CONSTRUCTION ROUNDUP: Construction begins on innovation center at Hill Air Force Base
Developers have broken ground on a new facility at Hill Air Force Base south of Ogden.
Air Force and Utah officials participated in a ceremony March 3 at Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park. The new 21,000-square-foot building will be leased by the Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative, which will operate an Innovation Center in the building.
The USTAR Innovation Center will focus on providing the tools and resources needed to support start-up companies in maturing and commercializing their technology. Once complete, the new facility will house approximately 8,000 square feet of office space and state-of-the-art labs, and 13,000 square feet of space dedicated to manufacturing, research and development projects.
“Having USTAR at Falcon Hill is a significant boon for the community here and is just the first of many ‘outside the fence’ tech-focused office projects we envision for this area,” said Taylor Woodbury, the chief operating officer at project developer Woodbury Corp. “Much like the Silicon Slopes area down south, our goal is for this new USTAR building to be the cornerstone of the Silicon Hill movement that will help create a thriving tech community in northern Utah.”
The project is part of the ongoing Enhanced Use Lease Program at Hill AFB, one of the largest projects of its kind in the Defense Department.
“It’s exciting to see new organizations capitalize on the benefits of our EUL program. As the Falcon Hill project continues to grow we hope to see similar private and public projects that will add synergy to the Air Force mission,” said Col. Jennifer Hammerstedt, the 75th Air Base Wing commander at Hill.
The program allows the Air Force to lease land to a developer to create and lease commercial space and infrastructure. The new building is expected to be complete in late 2017.