Hotel on the Falls restaurant, lounge and convention center being remodeled

Carpet and materials stacked up inside the restaurant at the Hotel on the Falls

After being locked up for close to nine months, there is finally work going on inside the Hotel on the Falls’ restaurant, lounge, banquet spaces and motel rooms.

The chainlink fence came down after property owner Dane Watkins signed a joint operating agreement with Colorado Hospitality Services of Northglenn, Colo., which bought the eight-story, 85-room tower at an auction in January for $2.3 million. Under the agreement, Watkins is leasing the space to Colorado Hospitality owner Bruce Rahmani of Denver, who is charged with remodeling and finding a company to run the restaurant and kitchen.

Event coordinator Tom Williams said they hope to have the motel rooms open by early July. It will probably be October before the restaurant and lounge are open for banquets and conventions, but they are already getting calls about events during the holiday season.

Watkins abruptly closed the restaurant, lounge and motel last August over a dispute with the company managing the facility, Om Shiv Ganesh, which was also managing the tower. The tower had gone into receivership in June when the owner, Idaho Hotel Holdings, filed a default judgment against Om Shiv Ganesh for more than $3.4 million, claiming unpaid mortgage payments and taxes.

Westerra Realty & Management, a Salt Lake company, managed the property until Rahmani bought it Jan. 22. The tower reopened at the end to March. Situated in a prime location by the falls, Williams said the tower has been doing well. It was sold out completely the weekend of the Beer Fest and the following week, when a Little League tournament was held in Idaho Falls.

Known for years as the Westbank, the property dates back to 1928, when Ferris Clark, son of Mayor Barzilla W. Clark, built two log buildings by the Snake River to accommodate motorists on their way to Yellowstone National Park. Over 52 years, Clark expanded with a red brick motel, then a restaurant and lounge, then more motel rooms. He retired in 1980 and died in 1987 at age 79.

After Clark left, the property went by different names, including Red Lion and finally the Hotel on the Falls. Until 2012, it was owned by Jim and Sharon Bennett and Robert and Sharon Paulus, the children of Olga Gustafson Rigby. That year, however, the hotel was deeded to trusts set up by the families while Watkins bought the motel, restaurant, lounge and convention center.

Idaho Falls, Ammon to reconfigure intersection at 25th Street and Hitt Road

The plan for a new signal at Hitt Road and 25th Street

It might be a little soon to think about the holiday season — Christmas is still more than six months away,  at least until Thursday — but here are early tidings of comfort and joy: Getting onto Hitt Road from the Target parking lot is going to be a lot easier by the end of this year.

At a work session Monday, the Idaho Falls City Council approved the reconfiguration of the traffic signal at Hitt and 25th Street, just south of the Ammon Town Center.

The city of Ammon has agreed to build an access road from the shopping center parking lot with left- and right-turn lanes. In effect, the intersection will become what was discussed years ago, a four-way traffic signal far enough from the signal at 17th Street to keep traffic on Hitt flowing in an orderly way.

This is much better than placing a traffic signal at the main entrance into the Target parking lot, said Chris Fredericksen, Idaho Falls Public Works director. “When you have traffic signals spaced too close together, they don’t function property, so we’ve always been reluctant to place a signal there.”

The solution approved Monday is to have a westbound, exit-only lane at 25th and Hitt. The reconfiguration will allow traffic to go straight, turn right and turn left out of the shopping center.

The cost has been estimated at under $200,000, and will be shared 50-50 between Idaho Falls and Ammon, with Ammon paying for the access road from the shopping center.

“This project is yet another joint effort to improve both safety and address traffic flow on Hitt Road,” said Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper. “There is great willingness between the two cities to make the improvements happen in advance of the busy shopping season.”

Since April 2014, council members from each city have been meeting to discuss the intersections at Hitt Road and 17th Street, 25th Street and Sunnyside Road. With Cabela’s open and Hobby Lobby scheduled to open Aug. 3, the Sunnyside intersection and road improvements to the south were the top priority.

But the situation at Target has long been a frustration. “The public has waited long enough for better, safer movement in and out of Ammon Town Center,” said Ammon Mayor Dana Kirkham.

Bank of Idaho plans customer appreciation day for Friday

Bank of Idaho will host a “Customer Appreciation Day” at its downtown Idaho Falls branch, 399 N. Capital Ave., Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A “shred” truck also will be on hand for customers who want to destroy old documents. There will be food from Dickey’s BBQ and a customer give-away.

Founded in Idaho Falls in 1985, Bank of Idaho has branches in Pocatello, St. Anthony, Ashton and Island Park. For more information on Customer Appreciation Day, call 524-5500.

Entrepreneurs' Platform set for Tuesday at EITC

Local Almond Milk, an Idaho Falls company, will be one of the presenters at the Entrepreneurs' Platform at EITC Tuesday.

The Eastern Idaho Entrepreneurial Center (E Center) and Founder’s Forum will be holding its next Entrepreneurs’ Platform Tuesday at Eastern Idaho Technical College.

The Entrepreneurs’ Platform seeks to bring together local entrepreneurs, professionals and community leaders to learn about new businesses and ideas, expand professional networks and help grow the economy. Audience members can support the Platform presenters by offering resources, including expertise, contacts, etc., after their presentations.

Sponsored by the Idaho National Lab and Eastern Idaho Technical College, Tuesday’s Platform, will be held in Room 541 of the the Alexander Creek Building from noon to 1:30 p.m. Admission is free.

Each of the businesses presenting is seeking mentoring and resources to continue to grow. The presenters include:

Landon Walker: Owner of Local Almond Milk, which produces local almond and cashew milk.

Joseph Cammack: Co-founder of ArmsReach, a bedside organizer. This product started at Eastern Idaho’s Start-up Weekend last October.

Coulton Woods and Stephan Larson: Starts of FiXD, which provides insurance for cell phones and tablets.

For further information on the Entrepreneurs’ Platform or the mission of the E Center, contact Megan Luthy at 208.356.5009 or visit www.idahoecenter.org.

Tradehome Shoes plans store in Grand Teton Mall

A Tradehome Shoes store somewhere in America

Tradehome Shoes has filed plans with the Idaho Falls Building Department to put a store in the Grand Teton Mall.

This will be its third store in Idaho. It has one in Twin Falls and another in Boise.

The company was founded in 1921 and is based in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. It currently operates more than 100 stores in 20 states, including two in Idaho, in Boise and Twin Falls. Its stores carry nearly 100 brands from Dr. Martens to Adidas to Johnston & Murphy.

Here are the company’s social media links:

https://www.facebook.com/TradehomeShoes1921
http://www.tradehomeshoes.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/TradehomeShoes

Idaho Falls liquor store opens in new location

Store 203, now at 385 North Woodruff Avenue

Idaho Falls doesn’t have a new liquor store, just a bigger one in a location with better traffic.
The new state store, at 385 North Woodruff Avenue, between WinCo Foods and Great Clips on Woodruff Avenue, replaces the one at at 2105 Niagara Street.

“I just love the lighting,” said cashier Debbie Peterson, who came over to the new store when it opened Tuesday.

Although beer and wine are sold in grocery and convenience stores in communities where local authorities allow it, hard spirits in Idaho are sold in state-owned stores that are licensed to franchisees. Idaho Falls has three stores and Ammon has one.

The Woodruff Avenue store is managed by Jason Fitch. A move from Niagara had been in the works since the liquor store opened in the Teton Spectrum in Ammon, Peterson said. The space on Woodruff had been vacant for more than a year, ever since the party supply store had moved out.

Hours at Store 203 are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Delta begins flying Airbus jet daily into Idaho Falls

Delta has begun flying an Airbus A320 into Idaho Falls Regional Airport every night.

After nearly 20 years, Delta Air Lines has begun flying big jets back into Idaho Falls Regional Airport.

The seating plan of an A320

Since May, an Airbus A320 has been flying in from Salt Lake City every night at 10:20 and leaving at 8 the next morning. Airport Director Craig Davis said that while the original plan was for a trial period, he has since been told the flights will be permanent.

Delta stopped flying 737s into Idaho Falls in the 1990s, opting instead to have Skywest provide service with Brasilia turbo-props and Canadair regional jets. The Brasilias are long gone, and the CRJs are reaching the limit the Federal Aviation Administration is willing to allow them to remain flying in United States airspace. “(They’re) timing out and being decommissioned, and the big question is what is going to replace them.

With 12 first class seats and 148 seats in the main cabin, the Airbus is a much larger and roomier plane. This is the same jet Frontier was briefly flying between Idaho Falls and Denver in 2014 (a new CEO changed the company's business strategy, and Frontier pulled out of smaller markets). Davis said he does not know whether more big commercial jets will be coming to Idaho Falls, but sees the Delta flight as a positive sign.

On a less celebratory note, he said he does not see fares out of Idaho Falls coming down until Delta and Alaska Air settle the feud they are having over the Salt Lake to Seattle route. At a recent conference he attended, an executive from one of the carriers told him that could take 12 to 18 months.

“Obviously we’d like to have Delta drop its rates,” he said.