Developer eyes mid-July opening for Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn

The scene this week in the lobby of the Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn. Developers of the hotel say they hope to have it open in early July.

Earlier this year, the plan was for the Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn to be open by Memorial Day weekend, but that has not come to pass. The developer said Wednesday that they expect to have the work done by early July, but probably not in time for the Fourth of July celebration.

"There have been a lot of details that have needed our attention," said John Brunt of Woodbury Corp., the Salt Lake City development company in charge of the project.. "What we're most concerned with is that our guests have the best experience possible."

Construction of the hotel began more than four years ago, but stalled out when McNeil Development, the original company in charge, ran into recession- and credit-related difficulties. After they re-started the project, Woodbury discovered a lot of changes Marriott has brought to its building standards that weren't in place when the project started.

Daylight Donuts to open on 17th Street in Idaho Falls

Those of you who mourned the departure of Daylight Donuts can take heart. A new Daylight Donuts will be opening in early June at 1225 E. 17th St., next door to Staker Floral.

Jim Feuling, who runs I Buy Gold, the business in the building at the moment, said he has always liked Daylight Donuts. When he saw an opportunity to open a new one (the shop in Taylor's Crossing closed this past winter), "I decided to grab it," he said.

Daylight Donuts was begun in Tulsa, Okla., in 1954 when Tommy and Lucille Day began producing a light donut mix each morning and selling it to local shops, most often from the trunk of their car. When they sold the business in 1977, to Jerry and Linda Hull, the company consisted of 200 shops and a fleet of trucks. The Hulls sold the company in 2002 to John and Sheila Bond, who have guided growth to nearly 1,000 retail outlets worldwide.

For an operator like Feuling, there is a licensing agreement under which he receives products and the rights to use the name. He said he is shooting for an opening sometime around June 6.

Kiwi Loco plans summer opening for second Idaho Falls frozen yogurt shop

Kiwi Loco's frozen yogurt machines will require extra plumbing at the store it plans to open this summer on Houston Street, its second in Idaho Falls.

Kiwi Loco is planning to open a second frozen yogurt shop in Idaho Falls, at 163 Houston Street, near Wal-Mart and Olive Garden. Remodeling has begun and an opening date should be in late June or early July.

"We definitely needed something on that side of town," said owner Justin Turley, who opened the Kiwi Loco on Hitt Road in December 2012. "We got comments from people all the time saying you need to come to the west side."

Turley's parents, Gene and Carol Turley, and a partner, Doug Birch, started Kiwi Loco in April 2010. The new Idaho Falls store will be the eighth in the family-owned chain, which extends west to Ontario, Ore., and as far east as Palm Bay, Fla.

The new Idaho Falls store will be 1,200 square feet, smaller than the Hitt Road location. Some extra plumbing has to be done for Kiwi Loco's machines.

New cancer center being built in Idaho Falls

IFSC Partners, a company based in Portland, Ore., is remodeling the Surgical Center on 17th Street and buiding 12,850-square-foot cancer treatment center directly to the north.

According to the building permit records on file at the city of Idaho Falls Building Department, the remodel and new building will have an estimated value of $2.79 million. The contractor is Morgan Construction of Idaho Falls.

Doing business as Idaho Falls Oncology, the cancer center will have 4,271 square feet at the ground level and a 4,271-square-foot basement. The floor plan includes 10 clinical examination rooms and two infusion rooms.

Idaho Falls leads state in weekly wages, Pocatello in wage growth

Last week's numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed another decrease in Idaho unemployment, for the ninth straight month. But while trends in employment are the typical gauge of economic well being, earnings can provide a deeper measure of the value of economic change. All jobs are not equal and earnings are a measure of productivity and economic contribution.

Another set of BLS numbers, compiled in February, show earnings and jobs on the rise throughout the nation, with the Idaho Falls Metropolitan Statistic Area leading in Idaho. According to the data, the average weekly wage in Idaho Falls was $803, making it 64th in the nation. The weekly wage for Boise was $701 and Pocatello was $678.

Is there anyone who would dispute the effect the Idaho National Laboratory and the cleanup work at the Department of Energy site have on local wages? It would be interesting to see what average weekly earnings would be for the area absent the lab-related jobs.

On the six-month earnings growth front, Pocatello led the state, with at rate of 6.9 percent, 94th in the nation. Idaho Falls followed with 5.7 percent, while Boise posted a loss of -4.6 percent, ranking 326th.

Overall, 241 U.S. metros (64.7 percent) had experienced positive earnings growth over the year, but when inflation was factored in the number dropped to 179 metros (48.1 percent).

To eliminate single month abnormalities or disruptions, the average annual change in earnings over the previous six months was calculated. Before adjusting for inflation, 239 metros (64.2 percent) showed positive earnings growth. After inflation adjustment, the number of metros with real earnings growth dropped to 162 or 43.5 percent.

Alexandria, La., had the highest annual percentage growth in earnings, up 33 percent on average. Midland, Texas, was second at 27 percent. On the downside, Kokomo, Ind., experienced an average annual earnings decline of 24.8 percent, followed closely by El Centro, Calif., with a drop of 22.2 percent.

http://www.garnereconomics.com/pdf/Garner Economics Average Earnings in US Metros 0412.pdf