Duncan Aviation, a Nebraska-based firm that services corporate aircraft, will build a 320,000-square-foot repair and painting facility at the airport, Mayor Lewis K. Billings and Duncan Chief Executive Aaron C. Hilkemann announced Thursday at a news conference.
"It is a coup for the state of Utah, and for our kids," Billings said.
Duncan, which will begin construction next spring, is expected to create more than 650 jobs and pump more than $22 million into the state's coffers over the next 15 years.
Hilkemann, who spoke through a video-conferencing link from Nebraska, said Provo was chosen after a 2 1/2 -year search. Provo competed with Albuquerque for the facility, which will service Duncan customers in the western United States.
Billings said one of the factors that swayed Duncan to come to Provo was the fact that the airport won federal approval for air-traffic-control radar last year. The radar will eliminate a blind-spot in Salt Lake City's air-traffic network, as well as allow the airport to handle more traffic.
"We have spent several years changing the airport," said Billings. Those changes, such as adding a control tower and rerouting air traffic away from the city, helped bring Duncan in, he said.
The state also offered Duncan a $6.6 million post-performance tax incentive to expand in Utah. The incentive is payable only if the company meets certain requirements, such as creating the promised jobs and generating $336 million in wages.
The average wage will be more than 150 percent of the county's median income, Billings and others said. U.S. Census records state the county's median income is approximately $50,000.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who attended the ceremony, said landing Duncan is keeping with his goals of developing an aerospace design and engineering cluster - as well as creating more engineering jobs.
"It isn't just an investment," Huntsman said of the incentive offer. "It is an investment consistent with the long-term interests of the state."
Provo will also be providing $5 million in tax increment - the difference in taxes between a property's developed and undeveloped values - to help build a ramp connecting the repair hangar to airport runways. That required getting cooperation from Utah County and the Provo School District, who would have to give up their share of the property-tax revenue increase.
Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said the Duncan deal epitomized the cooperation legislators wanted to see when they revamped the rules for redevelopment funding.
"In the final analysis, this has been a team effort," Bramble said. He said it was also a tribute to Utah's fiscal management that the deal would be announced on a day when the stock market dropped almost 700 points.
dmeyers@sltrib.com
