10:35 a.m. MST

SALT LAKE CITY — Shops at the LDS Church's City Creek Center won't open until 2012, but the progress of the massive downtown development is impossible to miss.

The Regent, a 20-story residential tower, has sprung up at a rate of one floor every six days, and people are expected to move into the 90-unit Richards Court across from Temple Square in April, officials announced Tuesday morning.

"This has been a herculean effort to get to this point," said City Creek Reserve President Mark Gibbons. "The fruits of this marathon effort are beginning to show forth. … Downtown certainly has risen."

Six years after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans for the project, the Salt Lake City's new skyline is finally taking shape. The nine towering cranes, meanwhile, are now eight, and the project's largest crane is expected to come down in May, Gibbons said.

The center's food court already is open for business, and a pair of Salt Lake favorites will open shop there next month. Taste of Red Iguana and Bocata, an artisan sandwich shop from the owners of Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana, will join Great Steak, McDonald's, Sbarro, Chang Chun and Suki Hana in the court.

While officials have declined to release financial information about the development, some estimate City Creek Reserve, a development arm of the LDS Church, will spend as much as $3 billion by the time the center opens in 2012.

Even in tough economic times, interest in the development has been high.

"It's been amazing," said Ron Loch, vice president of planning and design for Taubman Centers, the church's development partner on the project. "There's been great interest because this is such a unique product."

When the center opens in March 2012, there will be 80 retailers and a mix of restaurants spread out over the two-block development, Loch said.

About half of the 250 residential units made available to date remain on the market, Gibbons said. While condominiums overlooking Temple Square run in excess of $1 million, City Creek also will feature rental units along Main Street.

"Not withstanding the economy, people recognize the opportunity to come into the downtown," Gibbons said. "We've had a very active sales effort."

Downtown parking also will get a boost, officials said. In-street ramps already have been opened along South Temple and West Temple.

About the time residents begin moving into Richards Court, workers will begin placing the framework for a pedestrian skybridge over Main Street.

The mid-block gallerias also will feature a waterfall, meandering creek and a glass retractable skylight that would take six minutes to open and close, Loch said.

Construction of the center's anchors, Macy's and Nordstrom, is under way, and work on a Harmons grocery store along 100 South and State begins this summer.

City Creek officials Tuesday also unveiled a painting by Salt Lake artist David Meikle. "Wasatch Grandeur," a depiction of Mount Olympus at sunset, will hang at the entrance to the food court.

"It's kind of a view I've grown up with," Meikle said. "To me, this makes Salt Lake a great place to live."

e-mail: afalk@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Nu Skin plans massive expansion in downtown Provo

Nu Skin plans massive expansion in downtown Provo

Grace Leong - Daily Herald | Posted: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 12:50 am

After years of looking at expansion opportunities in downtown Provo, Nu Skin Enterprises, one of Utah County's largest employers, is moving ahead with a proposed multi-million-dollar expansion of its corporate headquarters that will include consolidating most of its Provo operations in the downtown area.

On Tuesday night, the Provo direct seller of nutritional supplements and personal care products presented its expansion plans to the Provo Municipal Council. The proposal calls for an additional 120,000 square feet to be added to an area that is now occupied by the Kress building and three existing businesses on the southwest corner of 100 W. Center Street.

Nu Skin is also seeking the city's approval to vacate 100 West from Center Street to 100 South to make way for a 5,000-square-foot atrium that will connect its global headquarters on 75 W. Center Street with a proposed new six-story building on 100 W. Center Street. The atrium will serve as a gathering place for Nu Skin's distributors and employees and as a venue for community events.

The council unanimously approved a motion to move forward with discussions about vacating the portion of 100 West and selling it to Nu Skin. The decision to move discussion forward to the March 2 action agenda is not a decision to vacate the street or approve of any project plans, Redevelopment Agency director Paul Glauser stressed in the meeting. It is, however, a message to Nu Skin that the city is interested in working with one of its major partners in the downtown area.

Several council members voiced early approval for the project, though they had questions about how much an effect closing down a street in the downtown area would have. A traffic study showed that area of 100 West has about 2,000 cars on it a day. Center Street in front of Nu Skin, conversely, has between 10,000 and 12,000 cars on it daily.

This also could be big for the city; elected officials have made downtown revitalization a major focus of the recent campaign as well in the last few years. This, combined with the planned convention center and the redesign of the I-15 interchange, could be that plan they've been looking for.

"Momentum is really picking up in our downtown," Mayor John Curtis said.

Lower real estate prices, cheaper construction costs and Nu Skin's sound financial position are among factors that made the company's expansion possible in the midst of the country's worst recession since the Great Depression, company officials told the Daily Herald at an editorial board meeting Tuesday.

"We've needed a new tech center for some time, and construction costs are much more favorable now," said Gary Garrett, vice president of corporate relations and managing director of Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation. "The new tech center and the research center will give us the opportunity to showcase our innovation in terms of our products and direct selling opportunities."

Nu Skin, which is releasing its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday, reported net income of $59.5 million for the third quarter, up 17 percent from a year ago. In the third-quarter earnings report, CEO Truman Hunt cited consistent improvements in its operating margins since it restructured its business in 2006 and strong growth in Japan, its largest market, and several other Asian countries and Latin America.

To make way for the new building, Nu Skin has made offers to buy property from the owners and landlords of B. Ashworth's on 127 W. Center Street, Pioneer Book on 129 W. Center Street, and Art Services on 125 W. Center Street. The offers are contingent on the city's approval of Nu Skin's proposed expansion.

"If we get the city's approval, then the tenants will eventually vacate their buildings and we will take on that space," said Kara Schneck, senior director of corporate communications for Nu Skin. The company is also considering the option of acquiring the now closed Biomedics plasma center on 153 W. Center Street for future expansion.

Pending the city's approval, construction is expected to start this year, and the project is expected to be completed by 2012.

"We've heard rumors of the expansion but our landlord, who was approached by Nu Skin, told us it may be a few months down the road before it happens," said Brent Ashworth, owner of B. Ashworth's. "We need something to keep downtown Provo alive. It will be good for the tax base if Nu Skin expands. I'd hate to lose my bookshop, but I'm sure there are other places we can relocate to."

The new building will be home to the Nu Skin Center for Anti-Aging Research, which will relocate its 50 workers from an existing 30,000-square-foot building on the northwest corner of 100 South and 100 West.

The proposed building will also be home to Nu Skin's network operations center and call center, which will relocate up to 400 workers from their current location in East Bay. Its distribution center, however, will remain in East Bay.

Company officials say they've not decided whether Nu Skin's U.S. operations and human resources division will remain at the Kress building or move to the corporate headquarters.

The proposed vacation of 100 West will help facilitate the creation of a green space on what is now the site of the anti-aging research center. Garrett said the company hopes to bring a sense of place and community to downtown Provo with what it calls a "privately owned public green space" that's similar to that found near the Main Street Plaza and Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

"This public-private space can be home to events like the Freedom Festival, First Night, Taste of the Valley. It can function as a city park, and bring more people to the downtown area," Garrett said.

Founded in 1984, Nu Skin has 4,500 workers companywide including 1,200 in Provo. The company also has 750,000 distributors globally.

Kim Anderson of Provo Art and Frame, another longtime downtown business owner, is positive about Nu Skin's proposed expansion.

"I think it's great they're expanding. We really need to invest in downtown Provo and get rid of the old nasty squeaky floor buildings and get something that's sellable and rentable. We need to get people on the sidewalks," Anderson said.

"There are so many old buildings in downtown Provo that a new building will be an improvement. The only negative is the disruption caused by the construction. But in the long term, it'll be great for downtown Provo," he said.

• Daily Herald reporter Heidi Toth contributed to this story.

Utah business conditions slip slightly

Utah business conditions slip slightly

Deseret News
Published: Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 8:46 p.m. MST

Utah's business conditions slipped in January but remained above a level deemed to be in expansion mode, according to a monthly gauge released Monday.

The Business Conditions Index, compiled by the Goss Institute for Economic Research, was at 52.7 in January, down from December's 55.0.

The index ranges from zero to 100, with a figure over 50 indicating an expansionary economy over the next three to six months. Utah's index is based on a survey of purchasing managers.

Components of Utah's overall figure were new orders at 58.5, production or sales at 60.1, delivery lead time at 42.3, inventories at 57.2 and employment at 45.5.

"Manufacturing in Utah has not improved as significantly as in Colorado," Ernie Goss, director of the institute and the Creighton University Economic Forecasting Group, said in a prepared statement. "Expansions in new orders and production for the month failed to generate job gains for durable and non-durable producers. I do expect job gains in the months ahead, however."

Utah is part of a Mountain States region that saw its index move down to 55.6 in January from December's 59.1. It was 55.4 in November.

Colorado's index in January was 56.2 from December's 62.8. Wyoming's fell to 62.8 from December's 64.4.

The Goss institute uses the same methodology as a national index compiled by the Institute for Supply Management. That organization on Monday said its national index, which it considers a gauge of the manufacturing sector, read 58.4 in January, compared with 54.9 in December.

It was the sixth straight month of expansion and its highest level since 2004. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a level of 55.5.

Manufacturing activity has become a pocket of strength in the economy, though some of it flows from temporary factors such as customers needing to add to depleted stockpiles of goods. New orders, a sign of future growth, jumped in January to its highest level since 2004. So did current production. Order backlogs grew, along with prices companies paid. Thirteen of 18 industries said they were expanding, led by the apparel, textile mills and machinery sectors.

China's manufacturing also expanded in January, and the outlook was positive despite government efforts to cool inflation by tightening control over bank lending, two surveys showed Monday.

U.S. manufacturers have been pumping up production to feed their customers' depleted stockpiles. The ISM said manufacturers' inventories contracted at a slower rate in January. Still, their customers' stockpiles fell to an all-time low.

As their customers try to restock their shelves, manufacturers need to ramp up production to match their demands. That could mean hiring more workers, which would help invigorate the economic rebound. ISM's employment measure grew last month.

"Production growth is finally beginning to tax existing work forces to the point where companies need to expand employment, and, critically, have enough confidence to do so," said Pierre Ellis of Decision Economics.

AK Steel Holding Corp. said in January that it had hired some new employees as production increased to about 85 percent of capacity, compared with 45 percent six months earlier.

Still, companies aren't hiring at a rate anywhere near enough to replace the more than 7 million jobs lost during the recession. The manufacturing sector has lost 2.1 million jobs.

"We're just not going to recapture those," said Wells Fargo chief economist John Silvia.

Companies that laid off workers in the past are being cautious about rehiring, even as their business improves.

Raj Batra, president of a unit of Siemens USA that helps update industrial corporations' equipment and software, said more of his customers are interested in modernizing their factories. Still, he doesn't plan to rehire laid-off employees.

"We still have ample capacity," Batra said. If necessary to meet demand, he said he plans to use contract workers but doesn't expect to add to full-time payrolls anytime soon.

e-mail: bwallace@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Utah jobless rate rises to 6.7%

Utah jobless rate rises to 6.7%
Deseret News
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 10:10 a.m. MST

Utah's unemployment rate and job losses continue to climb.

The unemployment rate in the state rose to 6.7 percent in December 2009, up 0.4 of a percentage point from November and comparing with a 4.1 percent rate a year earlier.

The U.S. unemployment rate remained at 10 percent in December.

The state figures, compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, were released Thursday by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

About 91,200 Utahns were considered unemployed in December, compared with 57,300 a year earlier.

The department said nonfarm wage and salaried jobs in Utah shrank by 2.8 percent in 2009, with 34,700 jobs removed from the state economy during that period. Total Utah employment is about 1.21 million.

Construction has taken the biggest hit in job losses, down 12,200 from December 2008 and more than 36,000 from December 2007. Utah's construction employment has fallen to levels last seen in 2004, the department said.

On the plus side, health care added 6,200 jobs in 2009.

— Brice Wallace
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

S. Utah's economy down but rebounding as 2010 unfolds

S. Utah's economy down but rebounding as 2010 unfolds

By Mark Havnes, The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 01/13/2010 08:46:02 PM MST

St. George » The St. George economy is a long way from where it was in the mid-'90s, when the city regularly topped the lists of premier places to live and work.

But the area is gradually rebounding, according to Lecia Parks Langston, a regional economist with the Department of Workforce Services for Utah. She spoke during a breakout session at the annual Washington County Economic Summit Wednesday in St. George.

"To use a quote from Mark Twain, the death of the economy has been greatly exaggerated," said Langston. "We are in a recovery phase."

Her remarks echoed those of Gov. Gary Herbert, who said he was optimistic about the future of southern Utah and the state, saying Utah has weathered the sour economy better than many others. He attributed that to a fiscally prudent Legislature and a healthy rainy-day fund.

Herbert said job creation through support of private enterprise, not government meddling, is key to a prosperous future. "We understand that by creating jobs everything else can be taken care of in any area."

Washington County was hit particularly hard by the recession. Its unemployment rate was close to 8 percent at the end of last year, compared with a state average closer to 6 percent. But tourism is up in the area, he said, especially at Zion National Park, where visitation rose 5.4 percent last year.

"There are pockets of success," said Herbert, restating
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priorities from his inaugural address -- growing the economy, education and energy development.

Langston said construction jobs took the biggest hit in Washington County, where 4,000 have been lost since the peak boom year of 2006. There was also a drastic decline in number of residential building permits issued, from a high in 2005 of 3,860 to just 560 from January through November 2009.

Washington County also experienced the highest rate of mortgage foreclosures in the state last year, 7.4 percent.

Earlier in the day, U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett told conference participants that although many economists are claiming the worst is over, the country has a ways to go. Unlike state and municipal governments, the federal government operates by different rules when it comes to balancing the budget.

Bennett said mandatory programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be funded without question, consuming two-thirds of the nation's budget. What's left goes toward discretionary programs, including defense, the most expensive.

In a time when revenues are down, borrowing is the only way the government can function and fulfill all its obligations, he said.

He encouraged banks to start lending, especially to small businesses. "The economy runs on credit and confidence. All new wealth comes from risk-taking."

mhavnes@sltrib.com

Forecaster: Utah population spike over next 20 years will create demand for housing

Forecaster: Utah population spike over next 20 years will create demand for housing
Real estate » Realtors told that downturn might have bottomed out.

By John Keahey, The Salt Lake Tribune
Jan. 11, 2009

Chris Nelson is way out there when he lays out the future -- say 20 years out there.

And what the director of the University of Utah's Metropolitan Research Center forecasts for the state's housing market during the next two decades gave a Salt Lake City ballroom full of hundreds of Realtors a lot of hope Monday.

Though that is countered by some uncertainty in the year ahead, his bottom line was this: By 2030, the state will be the fastest growing in the nation, pulling in another 1.5 million residents on top of the 2.7 million already here, and 700,000 new jobs will be created.

"We are -- you are -- big time," he told the audience.

That means more houses need to be built, along with more commercial square footage. And he state, particularly the Wasatch Front, is behind in what is needed.

"This pent-up demand, combined with growth, needs to be dealt with," he told the Realtors during their annual Housing Forecast breakfast at Little America Hotel.

While Nelson had the podium and was describing a world still two decades away, those in the audience also were perusing a handout from James Wood, director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Wood dealt with more immediate issues.

He predicted that Salt Lake County can expect a 3 percent growth in home sales during 2010, or 9,100 units. But there are some big caveats tied to lending.

"Could this slight up-tick signal that 2008 was the bottom of the downturn and the rebound is under way?" he asked in the report. Then he answered his own question. If so, "the contraction was short-lived, only two years but vicious in its magnitude."

As far as housing prices are concerned, they will continue to fall another 3 percent to 5 percent this year, bringing the overall price decline in Salt Lake County during the past two years to 15 percent. But there is a bright spot. Prices should be "stable to slightly improving" in 2011.

For Realtor Lavar Campbell, the prognostications were all good news.

"You don't usually see a lot of that optimism elsewhere," he said. "It's nice to see that things are looking up."

Realtor Colleen Howcroft said the forecasts "gave us a lot of hope. It looks like we're going to build back up this year, and 2011 will be better."

The big question real estate agent Ben Goodwin had after the session was, "Are banks going to be willing to lend," given tighter restrictions now in place?

That question also occurred to the U.'s Nelson.

"The demand will be there. Will the banks be there to help?" he said in an interview following his talk.

Nelson's numbers are staggering. If you push his time frame another 10 years, to 2040, he predicts the entire United States will need to add 287 billion square feet of residential and commercial real estate between now and then. Dropping back to a 2030 scenario, he estimates that along the Wasatch Range -- from Logan to Provo -- 450,000 units will need to be built, a 50 percent increase over what is available today.

And for commercial space, 1.1 billion square feet will have to be added. That's 120 percent more than the 750 million square feet that exist now.

He asked his breakfast audience, where the additional square feet will go in a region that already is filling up. It will have to come in multi-family housing and involve a new way of looking at creating neighborhoods.

Not only that, he pointed to demographics that show that Utah's non-Anglo population in Ogden, Salt Lake City and Provo will grow by 600,000 by 2030.

Because a lower percentage of this demographic is comprised of home buyers, he said, "more than half of all new houses built will have to be in rental mode."

jkeahey@sltrib.com


By the numbers A growing demand

Utah's housing industry will grow with heightened demand from a growing population, according to a University of Utah forecast. Some forecasted numbers:

3.6 - million people along the Wasatch Front by 2030.

1.35 - million housing units needed by 2030.

42 - percent rate of growth in next 20 years in Salt Lake City.

3rd - National rank of Wasatch Front's growth rate among metropolitan areas.

Adding another 1.1 million people over the next 20 years along the Wasatch Front will mean an additional 450,000 new or rebuilt housing units.

Utah Receives National Recognition As An Economic Powerhouse

Utah Receives National Recognition As An Economic Powerhouse
For third year in a row Utah is recognized as a leading pro-business State

Published: 29th June, 2009; Source: GOED; Author: Michael G. Sullivan

Salt Lake City – Utah has jumped from ninth most business friendly state in the country to second, just slightly behind Virginia. In one of the most widely recognized annual economic studies in the country, Utah was named, for the third year in a row as one of the “Top 10 Pro-Business States.” In the report released today, the “Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2009: Rebuilding America’s Economic Power” once again ranked each state in the annual study of job retention and creation by the 50 states and the federal government.

Dr. Ronald R. Pollina emphasized “the effort to make America more business-friendly must come from all levels of government. America must be an integral part of global business if it is to remain a superpower, but thus far we have done a terrible job of integrating ourselves in the 21st century marketplace,” says geo-economist and corporate relocation expert Dr. Pollina. “There are, however, states that serve as a model for the rest of the country.” The report goes on to recognize Utah as one of those states leading the way.

Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the newly named transition director for incoming Governor Gary Herbert noted, “Utah has worked tirelessly to be a business friendly state. Our productive workforce, favorable tax climate and overall business friendly environment has been successful in growing and recruiting some of America’s leading businesses. This report recognizes that success and our ongoing commitment to keep the Utah economic engine humming.”

The Pollina Corporate Top Ten Pro-Business States for 2009 are:

1. Virginia
2. Utah
3. North Carolina
4. Wyoming
5. South Carolina
6. South Dakota
7. Kansas
8. Georgia
9. Florida and
10. Nebraska

The study evaluates and ranks states based on 33 factors including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers compensation laws, economic incentive programs and state economic development efforts.

Utah's commercial real estate sector slower, but still performing

Utah's commercial real estate sector slower, but still performing
"Bright Spots" » Retail, industrial and office space sectors holding their own.

By Lesley Mitchell, The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:07/09/2009 07:06:59 PM MDT

After several boom years, Utah's commercial real estate sector is slowing as companies of all sizes, stung by recession, put off expansion plans and close locations.

But as with most segments of the state's economy, conditions are far better than in many other areas of the country plagued by empty storefronts and buildings.

"In spite of what's going on nationally, Utah really continues to be a bright spot," said Brandon Fugal, director of corporate services with Coldwell Banker Commercial in Salt Lake City.

Take retail. While many "big-box" retailers, such as Target and JC Penney, are putting off new stores and many malls are on hold, a number of smaller retail and restaurant players continue to set up shop and expand in Utah.

They may not have the cachet of IKEA or Cabela's, but they are creating jobs and filling space that would otherwise remain vacant or unbuilt.

Smashburger, for example, plans to enter Utah with two restaurants: at 1028 E. 2100 South in Salt Lake City and 3513 S. 2700 West in West Valley City. Over the next two years, the chain plans to add eight more. Another popular burger joint, In-N-Out Burger, which has one location in southern Utah, is expanding into the Wasatch Front.

Despite leaner times and tighter credit, numerous small businesses continue to open and expand. In the Daybreak community in South Jordan, seven locally owned businesses are opening this summer in the SoDa Row Village Center.

The 68,000-square-foot center includes expanding companies like Black Diamond Gymnastics and Sport Centers, Tio's Mexican Restaurant and Classic Cleaners. Others, such as Oopsie Daisy, a children's boutique, and Guy's Barbershop, are debuting in the development.

The downturn also has affected Utah's industrial market, which includes buildings used for manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. Earlier this year, several large operators, including Lozier Corp., announced they were cutting back or shutting down, vacating nearly 900,000 square feet of industrial space.

Lozier, which makes fixtures for stores, such as display shelving, said it will close its 500,000-square-foot Cedar City facility by August, laying off 82 employees. The company has been hurt by the lack of retail expansion.

Compensating for these cutbacks are some high-profile, large-scale expansions. Detergent maker Sun Products Corp. is leasing a 400,000-square-foot facility in Salt Lake City. Reckitt Benckiser, which manufactures Woolite, Lysol, Electrasol, French's mustard and other products, is building a nearly 575,000-square-foot facility near Tooele.

Overall, vacancies remain low in the state's industrial sector, said Jim Sheldon, NAI Utah's director of industrial.

"Utah is in an enviable position," he said. "Our industrial market is on more solid ground than other markets."

The same appears true in the office market, which has been hurt by the downturn but is still expanding.

First, the bad news: vacant office in Salt Lake County has increased to a four-year high, according to a report by CB Richard Ellis.

It reached 14.2 percent at the end of June, up from 13.5 percent a year earlier. That translates into an estimated 4.2 million square feet of vacant office space, up from 3.9 million square feet.

Yet Utah still attracts some plum office expansions.

Online auctioneer eBay Inc., is adding 200 new jobs in Draper, where the company already employes 1,100.

Ebay also is building a $334 million computer center in South Jordan. Set to open in 2010, it will employ 50.

Microsoft, the world's largest computer software company, said last month it will open an office in Lehi, creating 100 good-paying jobs. Another large expansion involves the U.S. Census Bureau, which is taking 130,000 square feet of vacant space at the Discover Card building in Sandy.

"Utah's very fortunate to have landed these expansions," said Mike Richmond, an office leasing specialist with Commerce CRG in Salt Lake City.

lesley@sltrib.com

Regional index points to easing of economy's downward spiral

Regional index points to easing of economy's downward spiral
Forecasts » Surveys say worst may be over, but the pain probably isn't

By Christopher Smart, The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated:06/01/2009 07:16:02 PM MDT

Coming on the heels of other recent surveys with similar results, a regional index of economic conditions in Utah and two neighboring states shows signs the downturn might be bottoming out.

Though continued job losses probably mean Utah's economy will extend its struggles through the end of the year, the Mountain States Business Conditions Index for the state rose from a record low of 32.7 in April to 37.5 in May.

Based on a survey of supply managers in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, the analysis is provided by Omaha-based Creighton University's Economic Forecasting Group. An index of more than 50 indicates an expansionary economy over the next three to six months.

Other surveys released in the past couple of weeks, including Zions Bank's quarterly forecast of business leaders and a check of small businesses, show optimism about companies' futures in Utah is on the upswing.

In the latest survey, leading economic indicators remained below growth neutral in the three states, pointing to a continued recession for the region based on inventories, new orders, production, delivery lead time, inflation and employment. Though some categories showed improvement month-over-month, job losses, particularly in manufacturing, pulled down the overall index.

The three-state region lost an estimated 75,000 jobs during the first five months of 2009, a pace that exceeded the national average by two percentage points. For Utah, job losses were at an annualized rate of more than 7 percent, the survey said.

"Business activity is particularly frail for durable goods manufacturers in Utah, with the rate of job losses significantly above that of the nation and the region," said Ernie Goss, who directs the forecasting group.

The good news: Jobs losses are expected to slow, which combined with expectations of little or no inflation, caused the survey's Business Confidence Index for the region that looks ahead to the next six months to rise to the highest level in more than a year, to 66 from 58.8.

"Business conditions show signs of stabilizing," Goss said. "While supply managers report current weak economic conditions, they expect very low interest rates and the federal stimulus to push the economy into positive growth territory by the end of the year."

The three-state Business Conditions Index rose from 37.8 in April to 38.9 in May, with Colorado posting a 44.0 and Wyoming recording a 41.5.

New orders and production were up slightly, but the global recession continued to restrain exports and imports, Goss said.

csmart@sltrib.com

Zions' executive survey takes a turn toward optimism

Zions' executive survey takes a turn toward optimism

By Lois M. Collins, Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 10:04 p.m. MDT

Utah business executives are feeling more optimistic about their companies's financial futures — the first improvement in what has been an increasingly gloomy past two years.

That's according to a survey of Utah bosses conducted by Dan Jones & Associates for the latest Zions Bank Quarterly Economic Forecast, released Tuesday. It looks at the state's economy through the eyes of business executives. Zions has a pool of 1,169 executives it surveys, and several hundred of them respond for each quarterly report.

More than 40 percent said this may even be the time for entrepreneurs to start a business in Utah, taking baby steps and testing along the way, while about one-fourth see an opportunity to take advantage of the current market opportunities, including a broader pool of potential employees.

"It is a better place to do business than most anywhere else," wrote one executive. "This is an available, trained work force, and the state is very supportive of growth."

Added another, "I would say that if I were to start a business, today would be the time. Start out slow, and run with the economic rebound."

The current mean score of those surveyed is 6.22, which rates out as "somewhat optimistic," compared to the 7.87 standard that was set when the surveying began in 2006. The low point was last quarter, at 5.86. While the new score is below that of most quarters, the increase represents an 18 percent recovery of the points lost and marks the first move upward following a long line of declines.

"Somewhat better" or "much better" is the prediction for economic health that 41 percent of the executives made about their companies, while only 18 percent believe things will get worse to some degree. The same percentage of optimists, 41 percent, believe that government efforts to stabilize the economy will help their businesses, while 32 percent believe it will harm them.

The vast majority — 78 percent — are optimistic about the long-term financial future of their businesses.

The top concern remains the cost of employee health insurance — 5.26 on a scale of 1 to 7. That has remained either No. 1 or No. 2 in every survey.

The full report for first quarter 2009 is online at utaheconomicforecast.com.

E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Overlooking the Mormon Temple, a New Center

Overlooking the Mormon Temple, a New Center

By LINDA BAKER, NY Times

SALT LAKE CITY — While the economic crisis has silenced hundreds of real estate projects around the country, 1,100 construction workers are toiling on a 20-acre development here that is springing up across the street from the Mormon Temple in the center of downtown.

A private development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, City Creek Center will be the largest mixed-use project in Salt Lake City. When completed in 2012, it will encompass 900,000 square feet of retailing, including an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall capped by 115 apartments; 1.6 million square feet of office space in eight buildings; a grocery store; and five residential towers with about 600 condominiums.

The development, which is within sight of the Mormon Tabernacle, will also feature six acres of public spaces and a retractable glass roof over the retail component. A man-made creek will run through the property.

The Mormon Church, which has its headquarters in the city, is investing “hundreds of millions of dollars” in the project, said Mark Gibbons, president of City Creek Reserve Inc., a real estate arm of the church, while declining to be more specific. The project will reshape downtown, Mr. Gibbons said. “We believe there won’t be anything anywhere that compares with it,” he said.

City Creek is not immune to the recession, Mr. Gibbons conceded. But he said the church has always had a “debt averse” philosophy that is proving especially helpful in the current climate.

“For which of you intending to build a tower does not first count the cost to see if he have money to complete, so he doesn’t look like a fool,” said Mr. Gibbons, paraphrasing Luke 14:28-29. “We set aside reserves to build this project, we counted the cost before we started, and we have the resources to complete.”

Bounded by the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountain ranges, Salt Lake City is home to 200,000 people, about 40 percent of them Mormons. It is a center for outdoor recreation, with several ski areas within 30 minutes of the city; a financial services hub, and a film festival mecca.

But the Mormon Church also wields considerable clout as the city’s largest employer and landowner. “We don’t have a Microsoft or Coca-Cola,” said Jason Mathis, executive director of the Downtown Alliance. “In many ways, the L.D.S. church fills that role.”

Now the church is a bringing a high-density, mixed-use project to Salt Lake City, with its own imprint: outsized, environmentally friendly and with a history of controversy. Two other companies have taken relatively small stakes in parts of the project.

Located at the intersection of the city’s primary commercial and ecclesiastical corridors, Main and South Temple Streets, the City Creek site, which is owned by the church, previously housed two poorly performing malls.

When Nordstrom, which anchored one of the shopping centers, threatened to leave seven years ago, Mormon leaders decided it was time for a makeover. The mayor at the time, Rocky Anderson, called enclosed malls “a failed paradigm,” and the church eventually agreed to a design that is much more open than the former malls.

To integrate the project with the surrounding neighborhood, City Creek planners put all parking underground and carved new streets into Salt Lake City’s monolithic 10-acre blocks — a legacy of the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, who developed a plan for the “City of Zion” in 1833.

The project features sweeping promenades and urban plazas “in line with the great plazas in Italy,” said Joe Collins, a project architect with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca. Fountains that include fire and bells — designed by the company responsible for water features at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas — will grace one of the plazas. “It’s going to be marvelous,” Mr. Gibbons said.

City Creek’s two-story 100-store retail center consists of several structures and will be developed by Taubman Centers, a developer based in Michigan, which is investing $75 million.

Its chief operating officer, William S. Taubman, said he had re-signed Macy’s and Nordstrom as anchor tenants, but declined to comment on the number of additional commitments he had secured. The center, which will open in 2012, will provide more upscale shopping than currently found in Salt Lake City, he said.

Nationwide, about 12 other major shopping centers were scheduled to open in the next year, Mr. Taubman said, but almost all of them have been delayed. City Creek is one of the few that has not been hampered by the economic downturn, he said.

Signs of the church’s financial strength — and managerial approach — abound. City Creek’s retractable glass roof will provide protection for shoppers during inclement weather. It would not be feasible without the deep coffers of the church, Mr. Collins said.

In keeping with religious dictates, the mall will be closed on Sundays, and only a few establishments, located on land whose title is held by Taubman Centers, will be allowed to serve alcohol.

Elements of the project are controversial. Some people scoff at the plan to use potable water to evoke City Creek, which determined the location of the city but which will remain underground.

“It’s the Disneyfication of what for many of us who are not members of the church find to be our sacred places, the natural environment,” said Stephen A. Goldsmith, a former city planning director who first approached the church with the mixed-use proposal for the City Creek property in 2002.

A sky bridge to be built over Main Street, where a light rail train operates, has also drawn criticism on the grounds it would mute street-level activity.

But Mr. Goldsmith, who now teaches at the University of Utah, is in favor of many aspects of the project. “To think we are going to have thousands of people living downtown — it’s something we only dreamed about,” he said

About 30 percent of the condos in City Creek’s Richards Court, a 10-story twin tower opening this year, have sold, Mr. Gibbons said. So far, most of the buyers are church members who will pay more than $900,000 for a one-bedroom unit with a view of the temple. “It’s the equivalent of living across the street from the Vatican or the Wailing Wall,” said Babs De Lay, a local real estate agent. “They will pay anything for this location.”

To accommodate the retail and residential components, City Creek developers demolished two office buildings. The ensuing demand led to the construction of 222 South Main Street, a $125 million tower a block from City Creek that will open in November.

Downtown Salt Lake has always had “good bones,” Mr. Gibbons said. But multiuse development is the future of the city — and the church, he said. “The existence of the temple dictates that our headquarters always be here,” he said. “We have a vested interest in making certain the vitality of this area.”

Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

Retailers expand presence in Utah

Retailers expand presence in Utah

By Laura Hancock, Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 10:01 p.m. MDT

Foursquare Properties Inc., owner of Jordan Landing, is preparing for a handful of new tenants this spring and summer.

Also, Johansen-Thackeray Commercial Real Estate Services opened a $60 million project, The Commons at Southtowne, 10400 S. State, last week. Tenants include PetSmart, Staples, Nordstrom Rack, DSW Shoes, ULTA Salons, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Sports Authority.

Could the new developments be a sign that the commercial real estate market along the Wasatch Front is turning around?

Maybe, if it were not for the Shops at Riverwoods in Provo, which is in foreclosure, and the former Cottonwood Mall, which was supposed to become a mixed-use development but is currently stalled as its owners, Chicago-based General Growth Properties LLC, are in bankruptcy.

Darrell Tate, a retail and land specialist with commercial real estate firm Commerce CRG, says the developments at Jordan Landing and The Commons at Southtowne may have been in the works for years, raising funds before the credit freeze. The Commons' developers said theirs was a 10-year project. "Those types of transactions take a very long time," Tate said.

Also, the relative strength of Utah's economy in comparison with other places is enticing to a retailer that wants to expand.

"When (retailers) look at where to expand, they're looking at relative strengths of markets right now," Tate said. "And Utah, we've certainly seen some impact from the overall economic climate. But if you are looking to expand, Utah does look like a relatively safe market, especially when you compare it to a Las Vegas or a Phoenix, where vacancies are higher and the housing market is worse."

The Jordan School District will occupy about 47,000 square feet of newly developed office building space at Jordan Commons. The school district could be in Jordan Landing as soon as July, according to a news release from the company, based in Carlsbad, Calif.

Susie's Deals discount retailer will be located near Rue 21 and Target. Red Rooster Waffle Co, Cafe Perk, Radio Shack, Gamestop and Sakana Sushi will open for business in late spring in the portion of Jordan Landing that is anchored by Sports Chalet and Michaels.

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
© 2009 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved