The largest economic development project in northern Utah recently found its first tenant: Northrop Grumman.
Northrop Grumman will begin construction of a new five-story building, with 125,000 square feet of office space, at the Falcon Hill Aerospace Research Park in Davis County, Utah. Construction of the building will begin as early as next month and house the company’s 470-employee intercontinental ballistic missile support team.
“One of the biggest advantages [of the new building] is that it simply brings us closer to our customer,” said James Hart, a spokesman for Northrop, to the Salt Lake Tribune. He also told the paper the building will house more than 100 of the aerospace firm’s subcontractors.
The Falcon Hill Research Park is a $1.5 billion project to develop 550 acres on the West side of Hill Airforce Base that was begun 8 years ago and is expected to take 15 to 25 years to complete. The research park is the largest project of its kind for the U.S. Defense Department and is expected to eventually bring 15,000 high-paying jobs to Davis and Weber counties.
Once completed, Falcon Hill will include 8 million square feet of office space and supporting restaurants and hotels on a mostly barren patch of the base along I-15. In return, the Air Force will use 1.6 million square feet of office space for its projects.
"Nothing good comes easy, and Falcon Hill is no exception," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a statement. "It has taken seven years of working with the Air Force, Hill leaders and all the other responsible parties to bring this deal to fruition. But this contract signals the dawn of a new and bright future for Falcon Hill and Utah’s aerospace future."
The announcement was another token of good news for Davis County, which also received verification that Janicki Industries composites manufacturing operation in Layton, an announcement that ATK would locate a composites campus in Clearfield and the ribbon cutting on an F-22 depot building at Hill Air Force Base.
"Today’s announcement shows once again that Utah continues to attract leading aerospace, defense and other high-technology entities from across the country, creating hundreds of new high-paying jobs for Utah citizens," said Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to Deseret News. "The Falcon Hill project aligns perfectly with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development’s aerospace and defense economic cluster efforts."
