USTAR Innovation Center at Hill Air Force Base Now Underway

By Ariela Moraru

USTAR Innovation Center Rendering

Salt Lake City—Sunset Ridge Development Partners, a partnership between Woodbury Corp. and Hunt Cos., broke ground on a new 21,000 square-foot Utah Science Technology and Research(USTAR) Innovation Center at the Falcon Hill National Aerospace Research Park located at Hill Air Force Base, just south of Ogden.

Once complete, the new facility will house approximately 8,000 square feet of office space and labs, and 13,000 square feet of space for both manufacturing and research and development projects. It will help local businesses and entrepreneurs develop new ideas and products, spin-out new companies, and overcome manufacturing challenges. According to USTAR Executive Director Ivy Estabrooke, the company focuses on six industry sectors, including early-stage aerospace, life sciences, advanced materials, energy and clean technology, robotics and automation, along with big data analytics.

Falcon Hill is the result of a public-private partnership between the Air Force and Sunset Ridge that allows the development of commercial property both on- and off-base. The new facility marks the first “outside the fence” office building that Sunset Ridge is developing at Falcon Hill and the seventh major construction project completed by the developer as part of the Air Force Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) project. The USTAR facilities and all developments outside the fence will be accessible to the public.

According to 2016 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Utah is the fastest-growing tech state. The USTAR initiative established in 2006 builds on that momentum. The facility will provide the tools and resources needed to support start-up companies in maturing and commercializing their technology. It will also serve Hill Air Force Base engineers by providing them additional space to rapidly prototype new production solutions and to reverse engineer much needed solutions for anticipated supply chain shortages.

“Having USTAR at Falcon Hill is a significant boon for the community here, and is just the first of many ‘outside the fence’ tech-focused office projects we envision for this area,” said Taylor Woodbury, chief operating officer at Woodbury Corp., in a prepared statement. “Much like the Silicon Slopes area down south, our goal is for this new USTAR building to be the cornerstone of the Silicon Hill movement that will help create a thriving tech community in northern Utah.”

The USTAR Innovation Center is expected to open and operate in late fall 2017.

In the coming months, the developer plans to begin construction on a new, 74,000 square-foot software building on base.

Rendering courtesy of Hill Air Force Base