Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah forced Mitime Utah Investment LLC, a Chinese-owned company, to sell a Tooele County motorsports park.
- UMC Holdings LLC purchased the 512-acre property in Grantsville on Jan. 22.
- State lawmakers warned of surveillance concerns near military installations in Utah.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Chinese company has been forced to sell a Tooele County motorsports park, Utah leaders announced Thursday. It's the first forced divestiture under a state law meant to block Chinese ownership of Utah real estate.
Mitime Utah Investment LLC — a company with ties to China — sold the 512-acre property in Grantsville where Burt Brothers Motorpark sits on Jan. 22, according to Tooele County public records.
The buyer was a Utah-based company, UMC Holdings LLC, which lists its headquarters in Mountain Green in Morgan County, records show.
"This is a huge win for Utah. It's a big win for the United States. It's a win for our servicemembers, and it's a win for national security," Gov. Spencer Cox said at a news conference Thursday. "That is exactly why these types of laws actually matter."
A law passed in 2024 prevents companies owned or controlled by the governments of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from owning land in Utah. The law also applies to restricted foreign entities that own controlling stakes in a company.
The law was used to block the purchase of a parcel of land near Provo Airport by Chinese-owned Cirrus Aircraft last year. Cox said other companies have voluntarily divested themselves of Utah real estate since the law's passage, but he noted the recent sale of the motorsports park is the first instance of the state flexing its muscle to expel a foreign entity.
Beau Mason, Utah public safety commissioner, said the state investigated and determined Mitime, a Chinese company, was tied to a restricted foreign entity in violation of the new Utah law. In November, he said, the state sent a letter ordering divestment to Mitime, and the Tooele County racetrack was sold a few months later.
"We saw swift results," Mason said.
Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Riverton, who sponsored the 2024 law on foreign ownership and is sponsoring a follow-up bill this year, further tightening requirements, said lawmakers are concerned about foreign surveillance of military installations. The Tooele Army Depot is located several miles from the Burt Brothers Motorpark.
"They're going right next to military assets," Pierucci said. "It's incredibly strategic and they're playing the long game."
The motorsports park was previously called Miller Motorsports Park, the brainchild of late Utah businessman Larry H. Miller. It opened in 2006 but was a financial drain on the Miller family, leading them to announce plans in 2015 to stop operating it.
Daniel Woodruff, KSLMitime quickly came into the picture, beating out another potential buyer. Mitime managed the racetrack for a few years while litigation proceeded, eventually purchasing it in 2018 with the agreement of the Tooele County Council. At the time, a Tooele County commissioner called the sale a "big win" for the motorsports park and the area.
Tooele County Assistant Manager Brittany Lopez told KSL on Thursday the county is "excited about the new ownership" of the racetrack.
"We look forward to the economic growth, increased tourism and expanded partnerships this transition can bring," she said.
Attempts to contact the new owners of Burt Brothers Motorpark were not immediately successful. State leaders declined to give any specific information about who they are.
Although Mitime has owned and managed the property for close to a decade — initially with the full support of Tooele County leaders — the governor told KSL the relationship between the U.S. and China has become more adversarial.
"The Chinese Communist Party has changed over the past 10 years," Cox said. "Sadly, of course, we wish that (Chinese President) Xi Jinping and his regime would take a different course, but they have not. We've seen them acting … in a much more hostile way."
Cox and other officials said Utah's posture toward some foreign ownership of land doesn't change the state's approach to trade and other business opportunities with China.
"We welcome lawful investment and partnership," the governor said.
Pierucci said she has "seen (China's) threats creeping in" through school partnerships, shell companies and "technology contracts that come with invisible strings."
