Bustos among top Latino real-estate agents in country
Salt Lake County real-estate agent William Bustos, with Keller Williams Realty Utah — William Bustos Group, was seventh on a list of the top-selling Latino Realtors in the country.
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals said the top 250 agents in its fifth annual report came from 30 states and sold properties valued at $5 billion.
“With a strong surge in Hispanic homeownership, it was an outstanding year,” said association president Joseph Nery. “It is exciting to see a distinguished list of new and repeat agents who are helping to build wealth and improve quality of life for homebuyers.”
Claudia Restrepo of Keller Williams Realty in Washington was the top agent among honorees, many of whom came from Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Miami.
RE/MAX was the brand with the most big-selling Latino agents (61). Century 21 was second with 38.
County to get $3.1M to fight lead poisoning in homes
Salt Lake County will receive $3.1 million from the federal government to help reduce exposure to lead in houses across the valley.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing $2.7 million in lead hazard reduction grants and $400,000 in “healthy homes” supplemental funding to address lead hazards in 220 housing units and 130 homes for low-income families with children.
“These awards will help clean up lead paint hazards in thousands of low-income homes across the nation, eliminating the sources of permanent health and behavioral problems that lead poisoning brings,” said HUD Secretary Julián Castro.
Salt Lake County set to create a plan for foreign investments
Salt Lake County is one of six U.S. metropolitan areas selected to develop a regional plan to attract foreign direct investments.
The plan will build on a regional export plan the county released this spring. Mayor Ben McAdams said the county now will produce a report assessing the market for foreign direct investments and develop a strategic plan with goals, tactics and implementation commitments for stimulating international trade.
He said the assessment “will identify our unique assets and opportunities” and ensure the plan contains “the tools that help us excel in this critical economic area.”
The Brookings Institution and JP Morgan Chase picked the county in an application process for the Global Cities Initiative, a four-year-old effort to help metro areas “grow their economies by strengthening international connections and competitiveness.”
Also picked were Baltimore, Houston, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Fresno, Calif. All were evaluated on their readiness, capacity and commitment to maximize foreign direct investment sources such as greenfield expansions, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, joint ventures and sovereign wealth funds.”
Marek Gootman, Brookings’ director of strategic partnerships, said he was confident the county “is positioned to take greater advantage of foreign direct investment and can be a national leader in fine-tuning more effective approaches to global economic engagement.”
Home Builders group’s ‘Wolverine House’ to fund UVU scholarship
The Utah Valley Home Builders Association broke ground Tuesday on the first “Wolverine House,” a nickname for a home whose sale will support a scholarship fund for construction-management majors at Utah Valley University in Orem.
The home’s construction is being funded with proceeds from the Utah Valley Parade of Homes, ending Saturday.
“We are hoping to make a big difference in our local area as the graduates from UVU’s construction management program are an essential key to our local builders,” said association executive officer Steve Caldwell.
Union Pacific earmarks $15.8M to improve Utah’s rail lines
Union Pacific Railroad said Wednesday it will spend $15.8 million this year to improve Utah’s rail lines.
The money will be divided almost evenly between maintaining railroad track and bridges, said Wes Lujan, Union Pacific’s Western region spokesman. This investment is on top of $157 million in repairs made since 2011.
Lujan said this year’s projects include $2 million to replace three miles of rail between Cedar City and Mack, Colo.; $1.1 million to replace two miles of track along the Lynndyl subdivision south or Delta; and $895,000 to replace one mile of rail along the Provo subdivision north of Helper.
Utah business people on the move
Park City-based PowdrCorp has named Dan Hooper as general manager at Lee Canyon ski resort outside of Las Vegas. He joined the resort in 2011 as ski school director and also has overseen guest services, rental, retail, food and beverage, summer operations and information technology.
