I.F.-based Bank of Idaho opens second Boise branch

Bank of Idaho continues its expansion in western Idaho today with its second Boise location, at 6981 W. Overland Road.

This newest Boise office will be the bank's ninth full-service branch. Bank of Idaho started as Bank of Eastern Idaho in 1985 and remains a community bank focused on the advancement of small businesses, providing tools and support that help build personal long-term relationships with their clients.

“We work hard to learn about our customers," Bank President and CEO Jeff Newgard said. "We strive to gain a deep understanding of their goals and aspirations, so we can anticipate their needs and give them the right tools to succeed. Pair that philosophy with decisions that are made right here at the local level, and it truly sets us apart from many of our competitors."

The Bank of Idaho Overland Branch team will be made up of some familiar faces from the area: Charlie Kouba, V.P. Commercial Banking Manager, Surbir Chadha, V.P. Commercial Loan Officer, Caroline Kennedy, Retail Branch Manager, Katelyn Shaw, Loan Assistant, and Lacy Beck, Universal Banking Associate.

Snake River Landing breaks ground on new office building

Ball Ventures founder Allen Ball (left) and Cortney Liddiard, the company's CEO, chat with executives from Okland Construction  Wednesday at the groundbreaking for The Knolls, a new office building scheduled to open in fall 2020.

Snake River Landing continued its southward expansion Wednesday by breaking ground on The Knolls, a contemporary-styled office building at the corner of Snake River Parkway and Event Center Drive.

The three-story, 60,000-square-foot, building will house the corporate headquarters of Ball Ventures, the Idaho Falls-based developer that began Snake River Landing in 2006. The company’s chief development officer, Eric Isom, said other tenants will be announced in the next three months. The building is scheduled to be completed in  fall 2020.

In addition to Snake River Landing, Ball Ventures is a co-developer of Sandcreek Commons, the shopping center in Ammon. Overall, the company has projects in nine or 10 states totaling about 3.3 million square feet, Isom said.

Like the Waterfront, a smaller event center that opened in 2017, the Knolls represents a departure from the “old Main Street” style of the original Snake River Landing buildings, Isom said. It comes at the end of a summer that saw a large expansion of the nearby Falls apartment complex. A site plan for the nearby Idaho Falls Events Center has been filed with the city’s building department (link here).

Isom said the 450-acre master-planned development is about where they projected it to be when they first broke ground. “We lost four years during the recession, but I think we’re where we thought we would be because of the growth in the last few years,” he said. The Idaho Falls area has seen a dramatic in-migration of people from other states, creating one of the hotter real estate markets in the United States.

“Housing and rooftops drive everything else,” Isom said. “There’s been a lot of positive press about the quality of life here.”

Businesses involved in the design and construction of the Knolls include Dixon and Associates, Horrocks Engineers, Bradley Engineering, HK Contractors, and Okland Construction. Brent Wilson of Thornton Oliver Keller is the listing agent.

Costco site plan undergoes second review by city

A screenshot of the first page of the latest Costco site plan

This isn’t much, but since the interest in Costco is so intense I figured it was important to report that the plan for the site at 2495 Lincoln Road has gone through its second review with the city of Idaho Falls Building Department.

This is at the northwestern corner of Lincoln and Hitt, although you can’t really call it a corner because there is a roundabout there. If you’d like to see the documents and PDFs, this is the link: https://trakit.idahofallsidaho.gov/etrakit3/Search/project.aspx.

The 150,000-square-foot store is expected to open in August 2020. The facility will also include a 15-30 pump fueling station.

INL engineer to talk about NASA missions at chamber CEO Series program

Kelly Lively, manager of INL's Radioisotope Power Systems department

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce will host Kelly Lively of Idaho National Laboratory as its featured speaker Sept. 26, part of its monthly CEO Series programs.

Lively is the manager of INL's Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) department and also a project manager for NASA’s Mars 2020 Mission. She manages a team of engineers and technicians that manufactures, fuels, tests and delivers radioisotope thermo-electric generator (RTG) systems for NASA's deep space exploration missions. RTG systems convert the heat generated by the decay of plutonium oxide fuel into electrical energy.

Lively will share information on the technology and the INL processes that enable these scientific missions. She will also provide the latest information on three space missions in which INL has had hand: New Horizons (which passed Pluto in 2015 and is now exploring the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the Solar System), the Mars Science Laboratory (which includes the Curiosity Rover), and the Mars 2020 Rover (yet to be named).

Lively started working at Naval Reactors Facility 1985 as a human resources administrative assistant. She bounced around the lab, working in word processing and security, and eventually decided to pursue an engineering degree. "As I typed procedures for the engineering staff, I thought, 'If they can do this, I can do this,'" she told The Oklahoman in 2013. She graduated with a bachelor's in engineering from Idaho State University in 1998.

The event is open to the community and will be begin at 3 p.m. at the Waterfront at Snake River Landing, 1220 Event Center Drive. Questions from audience members will be taken. There is no charge for the event, but space is limited. Please RSVP to programs@idahofallschamber.com to reserve a spot.

Snake River Landing to break ground on new office building

The site for a new 60,000-square-foot office building at Snake River Landing, at the corner of Snake River Parkway and Event Center Drive

Snake River Landing is holding a groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. for a new three-story office building planned for Snake River Parkway and Event Center Drive. The 60,000-square-foot office building, located at the heart of the 450-acre Snake River Landing multi-use development, is scheduled to be finished in late summer of 2020.

The new office building is owned by an affiliate of Snake River Landing. The following businesses are involved in the design and construction: Dixon and Associates, Horrocks Engineers, HK Contractors, Okland Construction.

The new office building is the latest growth development for Snake River Landing, which in July announced the expansion of Love at First Bite and is also seeing a new addition to The Falls Apartments, with developer Kartchner Inc. adding 96 units addition to the original 228-unit apartment complex that opened in 2017. Idahoan Foods is in the process of remodeling 900 Pier View Drive in Snake River Landing for its new corporate headquarters. Construction on the new Event Center Drive roadway is wrapping up this fall, and construction on the new Heritage Park continues with the city of Idaho Falls.

“Many companies are expanding or seeking to locate in Idaho Falls, and we are ready to help them find the kind of space and experience they seek,” said Eric Isom, Snake River Landing’s chief development officer. “There are new residential options here, commercial space under construction and available for pre-lease, and a growing number of people who are choosing to live and work within this community. It’s a pleasure to see companies expand and grow here.”