SALT LAKE CITY — Royal Tyler summed up Goldman Sachs' downtown expansion plans with easy math.
"The more bodies in the buildings, the more people to feed for me," the owner of the Judge Café said after learning Thursday that Goldman soon will have more than 1,100 employees just down the street from his eatery.
For Mike Lawrence, manager of Bennion Jewelers, having more than a thousand new potential customers just a block away was also welcome news.
"The more people we bring down here, the better," Lawrence said.
Goldman, a global investment firm, announced Thursday that it will relocate its regional office from the University of Utah's Research Park to the new 222 Main building, bringing all 720 employees to the new location. The banking and investment firm will occupy seven floors in the newly completed office tower.
Officials said the move will be complete in early 2011.
The company also expects to have about 1,150 employees in its new space by the end of the year, according to David Lang, managing director of Goldman Sachs.
The company opened its Utah operations in August 2000 with a regional office in Salt Lake City, in addition to a local branch of Goldman Sachs Bank USA.
The company's initial expansion plans were announced in June 2008, when the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board approved a $20 million incentive in the form of a 30 percent tax credit over 20 years for the company to add up to 375 jobs paying more than $75,000 annually, which was more than twice the Salt Lake County median salary. Goldman had 350 employees in Salt Lake City at that time.
Last September, Goldman agreed to bring 690 new jobs to Utah after its GOED incentive was changed to a maximum $47.3 million in tax credits over 20 years.
"Salt Lake City is an important part of our business, and we are proud to be expanding and building more opportunities in this community," " Lang said Thursday in a prepared statement.
"Main Street is transforming before our eyes with daily progress." Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker said in a news release. "Goldman Sachs breathes new life and vitality into downtown Salt Lake City with its presence."
The Goldman Sachs announcement will greatly aid the state in its efforts to bolster the Salt Lake area's business and economic outlook, Derek Miller, managing director of corporate recruitment and incentives for the GOED, told the Deseret News.
"Success begets success," he said. "As Goldman Sachs continues to expand here, we see interest from other companies within the same financial services industry."
Miller said GOED is currently in negotiations with another financial services firm and expects to make an announcement sometime next month.
Based on Goldman's announcement Thursday, both Tyler and Lawrence were excited to learn that the planned growth of the central business district is progressing in such a tangible and positive fashion.
Two years from now, when the City Creek project is complete, "there are going to be a lot of restaurants, there are going to be a lot of (new residents) and a lot more stores and shopping," Lawrence said.
Tyler said that the continued growth of downtown could mean expansion or extended hours for other local businesses like his, which currently is open only for breakfast and lunch on weekdays.
In the meantime, now that significant progress is being made toward occupying the city's newest office tower, the developer who gave the green light for the 222 Main building said he is already looking for his next big project.
"I've got another site identified," Bruce Bingham, a partner with commercial real estate developer Hamilton Partners, told the Deseret News.
"It's going to take two more years to build another building, so you've got to be ready."
Contributing: Aaron Falk, Deseret News
e-mail: jlee@desnews.com