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Northrop Grumman's planned building on Hill Air Force Base may be getting all the attention. But other projects — a new gate, roads and a headquarters for base security personnel — also signal the long awaited launch of the Falcon Hill aerospace park.
First announced nearly eight years ago, the Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park is expected to take 15 to 25 years to complete with the new Northrop building and other projects merely the first tentative steps in that direction.
"Along with starting construction of the building for Northrop, we also will build a new gate for the base that will be farther away from the freeway. Hopefully that will help eliminate some of the traffic congestion," said Karen Jenson, corporate council for Woodbury Corp.
Woodbury is part of Sunset Ridge Development Partners, a private group that in 2008 signed a 50-year lease with the Department of Defense that allows the company to finance, build on and manage the land just east of Interstate 15.
In return, the Air Force will receive access to 1.6 million square feet of Falcon Hill office space constructed at the developer's expense. Included among that space will be a new 35,000 square-foot headquarters for the base's security forces.
"Right now, our security personnel are in a building on the west side," said Darrin Wray, an Air Force project manager. "The new building will be constructed toward the middle of the base. It will be more central in terms of the surveillance work they perform."
Construction on Northrop's new five-story, 125,000 square-foot building, which will house the company's 470-employee intercontinental ballistic missile support team, is expected to begin as early as next month. That team currently has offices about a mile south of the base.
"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. He added it also will house more than 100 of the aerospace firm's subcontractors.
Two years ago, the developers announced that the initial construction on Falcon Hill was ready to begin within months with the first buildings expected to be completed by this year.
"Unfortunately, it took us longer than we originally anticipated to get all the approvals we needed from the military and its subcontractors," Jenson said.
In a statement on Thursday announcing that Northrop would be the anchor tenant for the development, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said nothing good comes easy, and Falcon Hill is no exception.
"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," he said. "But this contract signals the down of a new and bright future for Falcon HIll and Utah's aerospace future."