Samantha MoilanenOne of the nation’s largest online universities plans to move its headquarters from its longtime Millcreek offices to downtown Salt Lake City.
Western Governors University announced Thursday that it will redevelop the block between West Temple and 200 West and between 400 and 500 South for its new national headquarters.
The space will serve as a long-term “permanent base” for the nonprofit university, which was founded in 1997, according to a university spokesperson.
Outside of its main Millcreek office, WGU has eight regional hubs across the country, including Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
The space will be “intentionally built for how we serve students,” the spokesperson said.
“By investing in a headquarters tailored to our student-centered, tech-enabled model,” they continued, “we are strengthening the foundation that enables our work and impact for years to come.”
While construction is underway, WGU will continue leasing its current Millcreek office at 4001 S. 700 East through around 2030, the spokesperson said.
The university hopes to break ground on the downtown project in late fall 2026, they said.
(Western Governors University) A rendering of the new Western Governors University headquarters planned for Salt Lake City, on the site of the former Sheraton hotel.
Part of that block is currently home to the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel, which will permanently close on April 30, laying off its entire staff of more than 100 workers.
Property records show the university has already begun assembling the land for the project.
The university, through a shell company called Altaway Holdings LLC, purchased eight of the 10 parcels that make up the block, according to Salt Lake County and state property records. The Sheraton property and several adjacent parcels are among those acquisitions.
The development will be built in phases as a mixed-use campus, the university said in a news release. It’s expected to include about 1 million square feet of office space and support up to 5,000 employees once fully built.
The campus would become the nonprofit university’s hub for executive leadership, technology teams and academic program development staff, as well as its research and development arm, WGU Labs, according to the release.
Plans for the headquarters include collaborative research space, an auditorium and simulation centers, along with areas designed to bring WGU staff together with outside partners, according to the news release.
University officials said the campus would also feature a welcome center, dining options for employees and the surrounding community, an employee cafeteria, on-site child care and open gathering spaces.
The campus will be accessible by public transit and designed with sustainability in mind, according to the release.
“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 WGU President Scott Pulsipher in the release.
“This headquarters will be a hive of collaboration that strengthens our ability to improve access, quality and value of education for today’s students,” he continued, “while meeting the needs of a rapidly changing workforce, and driving impact at a national scale.”
