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ST. GEORGE — Kevin Costner is opening a film studio in St. George, Utah Tech University is opening another campus, and a tech hub that is expected to input $3.24 billion into the local economy annually are all in the planning or construction stages in southern Utah.
The Sugarloaf (also known as "Dixie Rock") is also now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Those announcements came Tuesday afternoon as St. George Mayor Michele Randall delivered the annual State of the City address to discuss growth, water and quality of life in southern Utah.
Randall had local influencer McCrae Heppler, whose content focuses on what's happening in southern Utah, create a five-minute video detailing construction updates on Southern Parkway.
A new film studio, Utah Tech campus and more
Heppler announced that Kevin Costner, who recently filmed "Horizon: An American Saga" in St. George, fell in love with the area and will be opening up Territory Film Studios near the St. George Airport. The campus is expected to include 70,000 square feet of sound stages, 51,000 square feet of production warehouses and 31,750 square feet of production offices.
The studio will include a Costner-themed restaurant and run tours that show different sets.
Along Exit 3, Utah Tech University is building a southern campus and innovation district that will bring entrepreneurs in genome sequencing, sport performance and weaponry working on inventions alongside students. The development is expected to take 20 years.
A major technology hub called Tech Ridge is also under construction. Plans include 260,000 square feet of retail, 600 hotel rooms, 2,400 residential units, and a community event center. The center is projected to add $3.24 billion to the local economy annually once built.
For now, Randall said 10 tech employees and many contractors work on site and many technology companies have relocated there. She also flagged that a large pavilion for community events has been completed there.
Major updates along Southern Parkway include a large Moto Zoo motorsports store building, which will include a testing track for ATVs, a second location for Sakura Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar, and a Smith's under construction behind the Hampton Inn with an In-N-Out Burger across from it.
The Desert Color section of the parkway will include a Megaplex luxury theater with Swig drinks, food and a luxury bowling alley. Intermountain Health is also building a 38-acre campus to serve the growing southern Utah population.
On St. George Place, REI and Hobby Lobby will be opening stores. Utah-based brew pub Strap Tank is planning to open a location there as well.
Historic preservation
The Sugarloaf — also called Dixie Rock, which overlooks the city of St. George — was recognized last year as a historic landmark by the Utah Historic Preservation Office and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
"This designation is the first step in our objective in creating an interpretive trail at Pioneer Park, which will educate the public, residents, and visitors alike on why we are called Utah's Dixie," Randall said.
"The interpretive trail will tell the story of early St. George from the Native Americans, early settlers and the cotton mission — and how they survived the harsh conditions here," Randall stated. "It will tell the story of the Dixie spirit and what that means to our community."
Randall also announced an annual Dixie Days competition to begin on the second weekend of September 2024 that will include a rodeo and parade, as well as food, art and music.
"Washington has Cotton Days; Santa Clara has Swiss Days; Hurricane has Peach Days; and St. George has no days — until now," Randall said.
The term "Dixie" is controversially associated with southern Utah because Latter-Day Saint pioneers settled the area in attempts to grow cotton crops shortly before the Civil War. Nationally, however, the term was popularized by minstrel songs in the Deep South, and the Mason-Dixon line marked the geographic areas where people were allowed to own slaves.
The phrase has been a point of clash in the community as Dixie State University rebranded to Utah Tech University in 2020 after a contentious debate in the Legislature and the southern Utah community.
Infrastructure
Randall said that the city is currently in talks with the Legislature to secure funding for a control tower for the St. George Regional Airport. Officials have stated that the airport needs its own control tower in order to expand safely.
Over the weekend, the St. George Regional Airport saw a large influx of private jets for Super Bowl attendees in Las Vegas.
Randall announced that a new bridge will extend River Road on the east to Crosby Way on the west with construction starting this fall.
A new construction project will connect 3000 South all the way down to the Southern Hills Parkway exit, which Randall called a "game changer" for traffic.
In 2023, 3000 East became a five-lane road with an active transportation trail and a sidewalk in its latest completed expansion. Phases 5 and 6 of the construction project are ongoing, Randall said. East access to Tech Ridge at Black Ridge Drive is in the process of securing funding.
Last year, St. George residents voted for a geobond, which allows the city to earmark $29 million for upgrades and construction on parks and trails. The bond will result in six new playgrounds and five new trails in the years to come, and 32 projects are planned.
"Thank you to all of our residents. We truly do live in the greatest city in the nation," Randall said. "People do complain about growth, but if we didn't have such an amazing city, nobody would want to live here."
Water
"We're fortunate for the rainfall that we've received the last two winters," John Willis, St. George city manager, said. "But we know we (can't) depend on this type of moisture every year. It remains important to conserve water whenever we can."
Willis confirmed that, as of Tuesday, the Washington County Water Conservancy District had received 1,900 applications for turf rebates; and from those requests, a total of over 1.1 million square feet of grass has been removed.
"That's enough grass to roll an 18-inch-wide (plot of) grass from here to Las Vegas — and an additional 20 miles," Willis said.
He also noted that in 2023, despite adding more than 200 connections to water supply in St. George, the city reduced water usage by over 250 million gallons.
The Washington County Water District reported a similar decline in water usage in southern Utah as a whole in 2023.
"That just shows how important water is to our community, and that's a credit to everyone doing their part," he said.
Willis also announced that the city and water conservancy converted three soccer fields in a Little Valley complex from grass to artificial sod, which removed over 200,000 square feet of sod and is expected to save nearly 16 million gallons of water annually.
