In 2000, HUD awarded Provo a $1 million brownfield economic development initiative grant. In 2001, U.S. Steel, now USX Corp., completed a cleanup that cost about $5 million, and the city has been laying the groundwork for the Mountain Vista Business Center ever since.

Provo economic leaders expect the city to benefit in multiple ways from the business park. The city owns about two-thirds of the land in the business park and will make a profit selling that land. For example, if Action Target completes the proposed deal for 10 acres in the park, the city will make 33 times what it originally paid for that land.

In all, the city owns 207 acres in the business park. Under the cleanup agreement with USX, Provo will keep the first $1.2 million generated by selling that land to cover its initial land costs. USX gets the next $750,000, approximately, to pay for its initial site contamination study, Provo assistant community development director Dixon Holmes said.

Provo will get to keep the next $2 million after that as a donation from USX, some of which is paying for the city's new Covey Center for the Arts. After that, any money made from land sales will be split, with 70 percent going to Provo and 30 percent to USX until the company recoups the costs of its brownfield cleanup.

The city also expects hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in new property tax revenue and benefit from creating new, high-paying jobs in the city.

About two dozen private groups own land in the business park, including Provo Mayor Lewis Billings.

Holmes said the city began the process of applying for the grant a year ago.

"We see this as a partnership with the federal government," he said. "We're really excited. The whole purpose of this is to spur private development."

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