Originally intended to be sold off to help pay for the city's new airport, the 247 acres of land that comprises the old St. George Municipal Airport still sits atop its mesa unsold and largely uninhabited.
Last year, plummeting property values prompted Anderson Development to back out of its 2008 deal with the city to purchase the land for $43 million. However, the city was able to fund its $23 million portion of the new airport through utility funds and the delay of a Mall Drive bridge project. The rest of the new airport's $160 million price tag came from Federal Aviation Administration grants, stimulus dollars and a chunk of transient room taxes from Washington County. The city still plans to sell the property, but not before making sweeping improvements and waiting for the real estate market to rebound. The Spectrum