If you didn’t know, last week (May 8-13, 2017) was Economic Development Week. The week was created by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) in 2016. The goal of Economic Development Week (EDW) is to increase awareness for local programs that create jobs, advance career development opportunities and increase the quality of life. Salt Lake City took part in the national campaign and planned a series of events and media buzz to highlight the focus and purpose of economic development and its impacts to communities.
Salt Lake City’s Department of Economic Development kicked of Economic Development Week with a proclamation from Mayor Biskupski.
We followed it up with a blog post about the importance of investing in economic development. You can read more here.
Last Wednesday, SLCTV launched a great video that featured the City’s new department, and what the fully-staffed team is focused on with regard to keeping our economic vitality robust. You can see watch the video here.
We had an awesome event planned last Thursday. The Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA) hosted a tour of the brand new Regent Street. About 40 people showed up to see and hear about what went into the building of the Eccles Theater, impacts to the Main Street businesses on that block, the landscaping and public art on Regent Street, access to Gallivan Center, and the tour was topped off with food and drinks at Good Grammar, a new Gallivan Avenue business.
As some of you know (and thanks for tuning in when you can), SLCDED has a weekly franchise segment on ABC 4’s Good Morning Utah every Thursday. You’ll catch someone on our team – and sometimes we rope in one of our partners to join us – talking about the great work that’s being done. We highlighted Economic Development Week the week prior. We know 6a.m. is early, so if you missed it, you can catch it here.
We wrapped up Economic Development Week with an announcement of a large life sciences company that will be headquartering in Salt Lake City. We are thrilled that Biomerics, a leading medical device manufacturer for the cardiovascular market, will call Salt Lake City home! The 230,000 square foot facility will be located adjacent to the Northwest Quadrant west of the Salt Lake City International Airport. The headquarters is scheduled to be completed mid-2018 and will accommodate up to 600 employees. This project will be a $38.5 million investment over the next 8 years and expected to add over 380 new jobs. You can read more about it here.
SLCDED’s campaign was a success, thanks in part to many of you! SLC’s efforts was even featured – twice – on the IEDC’s national newsletters throughout the week.
Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development 