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Hill Air Force Base: $12.7 billion economic impact in 2024; base uses enhanced-use lease to modernize infrastructure
Summary
Hill Air Force Base staff told the Wasatch Front committee that the installation generated an estimated $12.7 billion primary and secondary economic impact in 2024, and described the Falcon Hill enhanced-use lease program as a tool to finance needed facility modernization and new commercial development.
Michael Moore, who represents Hill Air Force Base staff, told the Wasatch Front Economic Development District on June 12 that the base has a substantial economic footprint and is using an enhanced-use lease program to finance infrastructure modernization.
Moore summarized Team Hill's scale and economic metrics: "We calculated for 2024 ... a $12,700,000,000 primary and secondary impact to the Utah economy," and the installation supports roughly 30,000 personnel and about 1,700 facilities, he said. Moore also described the base's role as a logistics and sustainment center for fighter aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missile systems and highlighted the Utah Test and Training Range as an important, secured training and test area.
To address aging infrastructure that would not otherwise receive military construction funding, Moore explained the base's enhanced-use lease program, Falcon Hill, a long-term public–private lease with a developer partnership. "We are an arsenal ... Congress passed some laws that allowed for enhanced use lease to let us enter into a long term agreement with a partner ... We get a part of the proceeds that come off of that," Moore said, describing the program's scope and how payment-in-kind proceeds will fund replacement administrative buildings and demolition of outdated facilities.
Moore described ongoing projects, including a new 1800 North interchange and several planned office buildings, and said the base's military construction budget and planned near-term projects are subject to federal budget decisions. He provided a public affairs contact for local jurisdictions seeking coordination and said Tom Mulligan at (801) 777-2286 is the public-affairs contact and the 75th Air Base Wing headquarters number is (801) 777-7500.
Officials on the call noted the base's local footprint extends beyond the installation gates: Moore said about 21,000 local residents are associated with Hill activities and that base growth affects neighboring municipalities' transportation and housing planning.
Moore said the enhanced-use lease approach and coordination with the Military Installation Development Authority (MITA) and state partners enable more rapid building and private investment than traditional military construction, and that market conditions and inflation remain implementation risks to planned projects.
