eBay Announces New Facility; Park City Council Considers Downsizing Project

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

The global online auction marketer eBay Inc. and the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art facility in Draper. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the new facility is expected to create 2,200 jobs over the next 20 years. The company currently employs around 1,400 Utahans. Governor Gary Herbert said that a partnership pledge between Utah and a world-class company such as eBay is a vote of confidence in the economic growth and stability that the region is currently enjoying.

Steve Boehm, senior vice president of marketplaces and global customer services, stated that eBay’s new facility will be designed to high environmental standards. Similar to eBay’s data center in South Jordan, the state-of-the-art building will be targeting a LEED Gold certification, becoming one of only a few data centers in the United States to be acknowledged at that level.

The GOED board approved a one-time, post-performance refundable tax credit of $38.2 million over 20 years. The new incentive combines and expands two previous job-based incentives. eBay has committed to increase its workforce by more than 2,480 Utah employees at an average salary that will exceed 125 percent of the Salt Lake County average wage. It is estimated that $127.2 million in new state tax revenue over the 20-year project timeline will be generated if eBay meets the hiring goals.

Over in Park City, the council has paused a plan to spend millions in tax dollars to reduce the density of the proposed Treasure Hill project. It all started in 1986, when the brothers Ed, Mike and Pat Sweeney, who own the property, received approval for a 415,000-square-foot development. Several years ago, they requested approval for a development that exceeded 1 million square feet.

After months of negotiations, Park City officials considered buying down all the approved density, but the brothers rejected a $48 million offer. The second option was to gain voters’ approval to spend $15 million to buy down the density by 25 percent, with another 25 percent to be moved to another location near Park City Mountain Resort.

A decision is expected after more details are gathered and the council defines what 50 percent of the plan would entail.