Things Are Looking Up Down South

If you happen to be a contractor doing business in Washington County, 2016 looks to be a good year for you. At the annual What's Up Down South Economic Summit held in St. George, 2016 was forecast to see steady economic growth.

Several construction projects are slated or have already gotten underway in the St. George area, including the groundbreaking for the Dixie Applied Technology College. DXATC’s new 30-acre campus is anticipated to be the anchor of a new technology-focused business park built on the mesa overlooking downtown St. George, where the airport was previously located.

Dixie Regional Medical Center is also planning a 400,000-foot expansion of their facilities, which will mean not only construction jobs, but opportunities beyond.

According to an article on St. George News, other items of note mentioned at the economic summit were the seven solar projects in Southern Utah, which have already created 900 construction jobs. Four of the projects — three in the area of Cedar City and one in Newcastle — began construction in September 2015 and are scheduled to be finished by September 2016. They are expected to create up to 1,000 construction jobs. The solar projects will supply power to 150,000 households.

While the pace isn't too slow in St. George, growth is definitely steady, and that's a good sign for people who were so deeply impacted by the recession of 2008.