IN SLC'S NORTHWEST QUADRANT
Brice Wallace
The Utah Inland Port Authority is envisioning the Northwest Quadrant as a hub for biomedical and life sciences manufacturing.
At the December meeting of the port authority board, officials spelled out their preliminary steps toward a strategy to attract new businesses, expand existing businesses and market the Northwest Quadrant and its opportunities.
The 16,000-acre area straddles Interstate 15 both west and southwest of Salt Lake City International Airport.
The authority is buoyed by several advances in the industry in recent years, including $900 million in bioscience investments in 2021, up from $181.7 million in 2018 and ranking Utah No. 8 national in per capita venture capital investment. The industry also has seen an average 5.1 percent annual job growth rate over the past decade, above the national average of 3.5 percent. It had 40,419 industry jobs in 2021 across 1,825 establishments, supporting a total of nearly 195,000 jobs. And Utah had nearly 1,900 bioscience-related patents filed between 2018 and 2021.
“We believe that in Utah and the Northwest Quadrant, we have the opportunity to capitalize on the existing momentum that’s already been built in this [industry] space,” Stephen Smith, UIPA’s associate vice president for regional project area development, told the board. “We’re already recognized as an up-and-comer in the market in life sciences, but, as we always want to do, we want to punch above our weight here.”
The goal ultimately is for the Northwest Quadrant to be a bio-manufacturing hub in the western U.S.; drive investment to support cutting-edge research and advanced manufacturing; and attract companies specializing in biomedical innovation that would create high-paying, sustainable jobs.
Smith and board member Jefferson Moss said the Northwest Quadrant development could complement that of The Point, with the former focusing on industry manufacturing and the latter concentrating on research and development.
Moss said he has met with life sciences officials in Boston and the Bay Area. “Whenever I mention the [Northwest Quadrant] Inland Port and the proximity to air and rail and all that so close by and almost an untouched area, people are blown away that this is even an option,” he said. “It’s like this unknown thing right now as we’re trying to get this out there, but I know that there’s such an interest and desire to see this. …”
Smith said the authority is working on “identifying what the right ingredients are” for the initiative. Several companies have undertaken site visits at the Northwest Quadrant. Two companies are looking at the area for expansion opportunities and another one is “on the horizon,” he said. “And these are really good, solid opportunities for jobs and expansion in the Northwest Quadrant,” Smith said.
The authority’s approach to business development and recruitment has mostly been reactive but it wants to be proactive “and building in the right industry in the Northwest Quadrant,” he said
“One of our concerns,” said Ben Hart, the authority’s executive director, “is that, if we don’t be proactive, if we don’t have the right structure, we’re not going to be able to optimize a lot of the opportunities that are in front of us. … If we, as an organization, don’t capitalize on those opportunities, we’re going to miss out on some things that could really differentiate the Northwest Quadrant.”
UIPA partners on the initiative include BioUtah, the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the Utah System of Higher Education, Salt Lake City and World Trade Center Utah.
Smith said the manufacturing push is among several plans in place for the Northwest Quadrant.
“As it pertains to optimizing and especially business development, we strongly believe that the investments and efforts around air cargo and logistics that we are bringing to the Northwest Quadrant will pay dividends in terms of helping to set the stage for the right businesses coming in,” he said.
Already, rail car maker Stadler has seen success in the area, where it has its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility. “And we want to find opportunities to really expand that perspective beyond just Stadler,” Smith said, “and finding opportunities throughout the Northwest Quadrant.”