WESTERN SNAPSHOT, AUGUST 2010

Salt Lake City Industrial Market

Utah has lost 28,000 jobs during the last 12-month period, with the construction sector (9,000 jobs) and manufacturing (11,000 jobs) leading this downward trend and further slowing an already sluggish industrial market. Utah’s unemployment rate has increased from 6.8 percent in May 2009 to 7.3 percent in May 2010, but still compares favorably with the national unemployment rate, which increased from 9.1 to 9.7 percent in the same timeframe. Industrial vacancy rates increased from 4 to 9 percent in that 12-month span.

However, manufacturing businesses relocating to Utah and expanding Utah companies appear to be bucking the downward employment and occupancy trends and creating 2,610 Utah jobs in the process. Many manufacturing businesses are drawn to Salt Lake City because it is a major distribution hub with multiple modes of transportation and distribution that are uniquely located to provide central access to the western states as well as Mexico and Canada.

Union Pacific invested $90 million in its state-of-the-art facility designed to support the growing intermodal volume in the Wasatch Front area. Covering more than 240 acres, this expansive facility is capable of handling more than 250,000 annual container lists, greatly enhancing regional shipping capacity. Utah offers 1- to 2-day distribution access to 50 percent of the country’s population.

Utah is well positioned to be one of the first states to experience economic recovery in 2011-2012 as national companies discover that Utah is the “Gateway to the West.”

— Randy Ross is an associate broker and industrial specialist for Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT in Salt Lake City.

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