May 30, 2008

   A Publication of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah
CEO Jeff Edwards

President's Message

EDCUtah Assists City Partners at Retail ED Show
 

It's a busy time at EDCUtah. At the same time one team from EDCUtah worked the Utah Pavilion at the SAMPE symposium in Long Beach, California, another EDCUtah team was busy in Las Vegas with leaders from 21 Utah Cities at the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) convention. Today's feature highlights this, our sixth year of participation in the convention, where we gave away nearly 400 Utah Retail Property Books, assisted our partner cities in their retail economic development efforts and enjoyed a reception hosted by the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Today's Economic Review also includes links to many of the ED-related news stories from the past week. As always, if you have comments, suggestions or topics you'd like to see in the Economic Review, please contact us by clicking the ?Comments? button on the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

Jeff Edwards

Jeff Edwards
President and CEO

Feature

Utah Delegation Promotes Retail Economic Development at ICSC Convention


What do 2,500 public officials, 21 Utah cities, 47,000 attendees and EDCUtah have in common? The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) convention, held last week in Las Vegas.

One of the 10 largest conventions in the U.S., ICSC is a huge event with significant implications for retail economic development across the globe. Consequently, EDCUtah, the Governor?s Office of Economic Development (GOED) and delegations from 21 Utah cities and towns converged at the convention to pitch the home turf to retailers and shopping mall developers.

While retail economic development isn?t EDCUtah?s primary focus, Michael Flynn, vice president of public development, says it can?t be ignored. Retail economic development and the associated sales taxes generated are the life blood of most cities and generally support the services the cities provide.

EDCUtah has been assisting Utah cities with their participation in the ICSC convention for the past six years and each year the group of participants gets bigger and the results get better.

?ICSC has developed into something with a lot of value and success for us,? Flynn adds. ?This year we had prime exhibit space right next to the big retailers and developers.? And with the onsite meeting space the location was perfect for networking and one-to-one meetings with retailers and developers.

The Utah Pavilion always draws a crowd at the ICSC convention, thanks in part to the Utah Retail Property Book that EDCUtah publishes and the aerial map book that Commerce CRG prints for the convention. ?The combination of these two books is a great package and many retailers deliberately come to the Utah Pavilion every year to obtain copies,? Flynn says. The retail property book features the specs on the various retail locations available within the participating cities, while Commerce CRG?s aerial map book provides visual details for all of the locations in the retail property book.

In addition to the high profile location and the large crowds, the Utah delegation at the ICSC convention was treated to a reception hosted by GOED, where they were addressed by Jason Perry, GOED?s executive director, networked together and shared best practices. ?The reception was a fantastic networking opportunity,? Flynn adds.

?The Governor?s Office of Economic Development was thrilled to participate in the ICSC convention for the second year in a row,? Perry says. ?This convention produced significant opportunities for increased retail in the state of Utah. Job and population growth has sparked a statewide increase in the retail and service sectors. Our nation leading family income growth has not gone unnoticed by major retailers. As a consequence of this strong retail segment, local communities and the state are in a great position to improve our infrastructure. It was rewarding to see so many cities and counties working together to bring business to our state.?

While the ICSC convention is not necessarily the type of show where deals are cut, it is an important venue for Utah?s cities, as they promote their pro-business environments, quality locations, incentives and resources. What?s more, ICSC provides a one-stop location where the cities can arrange meetings in advance and sit down with multiple prospects in one convenient location.

Flynn says the ICSC convention was a great success and he anticipates being back again next year for a 7th round. Utah cities interested in participating may contact Flynn for more information, (801) 328-8824.

CALENDAR

June 4: Golf Tournament (Wasatch Mountain)
June 9-12: AUVSI (San Diego)
June 17-20: BIO (San Diego)
June 18: Executive Committee (EDCUtah)
June 25: Quarterly Update (location TBD)
Aug. 6: OIA Thought Leader
Sept. 13-17: IAMC (Oklahoma)
Sept. 25: What's Goin' Down Up North - Northern Utah Economic Summit Thursday, September 25, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Utah State University Innovation Campus, North Logan. Registration form.
Oct. 9-12: CoreNet (Orlando)
Oct. 22: Quarterly Update
Dec. 17: Holiday Open House (EDCUtah)

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In The News

Economic Development Headlines from the Past Week

Keep economy open, U.S. urged

- A pair of experts ? one from the United States and one from Australia ? on Tuesday urged the U.S. to resist the temptation of protectionism as a way to help the troubled U.S. economy. (Morning News)

Holladay proposing 6% tax on utilities

- Holladay City officials are proposing a 6 percent tax on power and natural gas to fund $12 million for repair of dilapidated roads. (Morning News)

Panel begins dissection of new immigration law

- Lawmakers were dumbfounded Thursday to learn from U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman that mere illegal presence isn't seen as a prosecutable crime in Utah. (Morning News)

Becker names Salt Lake's new economic chief

- Farrington, the longtime executive director of the Downtown Alliance, was introduced Wednesday as Salt Lake City's new economic development director, charged with capitalizing on the city's assets to reach its economic potential. (Morning News)

Tap federal lands for oil, BLM urges

- The answer to rising fuel prices may lie under millions of acres of federal land, mostly in the West, that for a variety of reasons are off limits to oil and natural-gas development, according to the Bureau of Land Management. A BLM inventory of public lands released Wednesday shows 279 million acres of untapped resources throughout the United States. Those areas contain an estimated 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (Morning News)

Lawmakers seek to remove film-incentive cap

- Some Utah officials want to lure those kinds of films by removing a cap of $500,000 per project that now exists for the state's Motion Picture Incentive Fund. Removing that cap will help Utah compete for big-budget movies and TV series, rather than just lower-budget productions, they say. (Morning News)

Oracle plans Utah facility

- Oracle Corp. said Monday it plans to build a $285 million facility in West Jordan for global information technology. (Morning News)

State eyes bigger movie incentives

- State officials looking to fortify the Motion Picture Incentive Fund have a big-name ally ready to help: Disney. Mary Ann Hughes, vice president of film and television production planning for the Walt Disney Co., told the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board on Friday that Utah needs to bolster its fund in order to get bigger-budget movies and TV series shot in the state. (Morning News)

Megalopolis: Urban sprawl slowly blurs Wasatch Front towns, cities

- But over the past few decades, Frame, McKay and Knight have been pulled ever closer ? without moving an inch ? into a booming metropolis or megalopolis, that spans the Wasatch Front. As their counties and communities collide, tiny towns are becoming more of a distant memory where new needs for establishing an identity, transportation routes and areas for growth have become paramount for survival. (Morning News)

Downtown's champion gets new role

- Plucked from his nonprofit post by Mayor Ralph Becker, Farrington steps into a slot that has been vacant since before Rocky Anderson left office. The first-year mayor wants his economic captain to foster small businesses, recruit big companies and work with the city's diverse population. (SL Tribune)

Australia's ex-Premier endorses open trade

- A former Australian prime minister and a senior Bush administration trade official on Tuesday pressed their cases for open-trade policies at a time of sudden global food shortages and criticism that free trade has led to job losses in the United States. (SL Tribune)

Public lands hold small stash of oil

- A survey of onshore oil and gas resources show public lands contain just over 30 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, but not all of it is available for development - something the Bush administration would like to change, according to a new report. (SL Tribune)

Washington County OKs immigrant labor rule

- Contractors who do business with Washington County in Utah must ensure that employees are eligible to work in the United States. There was applause this week when commissioners in St. George approved a resolution that says public money going to undocumented immigrants hurts legal residents. (SL Tribune)

Bob Farrington is SLC's New Economic Development Director

- Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is tapping the Executive Director of the Downtown Alliance to be his new Economic Development Director. Bob Farrington has been with the Alliance since 1992 and also oversaw Downtown Rising. One of his goals is to improve relationships between small businesses and residential communities. (KCPW)

Would-be Sugar House redeveloper asks SLC for time to finish demolition

- In a letter sent to the capital's building director, Craig Mecham says his team still is negotiating with Rockwood Investment Associates about the brick wall that borders a retail gallery and what's left of the Blue Boutique building. Mecham calls on the city not to seize his $20,000 bond to begin landscaping until the talks are complete. (SL Tribune)

W. Jordan wins Oracle plant

- Business software giant Oracle Corp. on Monday said it will build a data-storage center in West Jordan that will employ around 100 people when the center opens in two years. Oracle said it would go ahead with the $285 million data center after Utah economic development officials agreed Friday to offer the Redwood City, Calif.-based company up to $15 million in tax-rebate incentives. (SL Tribune)

April home sales climb 3%

- Though Utah?s technology industry is strong and steady, the industry continues to face a substantial workforce shortage, said Utah Technology Council President Richard Nelson. Leaders of some of Utah?s top technology companies discussed industry trends and issues during Utah Business magazine?s annual technology roundtable Wednesday. (Utah Business Magazine)

New Salt Lake City Economic Development Leader

- Long-time downtown leader Bob Farrington will be Salt Lake City's new economic development director. KUER's Jenny Brundin has more. (KUER)

Oil Shale Development in Utah

- Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch told lawmakers on Capitol Hill they need to stop getting in the way of Utah's development of oil shale. Matt Laslo reports from our Washington bureau. (KUER)

Ex-Aussie leader: Go global

- The former prime minister of Australia urged the Utah business community Tuesday to embrace the global economy as a means of securing future economic prosperity. (Standard Examiner)

Undocumented Offenders Released when ICE Doesn't Show

- Lawmakers want Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to report back to the Immigration Interim Committee this summer with more information about the number of undocumented immigrants released from Utah jails. Shurtleff says often the understaffed Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency can't pick up the offenders, so many are processed in a matter of hours and released. (KCPW)

Coal Industry Contributing to Sequestration Research

- Despite the nation's increased need for electricity, fear of regulations intended to reduce carbon emissions, and the costs of technology to capture and store carbon dioxide, make it unlikely that coal companies will build new power plants. Dr. Joseph Strakey, Chief Technology Officer for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, says those fears have pushed the coal industry to become vested in the science of carbon capture and sequestration. (KCPW)

Utah Politicians Want Oil Shale Development

- The same day a federal amendment that would have allowed oil shale development to proceed in the Intermountain West died in the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch argued in favor of oil shale development before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Yesterday, Hatch plugged the economic incentives of extracting oil in Utah as the nation continues to rely on foreign sources. (KCPW)

Washington County requiring proof of work eligibility

- ST. GEORGE - The Washington County Com-mission received a round of applause after adopting a resolution requiring that contractors working for the county certify the work eligibility status of their employees. (Spectrum)