Industry Briefs are provided as a free service to our readers. Company news information may be sent to brice@slenterprise.com. The submission deadline is one week before publication.
BANKING
• Hillcrest Bank, a division of NBH Bank, has promoted David Stahl to Utah market president. He will continue to lead and expand the commercial banking team and also be focused on providing advisory services, loans and treasury management solutions to small, medium and large businesses and building client relationships in Utah.
• TAB Bank, Ogden, has hired Nilendu Saha as chief technology officer. Saha has more than 25 years of experience in building and managing enterprise applications, data analytics platforms and technology initiatives, and leading large and complex teams. Previous roles include director of software engineering/enterprise architecture and head of data services at Patelco Credit Union and Ellie Mae Inc. (now ICE Mortgage). He also provided management and technology consultancy services and implemented digital transformation projects for various global enterprises and financial service organizations.
• D.L. Evans Bank has hired Brian Anderson as an assistant vice president commercial loan officer at its Logan branch. Anderson has 23 years of financial experience. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Utah State University and his master’s degree in accounting from the University of Utah.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has declared a quarterly dividend of $1 per share on the common stock of the company for the 2021 first quarter. The dividend is payable March 31 to stockholders of record March 15. It is an increase of 11.1 percent from the prior quarter. is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 1,921 self-storage properties.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Summit County leads all Utah counties for the lowest closing costs as a percentage of the median home value, according to a study by financial technology company SmartAsset. Summit was followed, in order, by Wasatch, Morgan, Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Washington, Grand, Cache and Daggett counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/mortgage/closing-costs#Utah.
• Several Utah cities are on a ranking of “Best Cities to Own a Vacation Rental,” compiled by LawnStarter. It compared the rental markets in over 300 U.S. cities across 10 key factors, from the median listing price per square foot to the rental vacancy rate to the prevalence of property crime. Utah cities’ rankings are No. 30 Logan, No. 40 St. George, No. 197 Salt Lake City, No. 242 Moab, No. 252 Vernal, No. 253 Cedar City, No. 270 Kanab and No. 283 Park City. Shelbyville, Kentucky, topped the rankings. Bass Lake, California, was at the bottom.
• Utah is ranked No. 37 among states in a ranking of the nation’s physically strongest men and women. The rankings were compiled by Lift Vault, which used five years of data provided by Open Powerlifting and focusing on three main powerlifting categories. On average, Utahns can squat 574 pounds, bench-press 380 pounds and deadlift 639 pounds. Texas led the rankings. North Dakota was at the bottom. Details are at https://liftvault.com/strongest-states/#State_Strength_Rankings.
• Utah is ranked No. 34 among states for the best in-home healthcare for patients in 2021, a list compiled by The Senior List. It used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Indeed and Zillow. Rankings were determined after analyzing data in nine categories related to caretaker availability and cost of care in each state. In breakout categories, Utah was sixth-worst for home health and personal care aide employment per 1,000; 10th-worst for registered nurse employment per 1,000; and second-best for average annual cost of nursing care as percentage of typical 65-plus income. Details are at https://www.theseniorlist.com/research/caregiving-access-affordability-state-rankings/.
EXPANSIONS
• Biomerics, a Salt Lake City-based mid-market medical device contract manufacturer, is doubling its manufacturing footprint in the La Zeta Free Trade Zone in Cartago, Costa Rica. The expansion is in the form of a new greenfield plant adjacent to Biomerics’ current operations and includes extrusion, injection molding, micro metal processing, and cleanroom assembly process. The 110,000-square-foot facility will include engineering labs, quality inspection labs, controlled environment manufacturing, office space, clean rooms, packaging and warehouse facilities. Construction is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter.
HEALTHCARE
• Recursion, a Salt Lake City-based biotechnology company, has appointed Louisa Daniels as chief legal officer and general counsel. Daniels will oversee Recursion’s legal and compliance functions and augment Recursion’s executive team. Daniels has more than 20 years of experience in senior roles in the biopharma industry, most recently serving as vice president and assistant general counsel at Pfizer Inc. She served in those roles from April 2008 to January 2021 and also served as chief counsel of global product development from May 2016 to January 2021, as chief counsel of global commercial operations, strategy and portfolio management from 2013 to 2016 and as lead counsel of PharmaTherapeutics R&D from 2008 to 2013.
INSURANCE
• GEICO has opened its first local office at 2237 S. State St., Salt Lake City. Vincenzo Alaimo will lead a team of licensed agents at the new location. Alaimo previously spent eight years working in management at a health insurance provider. GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Co.) is the second-largest auto insurer in the U.S. A member of the Berkshire Hathaway family of companies, GEICO employs more than 43,000 associates nationwide.
INVESTMENTS
• UIA (Utah Infrastructure Agency) has just completed its latest round of funding that will infuse the UTOPIA/UIA network with $52.5 million for the expansion of its network. UIA is a sister agency to UTOPIA Fiber. Although legally separate entities, UTOPIA and UIA functionally operate as one integrated system and both are marketed as UTOPIA Fiber. This is the third round of financing that UIA has secured recently, attracting $113 million in the last 14 months. UIA secured the latest round of funding in partnership with Lewis Young Robertson & Burningham Inc. (financial advisor), KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. (senior managing underwriter) and Gilmore & Bell (bond and disclosure counsel). Roger Timmerman, UTOPIA Fiber’s executive director, said the $52.5 million will provide the capital to build out the remaining areas of its original 11 cities and to add customers throughout its coverage area. UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 15 cities and business services in 50.
LAW
• Armstrong Teasdale has hired partner Romaine Marshall and of counsel Jose Abarca to its Salt Lake City office. Marshall has represented clients in response to hundreds of incidents involving data breaches, ransomware, malware attacks, security misconfigurations, wire fraud, software vulnerabilities, social engineering and other exploits, and in resulting litigation and regulatory investigations. He also is an experienced business litigator and trial lawyer. Abarca is an experienced litigator, having represented numerous companies in matters ranging from ownership disputes to bet-the-company litigation. He often defends clients against multimillion-dollar claims in state and federal court, and before government agencies.
LOGISTICS
• The Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA) has announced that an independent audit has concluded it has complied with all state requirements for financial reporting, budget, and the Open and Public Meetings Act. Squire & Company PC reported that the financial statements audited “present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities and the general fund” of the authority. UIPA is required by law to provide an annual audit of its financial statements and state compliance by a Certified Public Accountant in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. The authority’s revenues totaled $3.4 million for the budget year ending in June 2020, resulting in a net position of $2.4 million.
NONPROFITS
• The Salvation Army in Utah has announced that Lisa McDonald has become grant and community development manager for the Salt Lake City Corps, Ogden Corps and St. George Outpost. She will be responsible for grant writing, community development and corporate partnerships throughout the State of Utah. McDonald has 35 years of social service and nonprofit experience. She served as executive director of The Christmas Box International and worked at Utah Foster Care and the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program with the Utah Guardian ad Litem Office. McDonald earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Brigham Young University.
• Visit Salt Lake (VSL), a private, nonprofit corporation responsible for the promotion of Salt Lake as a convention and travel destination, has appointed Karen Boe for the newly created position of vice president of communications and public relations. Boe will lead VSL messaging and storytelling efforts, targeting international, national, regional and local audiences with a focus on productive markets for leisure travel, meetings and conventions. She has been a consultant for VSL over the past 16 years, providing local and regional communications; engineering major announcements such as the convention hotel groundbreaking, Salt Palace solar array installation and expansion; and managing local media relations for conventions, including USANA, DoTerra and Outdoor Retailer.
• Ben McAdams has been named a senior fellow at the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. The center brings data science and innovative finance into the public policy arena to design solutions for challenges facing communities, nonprofits and governments. McAdams will bring together individuals and groups to explore opportunities for public-private partnerships seeking solutions to challenges facing local communities and the federal government. He will also create opportunities for students to develop experience in fields related to impact investing, data science, impact measurement, innovative finance and initiative building. McAdams previously was Salt Lake County mayor and a congressman serving the 4th District.
PHILANTHROPY
• KeyBank’s Utah market contributed more than $30,000 to various community organizations in the fourth quarter of 2020, including grants specifically earmarked for COVID-19 relief and social justice efforts in Utah. The grants were made as part of the company’s commitment to support organizations and programs that prepare individuals for thriving futures. Three of the grants were awarded to organizations to help with COVID-19 relief efforts, including support to Eye Care for Kids, People Helping People and The Road Home in support of programs that support housing, stability and prosperity for people living in crisis. The contributions also included a social justice grant to the Young Women’s Christian Association of Salt Lake City in support of the continued advancement of race equity work at YWCA Utah.
REAL ESTATE
• Graycliff Capital Partners LLC, a South Carolina-based developer/owner in the multifamily sector, has acquired Milagro, a Class A, mixed-used residential community in downtown Salt Lake City. Financial terms were not disclosed. Built in 2018, Milagro has 183 units. The transaction was brokered by CBRE’s Eli Mills and Patrick Bodnar. The property, as well as ViA, a 138-unit midrise apartment building in South Salt Lake recently acquired by Graycliff, will be operated by Nxt Property Management, which manages more than 4,000 units in the Salt Lake Valley.
• Axio 8400, a 332-unit multifamily property in Sandy, has been sold by an affiliate of Mountain Capital Partners, an affiliate of Dekel Capital, and Castlewood Development to Pacific Development Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. The sale was announced by Institutional Property Advisors (IPA), a division of Marcus & Millichap. Brock Zylstra, IPA first vice president, and IPA’s Danny Shin, Steve Gebing and Cliff David represented the seller. Axio 8400 sits on 9.5 acres.
• The first phase of Benloch Ranch, a new development 19 miles from Park City, has been unveiled. Benloch Ranch has more than 2,000 homes on 2,550 acres. Home prices start at $695,000 and home sites start at $249,900. The developer is Jamie Mackay, best known for his tiny-house manufacturing company Wheelhaus.
• Commercial real estate firm CBRE Inc. has added two research analysts to the regional research team overseeing data collection and analysis for commercial markets covering both Utah and the Boise market area: Sierra Hoffer, senior research analyst, and Chase Johnson, field research analyst. Hoffer has rejoined the Salt Lake City office and has analytical expertise in both the commercial real estate and technology industries. Sierra will lead out in organizing and presenting CBRE data, own local thought leadership, and assist local CBRE leadership to form and retain strategic alliances with external organizations. Most recently, Hoffer worked as a business operations associate for Vivint Smart Home and previously worked as a research analyst for CBRE covering commercial market data and economic trends throughout Utah. Sierra was a graduate fellow at Utah State University where she earned a master’s degree in economics and a bachelor of science in business marketing. Johnson will handle day-to-day research matters, including working directly with the brokerage community to fulfil data requests and maintaining the integrity of the local research database. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brigham Young University.
RECOGNITIONS
• Red Ledges, a private community in Heber, and its Village Center pool complex have been honored by Golf Inc. magazine, winning first place in the Aquatics Category in the publication’s 2021 Amenity of the Year competition. Golf Inc. annually recognizes the best new amenities and golf industry’s top dining facilities at public and private clubs in its February/March issue. It named 19 honorees this year, eight in three amenity categories and 11 in the Golden Fork categories for best new and renovated dining facilities.
• Paul Limburg, owner and manager of CertaPro Painters of Salt Lake City, was named the winner of the system’s most prestigious award, the CertaCup. Limburg’s team was selected out of nearly 400 CertaPro Painters businesses across North America. To be considered for the award, the franchisee and their team must practice the company’s values, consistently deliver an extraordinary customer experience, and demonstrate growth in his/her residential and commercial painting business. Limburg has been with the franchise for 20 years. CertaPro Painters of Salt Lake City grew 20.7 percent in 2020.
RESTAURANTS
• Franchise company Mountain Mike’s Pizza has signed a development deal with Pelican Food Concepts LLC, expected to result in 30 restaurants to Utah over the next decade. Pelican Food executive Mike Smith, former BYU basketball and NBA player and studio broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz, is helping to spearhead the chain’s growth throughout the state. Twenty-five restaurants are expected to open this year. The company has more than 230 restaurants. It has one restaurant in Utah, opening in South Jordan in 2006.
• Wow Wow Hawaiian Lemonade has signed a multi-unit franchise agreement with entrepreneur Alexa Raynes to bring three gourmet lemonade stands to Utah. Raynes plans on opening a drive-through location in Draper within the next year, and then expand the brand’s Utah footprint with locations in Orem and Lehi. Each new stand is expected to bring 35-60 new jobs to the area. Raynes is a “superhost” with AirBNB and has worked in direct sales. Wow Wow was founded in 2012. It now has eight stands in the U.S. and two internationally.