VINEYARD, Utah — In the near future, Utah Valley University students may be playing flag football on part of the former Geneva Steel mill site.
The UVU Board of Trustees approved the purchase of 100 acres of the Geneva property at a meeting Thursday night. If approved by the university's other governing bodies, the land will be sold to the university to be used for intramural fields.
"We see this particular project as something very important in order to develop the student life experience in our university," said Val Peterson, UVU vice president of administration and legislative affairs. "We're in desperate need right now of additional intramural fields for our programs."
If the sale is approved, some of the land will be developed for intramural use as early as next summer, Peterson said. As the university's needs change, the property could be used for other purposes, he said.
The 100-acre plot is valued at $20 million. If the purchase is approved, Anderson Geneva Development, which owns the property, will donate half of that value to the university. Another $5 million would come from Vineyard's redevelopment agency and the rest would be paid by UVU and other public and private sources.
But before that happens, the purchase needs a go-ahead from the Utah Board of Regents, the Utah State Building Board and the state Legislature.
"I think this is a very good offer from Anderson Geneva," Peterson said. "I believe that upon further scrutiny from the different approval authorities, this project will get approved."
While the potential sale would not be the first for Anderson Geneva — a FedEx terminal and a power plant already have been built on the site — it is still a substantial deal for the company, said Anderson Geneva project manager Dennis Astill.
"It's not our first (sale), but 100 acres to a major institution like UVU is really a major transaction for us," Astill said. "We look forward to getting the Board of Regents' approval, and once that occurs, we can move the transaction much further along."
The possibility of an institution like UVU buying and developing some of the Geneva land would be a plus for both the property and the town of Vineyard, said Mayor Randy Farnworth.
"We'd like to get that property moving in the right direction," Farnworth said. "I think having (UVU) involved will give it a more positive view to the public."
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