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EDUCATION/TRAINING
• The University of Utah has hired Robin Burr as the university’s chief of design and construction officer. Burr most recently was executive director of capital projects at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, where she worked for the past 18 years. Prior to that, she was a principal in a small architectural firm that focused on healthcare and higher education projects.
GOVERNMENT
• Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams has selected Erin Litvack as deputy mayor and chief administrative officer. Litvack had served as director of the Department of Community Services during the mayor’s first term in office.
INVESTMENT
• Vivint Solar, Lehi, has closed $303 million in new financing in a pair of transactions. A fixed-rate, 18-year term debt facility was closed, involving four institutional investors and $203 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as sole syndication agent on the transaction. A portion of the proceeds will be used to repay outstanding borrowings under the company’s existing non-recourse credit facility. Vivint closed an investment with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, an existing investor that had committed a $100 million follow-on investment in tax equity financing, which will allow the installation of over 66 megawatts of residential solar energy systems. The investment marks the closing of a portion of the tax equity commitments Vivint Solar received in November.
OUTDOOR PRODUCTS/RECREATION/SPORTS
• Deer Valley Resort has promoted Steve Graff to director of mountain operations. Graff will oversee all mountain activity in the summer and winter, including chairlift operations, snowmaking, grooming, guest services, ski patrol, mountain venues and resort maintenance. Most recently, Graff has been Deer Valley’s ski patrol manager, which included overseeing mountain biking operations in the summer months. He joined Deer Valley in 1993 as a ski/mountain bike patroller and within two years he became a ski patrol supervisor. Graff was appointed to assistant ski patrol manager in 1998 and in the summer of 1999 he began managing the summer mountain bike program. In 2000, Graff was promoted to ski patrol manager. Prior to Deer Valley, Graff was employed at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. Graff succeeds Chuck English, director of mountain operations since 1986, who retires after 44 years in the ski industry.
• Early January saw historic snowfall at Utah’s ski resorts, with two resorts getting more than 100 inches of fresh snow Jan. 2-13. The most was 119 inches at Brighton, while the lowest amount was 79 inches at Snowbird. Deer Valley Resort also topped 100 inches in the period. The largest single-day amount was 28 inches at Solitude on Jan. 3. Seven of those days saw at least one Utah resort reporting a “monster dump” of 12 inches or more during a 24-hour period.
PHILANTHROPY
• The National Ability Center, Park City, has received a $31,862 from patrons of Del Taco. The center empowers individuals of all abilities by building self-esteem, confidence and lifetime skills through sports, recreation and educational programs. Customers contributed the donations in October and November. More than $205,000 has been donated during the past seven years.
• The Kennecott Charitable Foundation donated $102,000 in 2016 to support 47 local community charities. The nonprofit foundation provides assistance to programs and entities supporting underserved populations and individuals in need along the Wasatch Front. Since its inception in 1992, the foundation has donated more than $3 million to local community charities and nonprofit organizations.
REAL ESTATE
• Representatives of Salt Lake City and local developer Artspace recently cut the ribbon to open Artspace Macaroni Flats, the first completed development in the Station Center project at the Depot District. Artspace has been investing in the Rio Grande neighborhood since 1996, and Artspace Macaroni Flats is the third project the nonprofit organization has developed in the district. The mixed-use development includes 13 residential units affordable for households earning 80 percent of area median income and eight affordable street-level commercial spaces for artists, nonprofit groups and small businesses. Built in 1900, the structure was originally home to the Western Macaroni Manufacturing Co. and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency provided the building to Artspace to initiate the larger plan for the future of the area. Financing for Macaroni Flats includes equity provided by U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp. through participation in federal New Markets Tax Credits and state and federal Historic Tax Credits. The Community Development Finance Alliance allocated a portion of tax credits to the project, along with participation by Morgan Stanley, Ally Bank and American Express Centurion Bank.
• Chime Technologies, a real estate tech platform, has opened an office in Salt Lake City. It plans to hire 80 salespeople for the new office during the next six to 12 months and ultimately expects to have at least 200 employees. Chime launched its powerful lead generation and CRM solution last August to empower real estate agents and their teams with a suite of tools for optimizing efficiency and maximizing sales.
RECOGNITIONS
• Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski recently presented the Key to the City to Tom Guinney, owner and chief of operations of Gastronomy Inc. The honor recognizes his 36 years of leadership in Salt Lake City’s restaurant and hospitality industry, contributions to the local economy and cultural scene, and for his support of numerous philanthropies and historic preservation work. This is only the second time the mayor has awarded the Key to the City. Guinney has spent his entire life in the hospitality industry. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1980 from California, where he established a track record as an executive chef and manager of fine dining establishments. He joined in a business partnership with Tom Seig and John Williams, who opened the New Yorker in 1978. Forming Gastronomy Inc., the three men went on to open Market Street Grill, Oyster Bar, Market Street Broiler and other restaurants in Salt Lake City. In 2000 and 2007, Gastronomy opened a Market Street Grill, Oyster Bar and Fresh Fish Market in Cottonwood Heights and West Jordan.
• The Salt Lake Home Builders Association recently presented several annual awards. The 2016 Builder of the Year award (V.A. Bettilyion Award) was presented to Ron McArthur of McArthur Homes. The award honors an individual considered to have provided exemplary leadership and talent to association members. McArthur also received the 2016 President’s Award, which acknowledges an individual that the current association president feels has gone beyond normal expectations in his or her service to the association during the past year. The 2016 Associate of the Year award was presented to Ken Martello of Citywide Home Loans. The award honors an associate member of the association who has provided exemplary service on behalf of the association, especially during this past year. The Golden Hammer Award was presented to Kirk MacKay of Red Group. The award is presented to a person who has served the building industry and the community in an exemplary fashion. Taylour Shaw of Salt Lake Community College is the Salt Lake Home Builders Association Scholarship recipient, while Kyle Savoy, also of SLCC, received the Pete Petermann Memorial Scholarship.
• The James Beard Foundation has named Denise Cerreta as the recipient of the 2017 Humanitarian of the Year Award for her efforts in hunger relief. Cerreta is founder of One World Everybody Eats (OWEE), an international nonprofit that began as a simple offering in a small Salt Lake City café in 2003. OWEE supports a model of pay-what-you-can cafés to help communities alleviate hunger on a local level. Since its inception, 60 cafés around the world have implemented the OWEE business model and dozens are in the making — almost of which are operated solely by volunteers. OWEE has served almost 2 million meals.
• The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently awarded the Tibbetts Award to the Utah Science Technology and Research’s (USTAR) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Assistance Center (SSAC). The award was presented at a ceremony Jan. 10 at the White House. Named for Roland Tibbetts, the father of the SBIR program, the Tibbetts Awards have been presented since 1996. Winners are selected based on the economic impact of technological innovation, and the extent to which the innovation serves federal research and development needs, encourages diverse participation, and increases the commercialization of federal research. USTAR opened the SSAC in 2008 to support and maximize the opportunity for Utah companies to participate in and win non-dilutive federal SBIR-STTR funding. Since opening, the SSAC has helped 31 companies win nearly $20 million to advance their technologies, and has assisted hundreds of companies from Washington to Box Elder counties in every stage of the process.
• Utah ski resorts earned several rankings in the 2016-17 Best in Snow Awards, presented by Liftopia. The awards were based on more than 10,000 responses from skiers and snowboarders of every skill level. The “Best In Snow Overall Top 10” list includes Alta, Powder Mountain and Snowbird. The “Raw Data Top 10” includes Alta and Snowbird. The list of “Top Ski Areas in North America” includes No. 4 Alta, No. 8 Powder Mountain and No. 9 Snowbird. The “Top Beginner Friendly Ski Areas in the High West” list includes No. 1 Eagle Point, No. 3 Sundance Resort, No. 4 Brighton, No. 5 Powder Mountain, No. 8 Alta and No. 10 Brian Head. The “Top Family Friendly Ski Areas in the High West” includes No. 2 Powder Mountain, No. 3 Sundance Resort, No. 6 Brighton, No. 7 Solitude Mountain Resort, No. 8 Alta and No. 9 Brian Head. The “Top Most Challenging Ski Areas in the High West” includes No. 2 Snowbird, No. 3 Alta and No. 9 Powder Mountain. The “Top Least Crowded Ski Areas in the High West” includes No. 2 Powder Mountain and No. 7 Eagle Point. The “Top Best Value Ski Areas” includes No. 1 Powder Mountain, No. 2 Alta, No. 3 Snowbird and No. 9 Solitude Mountain Resort. The “Top Snow Consistency and Quality Ski Areas in the High West” includes No. 1 Alta, No. 3 Powder Mountain, No. 4 Snowbird, No. 8 Solitude Mountain Resort and No. 10 Brighton.
• The Energy Research Triangle (ERT), a partnership between the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative and the Governor’s Office of Energy Development (GOED) has announced the recipients of its 2017 grant programs. The ERT-Professor grant incentivizes Utah’s universities to collaborate, stimulating innovative solutions for Utah’s energy challenges while fostering emerging technologies. The ERT-Professor grant requires at least three Utah universities to collaborate on an issue specific to Utah’s energy and natural resource landscape. Recipients are Pollutant Source Detector, with a project team of Marc Mansfield of Utah State University (lead), Jaron Hansen of Brigham Young University and Ryan Thalman of Snow College; Lower-Cost Solar Panels, with a project team of Michael Scarpulla of the University of Utah (lead), John Colton of BYU and Kristin Rabosky of Weber State University; and Smart EV Charging, with a project team of Masood Parvania of the UofU (lead), Regan Zane of USU and John Salmon of BYU. The ERT-Scholars grant encourages training of Utah’s next generation of energy researchers. Recipients are Water-Energy Efficiency, Konstantinos Oikonomou; Produced Water Treatment, Jennifer Calderon; Lithium-Ion Batteries, Casey Hawkins; and Smarter Fracking, Aubry DeReuil. All of the ERT-Scholars grant recipients are from the University of Utah.
RESTAURANTS
• The Eating Establishment, on Park City’s Main Street, has had a re-opening and launched a new menu. It was bought by The Edison Alley Group and Ty Burrell, star of TV’s “Modern Family” and owner of Bar X and Beer Bar. It will continue to offer breakfast and lunch but also will offer new items for dinner, craft cocktails and craft coffee.
• A full-service Godfather’s Pizza restaurant has opened at 10949 S. Redwood Road, South Jordan. The restaurant will offer online ordering; a party room for 36 for a combined 135-person total capacity; catering; and a buffet of pizzas, salad chicken and desserts. Delivery will be added at a later date. Godfather’s Pizza Inc. has more than 450 locations in more than 40 states. The first Godfather’s Pizza location in the area opened in 1978, but until the South Jordan location opened, the only store to remain in Utah was in Taylorsville.
TECHNOLOGY/LIFE SCIENCES
• Finicity, a Salt Lake City-based provider of real-time financial data aggregation and insights, has hired Tim Laukka as chief financial officer. Laukka will be responsible for managing financial operations and human resources. He has more than 25 years of business and financial services experience, most recently as the CFO of Optum Bank. Prior to Optum Bank, he was instrumental in the establishment of In2M, the predecessor to Finicity and its Mvelopes personal financial management platform.