Nu Skin Breaks Ground for Innovation Center
As Nu Skin broke ground on its new $85 million Innovation Center on Monday, business leaders and local officials expressed hope the development will have a global effect.
The project expands the corporate headquarters in downtown Provo and includes research and development space. Some of Nu Skin's elite team were on hand, as were the Nu Skin president of Greater China, the board of directors and other dignitaries from the global Nu Skin family.
"This will not only impact Provo and the state, but throughout the world," Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said. He went on to say the way Utah is growing is by producing economic opportunities.
"We'd like to be the No. 1 global business destination in Utah," Herbert said. "We've added 8,000 jobs just recently in Utah. This $85 million building is just another part of that effort."
Herbert added, "We are growing at twice the rate of the national average, because of companies like Nu Skin."
Provo Mayor John Curtis said that for a mayor, there are aren't many days that are as important as this. He said Nu Skin is an economic force for good in the community.
"This is an economic engine that moves us forward in Provo," Curtis said. "It represents dreams of the city and stakeholders. The quality of this investment is unparalleled."
Nu Skin CEO Truman Hunt referred to the day as historic for Nu Skin, and with that began to recite a very altered but recognizable version of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He began with, "One score and four years ago ... "
He ended by saying, "The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but we believe the world will remember what we've done here today. We will be a force for good in the pursuit of freedom."
The Innovation Center expands the corporate headquarters on 100 W. Center St. and will house 900 employees. The center will feature an additional 164,000 square feet for a total Nu Skin corporate campus of nearly 300,000 square feet, including an atrium designed as the focal point of the campus, an expanded research and development space for anti-aging research, and more than one acre of green space.
Before turning the symbolic shovels, some of which were shaped like spoons to remember the early days of Nu Skin, when they tested products by giving out spoonfuls to testers who had to bring their own containers, Blake Roney, co-founder and chairman of the board, took the time for some comic relief. Some of it was directed right at Herbert.
"This is really a fun thing we're doing," Roney said. In reference to Herbert's attendance at the event, he said it was the governor's preparation day and then asked, "What do you do? Go to your house and read scriptures? But you're here," he quipped.
"It's fun to break ground, again, and move into the next generation," Roney said. "You're welcome to witness the next generation of miracles."
Hunt added, "Our vision of becoming the world's leading direct selling company is dependent on our commitment to continue to renew our vibrant anti-aging business opportunity. The investment we are making in our new Innovation Center is an unmistakable sign that we are committed to achieving our vision."
The company anticipates the Innovation Center will be completed in 2013.
Genelle Pugmire - Daily Herald | Posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 12:25 am
