2012 Mountain Regional Forecast

Often overshadowed by larger metros in the region, Salt Lake City now seems to be growing faster than any of them , with YTD increases in building permits through August of 17 percent (single-family) and 24 percent (multi-family), a downtown office vacancy rate at 6.8 percent, according to CoStar Group;

a $130 million FBI office in Salt Lake City; and the $1.5 billion National Security Agency data center, which broke ground in Bluffdate, Utah, this past January. But other states in the region have some sizeable projects, too. The $2 billion Solana Solar Generating Plant in Gila Bend, Ariz., and the $1.5 billion Intel semiconductor plant in Chandler, Ariz., started up mid-year, and Colorado will be home to a new GE solar panel facility in Aurora, Colo.; a $463.1 million military facility in Pueblo, Colo., and a $298.7 million hospital expansion in Aurora.