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Major Hotel and Convention Center Set for Pl. Grove

None by KCPW

Development Promises Jobs, Tourists and Traffic

Artists rendering of the new Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center planned for Pleasant Grove.

(KCPW News) Pleasant Grove is planning a big entry into the convention and tourism industry with a 12-story hotel and meeting center just off I-15. Groundbreaking on the new Embassy Suites hotel and 100-thousand square-foot convention center is set for next spring. Pleasant Grove Mayor Mike Daniels says state and local officials are intent on keeping the city "pleasant" as its name implies - which includes traffic mitigation. He hopes the convention center - which will rival the size of the Grand America in Salt Lake City - will attract more business and jobs to the Utah County town.

"In fact, I think we'll also draw from the Southern part of the state where at some times it'll be too warm for people," says Mayor Daniels. "And once it's built, other businesses will build in these vacant lands here and want to have their conventions and meetings in this area."

Landowner Dennis Baker has spent more than a decade acquiring 165-acres of empty fields. The new hotel will take up half. The rest will be upscale retail shops and restaurants. Baker says he knew the land was perfect for such a development, but was reluctant to sell:

"It has been a goal for 12 years to get quality here - that's why I'm probably such a poor seller," says Baker. "I demand quality and usually end up saying 'Well, if you as a developer won't provide it, I will do it myself.'"

Hotel mogul John Q. Hammons will do the developing in this case. He plans to break ground next spring, with opening set for 2009. The $100 million development will feature a convention center to rival in size the Grand America in Salt Lake City. Hammons also promises the project will create 500 new jobs in the area, not to mention millions in tourism and sales tax dollars.

The new development is likely to make a sticky traffic spot even more congested for Utah County. Mayor Daniels says traffic woes won't prevent the development from moving forward.

"We are still several years out as far as how that will develop. We're looking at the widening of I-15. Everyone is sensitive to the congestion and we'll continue to work with UDOT to make sure it develops properly."

One traffic solution is to expand I-15 in Utah County. The Utah Department of Transportation is currently studying that option, along with the proposed Mountain View Corridor which would run along the west side of Salt Lake and into Utah County, where it would likely join I-15 at the Pleasant Grove exit. However, neither project will be complete before the Embassy Suites hotel and conference center open their doors in 2009.


Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2009 KCPW

1. Daniel Simon said:

If the convention center is a strictly privately funded enterprise, let the developers go nuts and build their big hotel and giant convention box. But these things always tend to be looking for public handouts and subsidies, based on the promise of jobs and economic development. Before public officials or voters give in to the requests of developers, they should read This Report from the Brookings institution. Here's a takeaway quote:

"While the supply of exhibit space in the United States has expanded steadily, the demand for convention and tradeshow exhibit space has actually plummeted."

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