22 New Projects Are Coming to Southern Utah
22 New Projects Are Coming to Southern Utah — Here’s What’s Changing
If it feels like something new is being built every time you drive around Southern Utah, you’re not imagining things.
The St. George area continues to grow, and a new roundup of development activity shows 22 new projects planned across Southern Utah communities, including St. George, Washington, Hurricane, Santa Clara and Springdale.
The projects range from places to eat and shop to larger commercial and industrial developments.
And for those of us who actually live here, it raises a familiar question:
Just how different is Southern Utah going to look five years from now?
St. George Isn’t Slowing Down
Construction cranes, orange cones and new buildings have become a pretty normal part of life around Washington County.
St. George and the surrounding cities have experienced tremendous growth, and businesses continue to follow the people moving into the area.
The latest group of proposed projects includes development in several of the area’s fastest-changing communities.
That means St. George isn’t the only place seeing the boom.
Washington continues to expand, Hurricane is attracting significant new development, and even smaller communities like Santa Clara are changing.
More Restaurants and Shopping
Here’s the part that usually gets Southern Utah residents talking.
New places to eat and shop are coming.
Southern Utah has added a huge number of restaurants and retail businesses over the past decade, giving residents options that simply didn’t exist here years ago.
And apparently we’re not finished yet.
The latest development plans include additional restaurant and retail projects along with other commercial construction.
For longtime residents, it’s another reminder of just how quickly the area has changed.
Remember when people complained that St. George didn’t have enough restaurants or stores?
That conversation has definitely changed.
Hurricane Continues to Grow
One of the most interesting parts of Southern Utah’s growth is what’s happening outside St. George.
Hurricane has increasingly become its own major center for residential and commercial growth.
With Sand Hollow, recreation, new neighborhoods and continued development along the area’s major roads, Hurricane is becoming much more than the town you drive through on the way to Zion.
Washington City has experienced a similar transformation.
Areas that were mostly open desert not that long ago are now filled with homes, stores, restaurants and businesses.
The Southern Utah Growth Debate Continues
Of course, more development brings both excitement and frustration.
New businesses mean more choices, more jobs and more amenities.
But growth also means more cars on the road, more construction, more demand for housing and infrastructure, and more concern about preserving the things that made people want to live in Southern Utah in the first place.
That’s why nearly every major development announcement around here seems to produce the same two reactions:
“Finally! We need that!”
Followed immediately by:
“We don’t need any more growth!”
And somehow, both opinions can be found in the same Facebook comment section within about 30 seconds.
Southern Utah Is Changing Fast
Whether you love the growth or wish someone would hit the brakes, one thing seems certain:
The Southern Utah of 2030 is going to look a lot different than the Southern Utah many of us remember.
Twenty-two more projects are now part of that transformation.
So here’s the question for Southern Utah residents:
What business, restaurant or store do you STILL wish would come to St. George?
And maybe the bigger question:
Has Southern Utah’s growth made this a better place to live — or was St. George better before the boom?