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SALT LAKE CITY — Ground was broken Monday on the Scott C. Keller Building, which will be the new home of Utah Valley University’s Woodbury School of Business.
The $75 million, 180,000-square-foot building will house 30 classrooms and 205 offices as well as the Bloomberg Lab, Entrepreneurship Institute, Money Management Resource Center, SmartLab and grand auditorium for large lecture audiences and special events. Construction is estimated to be completed by late fall 2021 or early 2022.
The building will feature a Student Success Center on its second floor, which will combine placement, tutoring, internships and advisement services in one accessible location.
Classrooms will be outfitted with lecture-capture technology to help students learn remotely. The building will be constructed on the south end of UVU’s Orem campus.
Earlier this year, the Utah Legislature appropriated $50 million toward the construction of the building, $10 million was a gift from Scott and Karen Keller and $15 million came from various other donors.
More than 600 people attended the groundbreaking, including UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez; the Kellers; Utah Gov. Gary Herbert; Elder Neil L. Andersen, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and Norman Wright, dean of the Woodbury School of Business.
The ceremony, held on Veterans Day, included a tribute to men and women of the armed services, past and present, by UVU Army and Air Force ROTC students. Osvaldo Ramos Jr., U.S. Army veteran and UVU student, also addressed the crowd honoring veterans.
The new Keller Building will have 180,000 square feet, accommodate up to 12,000 students, and be a hub for business in the state. We can’t wait for 2022 when the building is expected to be completed.
— UVU (@UVU) November 11, 2019
For more info: https://t.co/a0DvXsVx5Lpic.twitter.com/dCKHT3ut5L
After the traditional groundbreaking ceremonies, Tuminez invited Scott Keller, president and chief executive officer of Keller Investment Properties, a to “really break ground” by turning dirt with two large commercial excavators.
In an earlier press release when the Kellers’ donation was announced, Tuminez called the gift “awe-inspiring and humbling.”
“Their gift will make our new business building a reality, and will help launch the business careers of thousands of UVU students now and in the future,” she said.
The new building is expected to serve up to 12,000 business students at a time.
According to Utah State Board of Regents documents, the business school has outgrown its current home, which was one of the four original Utah Technical College buildings built in 1979.
“While the 78,000-square-foot facility has been well-maintained over the years, it cannot accommodate the renovations desired to train future business leaders. The masonry building has a post-tensioned cable floor system that cannot be penetrated to run cables or make infrastructure upgrades,” the document states.
Keller Investment Properties is one of the largest single private apartment investment companies in the western United States. The Kellers also have investments in retail centers, student housing, senior housing, assisted living, private equity, ranches, fish hatcheries, storage units, luxury home construction and a golf course.
