OREM/VINEYARD — The old Geneva Steel Mill site has a bright future full of development plans to build an independent community, @Geneva.
Anderson Development envisions a community with homes, shoppings center, lake-front properties and more in Vineyard. In 2005, Anderson Development bought the 1,750 acres of the Geneva property for $46.8 million.
“We have developed a community you can live, work and play in without ever having to leave the community,” said Gerald Anderson, the principal of Anderson Development.
Now other companies are jumping on board with the @Geneva project.
Greg Miller, CEO of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, announced a MegaPlex theater that will be built by the end of 2014. The theater will include Utah County’s first IMAX theater and 12 other theaters as well as a full-service food court called Cafe Megaplex.
“We’re right in the heart of Utah Valley: Orem’s built out, Provo’s built out,” said Stewart Park, project manager for @Geneva. “This is the last big opportunity for a great economic development and a great development opportunity for the valley. We’re just excited for the future and what the future holds.”
UVU had already committed to 100 acres of the property, but UVU President Matthew Holland discussed the option of buying another 125 acres.
“UVU is a vital part of our future,” Park said. “They will actually end up with more ground on here, on our project, then they have at their current site. And just the fact of having them here and having all of these students here and having campuses here, will generate a lot of additional economic development.”
The @Geneva property is estimated to have space for 26,000 residents and approximately 20,000 new jobs added to Utah County. UVU will be part of the added economic help because the university plans to expand to 40,000 students by 2020.
“It is a huge project and UVU is one of the fastest growing institutions of high-learning anywhere really,” Holland said. “We’re are situated in one of the fastest growing counties, one of the fastest growing states. We’ve got a dynamic mission that students are loving. And so we’ve got to have room to expand. We are really starting to hit the limits of our ability to serve our students on our main Orem campus, so we’ve long thought about a satellite campus and we got a little bit of land in various parts, but what we realized is we need a very large parcel of land out where we can think about the long term expansion of the institution.”
UVU will immediately be building intramural fields on 10 acres of land to provide more learning space on their main campus. Holland doesn’t know yet what buildings will be on the new campus at @Geneva.
Anderson also announced that Day’s Market has committed to be the community grocery store. As for other plans, those are still in the future.
“Everything is going to take a long time,” Park said. “You’re talking 1,700 acres, so we’re probably looking at many, many years before it’s completely built up, but the first apartment project is under construction right now.”