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A mockup of the Brandon Fugal Gateway Building.

Courtesy UVU

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Brandon Fugal

Courtesy UVU

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Utah Valley University announced Thursday the opening of the new Gateway Building, which will be funded by a $5 million donation from prominent business leader and UVU alum Brandon Fugal.

The Gateway Building is slated to be a three-story building on the south end of UVU’s Orem campus. It will house the office of University President Astrid S. Tuminez as well as her administration and offices for three of the vice presidents. The building will also be home to the Gary R. Herbert Institute of Public Policy Center, a student welcome center, classrooms and a board conference area.

Lectures and candidate forums will be hosted in this building while personal papers and artifacts of Herbert’s from his time as Governor will be on display.

“Brandon Fugal personifies the greatest qualities we seek to inculcate in our students: grit, intelligence, ambition, innovation, and generosity. The Gateway Building that bears his name will be a wonderful new main entrance to campus,” Tuminez said in a press release. “Many students and families will start their UVU journeys from this building. They will be reminded that their potential, much like UVU alumnus Brandon Fugal’s, is unlimited.”

Fugal attended UVU in 1994 on a leadership scholarship. He is now chairman and co-owner of real estate firm Colliers International in Utah. Fugal is also co-owner of Axcend, Thanksgiving Development and Texas Growth Fund. Fugal was named 2021 Office Broker of the Year and was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Utah region in 2016.

“Utah Valley University is my school,” Fugal said in a press release. “It is in my DNA. It gave me a solid foundation that helped me launch my real estate and business career. There are many people who taught and showed me the way. Now I want to give back, to help those who follow me. I hope this building stands as a sentinel showing people the power of education and the American dream.”

The Gateway Building is a part of the long-term master plan designed for UVU in 2010 to address both the growth of UVU’s student population and the state as a whole.

“The Master Plan is intended to assess and quantify the sites’ ability to accommodate physical development and provide a flexible plan to guide growth in a consistent and harmonious manner with the institutional mission,” reads UVU master plan. “The plan is a framework that gives the University the flexibility to strategically manage physical growth, incentivize sustainable development, and optimize opportunities for institutional and business partnerships on campus.”

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