WGU announces plans for new headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City

Western Governors University has announced plans to build a headquarters campus in downtown Salt Lake City. Covering nearly a full city block, the facility will house up to 5,000 administrative and staff personnel along with other mixed-use elements and amenities. (Rendering courtesy Western Governors University)

John Rogers 
and Brice Wallace 
Salt Lake Business Journal 

Western Governors University is going uptown. 

Widely recognized as the nation’s largest nonprofit university, WGU, currently operating out of offices at 4001 S. 700 East in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake City, has announced plans to develop a new headquarters campus in the heart of the city.

“This significant investment further elevates Utah as an epicenter of higher education innovation focused on preparing students from every background for a rapidly evolving economy and workforce while helping individuals and families change their lives for the better,” the institution said in its announcement.

Western Governors University is a nonprofit, accredited online university specializing in competency-based education for working adults and operating nationally with a largely remote workforce. It offers flexible, low-cost bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, IT, education and health care, with tuition around $4,000 per six-month term. Currently serving over 194,000 students nationwide, WGU was founded in 1997 by a coalition of 19 U.S. governors led by former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer.

“So it’s awesome to kind of build upon that legacy and continue to enable Salt Lake City, quite frankly, to be the epicenter of innovation in higher education and continue to deliver economic mobility for hundreds of thousands of individuals and have that occur here in Salt Lake City,” Scott Pulsipher, president of WGU, told the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity board before the board awarded a tax credit incentive for the project.

The new Salt Lake City headquarters for Western Governors University will replace rented current HQ space in the Millcreek area of the city. Construction begins this fall. (Rendering courtesy Western Governors University

The headquarters will largely span the block between West Temple Street and 200 West and between 400 South and 500 South in downtown Salt Lake City and will be developed in phases as a mixed-use innovation community. Construction will begin this fall, with doors opening in 2030.

At full buildout, the project is expected to include approximately 1 million square feet of office space, supporting up to 5,000 employees, as well as other mixed-use elements that will be part of the master plan to redevelop the city block.

The current headquarters is rented space with about 2,400 employees.

The new headquarters will serve as the primary office location for WGU’s administration and employees, “powering its student-centered, tech-enabled innovation, including program and curriculum development, learning and instruction design, student experience, academic and school leadership,” according to the release. WGU Academy, its research and development arm — WGU Labs — along with the technology teams foundational to WGU’s tech-native model will also be housed at the new headquarters. In addition, the mixed-use campus is planned to provide spaces for collaborative cross-segment innovation teams, the convening of institutions and researchers from across the nation, and the nurturing and cultivation of local community engagement. 

Potential resources and amenities include a collaboration space for shared research and development, an auditorium, simulation centers, showcase hubs for convening WGU and cross-sector innovation, a WGU welcome center, dining and refreshment options for employees and the surrounding community, an employee cafeteria and an on-site child care center. The campus will be accessible via public transportation and designed with sustainability and well-being in mind, aiming for LEED and WELL certifications.

“Expanding access to education that prepares people for career growth is essential to Utah’s economic success,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “By establishing its headquarters in Salt Lake City, WGU strengthens Utah’s role as a center for innovation, bringing education and workforce needs closer together and helping advance higher education for learners across the country.”

WGU said it has worked closely with the state of Utah, Salt Lake City and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah) to bring its headquarters development to fruition.

The GOEO board’s incentive for WGU is part of the state’s Economic Development Tax Increment Financing (EDTIF) program. Under the agreement, WGU projects it will add 5,072 high-paying jobs and invest about $2.6 billion in Utah over the next 20 years.

“WGU is honored to partner with GOEO as we deepen our roots in Salt Lake City,” Pulsipher said. “This incentive empowers our unwavering commitment to revolutionizing higher education and creating thousands of high-paying job opportunities that will empower Utah’s workforce and help individuals and families change their lives for the better.”

“We’re thrilled to welcome Western Governors University’s national headquarters to downtown Salt Lake City — an investment that represents a generational win for our economy and a defining moment for our city’s innovation future,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “With more than 10,000 employees nationwide, an operating budget nearing $2 billion annually and the scale of a Fortune-level headquarters, WGU will be a strong anchor in our urban core.”

“For WGU, Salt Lake City and Utah are not only part of our origin story but also offer a unique foundation for advancing our mission,” said Pulsipher. “Being headquartered here allows us to support our employees, deepen partnerships and expand how we build pathways to opportunity for learners. Together, WGU, Salt Lake City and Utah will continue to elevate the belief in the inherent worth of every individual and advance a shared mission to change lives for the better. We believe progress happens through people working together for a shared purpose.”

“This headquarters will be a hive of collaboration that strengthens our ability to improve access, quality and value of education for today’s students, while meeting the needs of a rapidly changing workforce and driving impact at a national scale,” Pulsipher concluded.

In remarks to the GOEO board, Pulsipher said the headquarters area was designed for WGU employees first but “we also want all of those individuals that are coming to work to also be part of that community, and we want to draw everyone in that community also to that campus. … For all intents and purposes, we’ve designed it in a way that it’s an 18-hour campus, that people are flowing in and through that and across it and that everyone can feel better for having been there. That’s our goal.”

The GOEO incentive for the project is a tax credit of up to nearly $137.5 million over 20 years. GOEO documents indicate the project will generate new wages of $12.8 billion and new state tax revenue of more than $458.2 million during that time. The average wage for the new jobs is $189,723.

“WGU’s major expansion represents a significant investment in Utah’s future workforce,” said Jefferson Moss, GOEO’s executive director. “By creating thousands of high-paying jobs, WGU enhances Salt Lake County’s reputation as a center for innovation and economic growth — and the students it serves will help power and build Utah’s thriving innovation economy.”

“We’re excited to welcome the expansion of Western Governors University to downtown Salt Lake City,” said Ryan Starks, executive director of EDCUtah. “Utah is a place where innovation, education and economic growth come together. As a major institution already deeply rooted in the state, WGU will help strengthen Salt Lake City’s thriving urban core, attract and retain talent, and create thousands of new jobs.”

Speaking to the GOEO board, Peter Makowski, deputy director of business development for Salt Lake City, described the announcement as “a really big day” for the city.

“WGU is, I think, the kind of partner that Salt Lake City needs in order to grow,” he said. “They’ve chosen a part of downtown that could use a little love, and I can just say that we’re so excited for this opportunity and look forward to our partnership moving forward. I think this is the first step in many for WGU in Salt Lake City.”

EDCUtah said other partners in the project include the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development, the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency, GOEO, Endeavor Real Estate Group and CBRE. Others involved in the site selection process included Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments, ARUP Laboratories, the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Delta Air Lines, Select Health, Northrop Grumman, Spherion, Blaser Ventures, Larry H. Miller Real Estate, The Point, the Utah Inland Port Authority, the Northern Utah Economic Alliance and Layton Construction.