This past week, City Creek Center celebrated its one-year anniversary. The Salt Lake Tribune reported in its first year, City Creek had “16.2 million visits to its 109 stores and restaurants.” It also reported “more than 600 new business licenses have been issued in the city’s Central Business District since 2010, and 800 residents have moved into the downtown neighborhood.”
City Creek is not an isolated phenomenon in Salt Lake City. Rather, it is a trend. Salt Lake is a fast-growing city that is poised to become a major one in the next decade.
Other than City Creek, the Salt Lake area is experiencing a huge economic boom.
“Not only are [Salt Lake’s economic] rates better than the U.S. average, but [the city’s] economic performance placed Salt Lake City in the fastest-growing 60 metropolitan economies worldwide,” according to Emilia Istrate, author of a Brookings Institute study on economic development in U.S. cities.
This growth can be seen not just statistically but firsthand. There are several construction projections underway illustrating the city’s growth. From the work in Sugar House, to the apartments on 400 S. 600 E., to the new sustainable government building farther west on 400 S., to the new U.S. Courthouse, business is booming in Salt Lake City.
Large companies recognize the trend. In a recent Reuter’s article, “[Goldman Sachs] now employs 1,300 people [in SLC] ­— putting Utah’s capital city on a path to become Goldman’s fourth-largest global operation, behind only New York, New Jersey and London.”
Goldman Sachs is just one of the major businesses ramping up investments in Salt Lake.
“AT&T invested nearly $110 million in its Salt Lake City area wireless and wireline networks from 2010 through 2012,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Twitter, Adobe and Ebay are all building facilities in the greater Salt Lake area.
Salt Lake is experiencing a commensurate population boom. Analyzing data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses on CensusViewer, Salt Lake City grew 2.58 percent.
While the majority of the population is white, minority populations experienced the most growth. White people saw a 2.68 percent decline in population size, Asians a 25.35 percent increase, black people a 48.21 percent increase and Hispanics a 21.55 percent increase, according to CensusViewer. These statistics suggest diversity is afoot in Salt Lake City.
The U’s campus exhibits similar trends. The new business building is almost complete, as is the nursing school on upper campus. The new education and arts building is well under way too.
The U already contributes significantly to the valley and is poised to grow proportionally to the Salt Lake area. For instance, we have one of the largest hospitals, one of the highest start-up company rates of any university and also a renowned research program.
Salt Lake City is changing rapidly. We are experiencing growth by every measure. Vibrant businesses are drawn to the valley, providing more economic opportunities for Utahns than ever before.
In many ways, Utah is the crossroads of the West.