Grant to aid Provo park

PROVO — A $2 million federal grant will help pay for a new road through Provo's emerging Mountain Vista Business Center, which federal leaders estimate will generate 1,500 new jobs in the city's old Ironton district.

The previously contaminated area has been vacant for 45 years, and the business park represents the last large collection of undeveloped industrial land in Provo.

The federal Economic Development Administration grant will be matched by $1.4 million from the city to clear land in the business park and build the road and surrounding infrastructure.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez praised Provo's effort to redevelop the the former brownfield site, which required an expensive cleanup by USX Corp. overseen by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality.

"America's competitiveness and innovation flourish in vibrant, economically growing communities that are creating new jobs and opportunities," Gutierrez said in a prepared statement. "The Mountain Vista Business Center in Provo will help attract new businesses and industry and high-skill, high-wage jobs to the region."

The first jobs could materialize soon. Gun-range manufacturer Action Target is finalizing negotiations with the city to buy 10 acres at Mountain Vista.

Company president Kyle Bateman said moving the plant from west Provo would spark expansion that create new jobs quickly and possibly double Action Target's work force of 135 employees within five years.

Novatek president David Hall said his company, located just outside the business park, is looking to expand into Mountain Vista, where it already owns property.

Third District Congressman Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said the federal government expects its investment will generate $55 million in private investment in the business park and more than 1,500 jobs.

"Investment, reducing taxes and eliminating regulation are integral to economic success, and I congratulate the city of Provo on this award," Cannon said in a prepared statement.

The business park is located on about 330 acres of land that from 1923 to 1962 was the location of a steel plant that included coke ovens, blast furnaces and a pig iron machine. U.S. Steel donated the land to Brigham Young University, which eventually sold most of it.

Tests at the site indicated the soils and groundwater were contaminated. The remediation removed lead, slag, asbestos, tar, sludge, a motor fuel plume and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that contain chemicals like methane and benzene, a potential carcinogen.