New apartments going into old Montgomery Ward building

The scene this week in the unit on the building's southwest corner.

Mike Allen

The residential side of downtown Idaho Falls is getting a big boost with the development of loft apartments at 504 Shoup Avenue, upstairs from Happy’s, in the old Montgomery Ward building.

Doing business as Camp Bench Holdings, Mike Allen and Neil Campbell have lined up tenants for five of the seven lofts and suites they are setting up on the second floor. Sizes range from 800 to 1,700 square feet, and rents start at $800.

Allen said they were looking in 2015 for a property to develop into lofts and learned the Montgomery Ward building was for sale. Built in the Renaissance style, with its high ceilings, birch hardwood floors and leaded glass, it was exactly what they were looking for, he said.

As might be expected with a building from 1929, there were some issues. They had to replace the window sashes, as the original wood was too far gone. But there were pluses as well, first and foremost a working sprinkler system. “That was one of the nice things about this building,” Allen said.

One unit is already occupied. Sandy Crowley, who has moved to Idaho Falls from Salt Lake with her husband, Jim, to open a gallery on A Street across from Great Harvest Bread, said they were keen to find something with character for themselves and their two kids. She was walking up Shoup Avenue when she saw the 504Shoup.com sign in the window, made a call and made a deal. “These are great spaces,” she said.

Krisi Staten, executive director of the Downtown Development Corp., said she sees 504Shoup as a harbinger of things to come.

“I think there is more demand for downtown residential than anyone ever realized,” she said. “What Mike’s done, they’re beautiful the way they combine the new with traditional elements. I think wha this says is there is a real desire for beautiful places to live downtown.”

Other developers have paid notice, she added. “The success he’s had, filling up those condos without even advertising, I think it has caused a lot of other people to take another look. This proves the market it there, and I think were going to see more of this.”

Uptown Boutique opening on Cliff Street

The front of Uptown Boutique, on Cliff Street.

You may have noticed a new look to the building at 287 Cliff Street, with big pictures of stylishly dressed women in the windows.

Arun Petrus, who recently moved to Idaho Falls, is planning to open her Uptown Boutique the first week of February. Originally from Phoenix, Petrus has lived all over the country — Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle and, most recently, Las Vegas — but came to Idaho Falls for family reasons. She has been pursuing an aesthetician’s license at Vogue Beauty College, also on Cliff Street. That’s why in addition to selling affordable, eclectic women’s clothing, Petrus plans to offer services such as eyelash extensions.

“This is a new adventure,” she said.

She does not plan to sell any one particular brand, she simply hopes to have something that customers might see themselves wearing. “Women all have different types of personalities,” she said. “My philosophy is if I wouldn’t have something in my closet at home it’s not going to be in my shop.”

Idaho Steel, Conrad & Bischoff receive rebates for energy-saving efforts

Two Idaho Falls companies were recognized Tuesday night for energy-saving measures they recently adopted through Idaho Falls Power’s Commercial Lighting Retrofit Program.

Conrad & Bischoff and Idaho Steel received rebates of $52,998 and $39,172, respectively, for measures that are predicted to save a combined total of 606,169 kilowatt-hours — enough to power nearly 50 homes for a year.

Idaho Steel’s project involved upgrading the lighting at three facilities from fluorescents to LEDs. With the rebate and expected energy savings (280,321 kWh), the project is expected to pay for itself within three years.

“We were at a crossroads with our lighting, where we needed to replace existing out-of-date lights (and) move in a more improved and efficient direction,” said Alan Bradshaw, Idaho Steel’s CEO. “Because of the incentive that was offered, we made the decision to replace the out-of-date lighting in all of our facilities. This has provided us with a much better work environment utilizing efficient instant-on LED lighting.”

Conrad & Bischoff is expected to save 325,848 kWh through its projects, which consisted of installing LEDs at its car wash, retail stores and in the canopies over its gas pumps.

“(We are) very grateful to the city and the power companies for the opportunity we had to cut back on our power consumption,” said Jake Hansen, the company’s chief operating officer.

Idaho Falls Power has offered energy efficiency programs since 1982. Free energy audits, loans, rebates and incentives are among the options available to all customers. In fiscal year 2015, 469 customers participated in the programs, leading to a savings of more than 5.25 million kWh.

The programs are run in conjunction with the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal non-profit agency from which Idaho Falls purchases most of the electricity used in the city.

Bank of Idaho receives Brightest Star award

Idaho Falls-based Bank of Idaho was recently awarded the Idaho’s Brightest Star Award at a ceremony Jan. 21 at the Owyhee in Boise.

The purpose of the Brightest Star Awards program is to recognize and encourage volunteerism by citizens of all ages throughout the state. Bank of Idaho was the winner in the Corporation and Small Business category, based on the efforts put forth by its employees.

The award came in recognition of an internal initiative in which employees committed to “A Year of Service” — 8,760 employee hours (literally, one year’s worth of hours). At the end of 2015 the final tally stood at 9,011 hours of donated time.

“The Year of Service has been a fun undertaking for us, and it was really worth the effort. For the people in our hometowns, and even for our employees, it put some real meaning behind our motto, ‘Committed to Community,’” said Bank of Idaho President and CEO, Jeff Newgard. “The award for our employees’ efforts is just icing on the cake.”

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and the Governor’s Coordinating Council for Families and Children established the Governor’s Brightest Star Awards in 2001 in partnership with the Association of Idaho Cities. Since its inception, more than 500 individuals and groups have been recognized as Brightest Stars.

Roger's Revue this year features music from animated film

Friday and Saturday at the Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium

From “When You Wish Upon a Star” to “Let It Go,” music has always been a huge element in animated film. This weekend, Roger Evans and company will be paying tribute at the Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium with a live concert featuring top local talent.

This year’s “Roger’s Revue” will feature music from animated films such as “Aladdin,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Frozen,” “Prince of Egypt,” and many more. Performers come from the Idaho Falls Symphony, Teton Chamber Orchestra, Idaho Falls Opera Theatre, Sounds Summer Musical, and Idaho Falls Youth Arts Centre. Proceeds will benefit the performing arts programs at six local high schools: Idaho Falls, Skyline, Bonneville, Hillcrest, Compass Academy and Rigby.

If you think the performing arts are trivial, I beg to differ. Last fall I got to play Captain Hook in the Youth Arts Centre’s production of “Peter Pan,” with Roger as musical director. There were 86 kids in the cast, and although I didn’t get to know each one of them personally I can say I’ve never seen a more energetic and dedicated bunch. For my part, I hope I inspired them with my willingness to get crazy and give all in a part that cannot be played too broadly.

As great as community productions are, though, what takes place in the schools is just as important if not more so. It’s been proven time and again that music, dance, and theater increase students’ productivity. Beyond that, let’s take a look at two people we’ve been mourning recently, David Bowie and Alan Rickman, aka the Goblin King and Professor Snape. Both English and both working class, both benefitted from publicly funded art college, where they were allowed to explore their creativity and develop their ambitions.

When you buy a ticket to the show, you will have the ability to designate which high school you want the money to go to. To purchase tickets online, visit www.rogersrevue.org. Tickets are $12 for Adults, $8 for ages 17 and under. Family passes are available for $40, but it is asked that you limit it to immediate family or people living in the same household.

Curtain on Friday and Saturday evening is at 6:30. The Saturday matinee performance starts at 1:30 p.m. In addition to the Web site, tickets may be purchased at Chesbro Music and at the door. For more information, call Erin Nazario at (206) 794-4350.

Tai-Pan Trading plans March 1 opening in Idaho Falls

One of the more eagerly embraced announcements of 2015 was the news that Tai-Pan Trading would be opening a store in Idaho Falls, on 17th Street in the Hall Park Shopping Center.

To update you, the store will be opening to the public March 1, with a grand opening date to be announced soon. Information about the store can be found on its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/tptidahofalls/?fref=ts.

If you are interested in applying for a job, or know someone who is, visit this link: taipantrading.com/employment.

The actual address is 1568 E. 17th Street. The store will be occupying 22,750 square feet, where $2 Fabric and KC Frame formerly were. This is one of two Tai-Pan stores moving into Idaho, the other one being in Twin Falls. The Salt Lake-based company has five stores in Utah, one in California and one in Idaho, in Boise.

On its Web site, Tai-Pan describes itself as “an importer of quality home décor products at affordable prices.” The company started in 1979 as a wholesale floral supplier, in a small space with two cash registers and very few parking stalls. As the business expanded into home decor, the owners decided to open a showroom and offer merchandise directly to the public.

DOE Grid Modernization Initiative brings 15 new projects to Idaho lab

Using computer modeling and weather station data, a $2.35 million project could increase the capacity of existing power lines. Wind blowing on a high-voltage line can cool it enough to safely increase the amount of current it can carry by 10 to 40 percent.

Idaho National Laboratory is slated to lead several projects over the next three years as part of the $220 million Grid Modernization Initiative announced last week by the U.S. Department of Energy.

INL has been designated the lead laboratory on four projects that received DOE funding, and will collaborate with other national laboratories on 11 other projects. Although funding levels are subject to change, the work is expected to amount to roughly $10 million for INL through September 2018.

“I am proud to see INL involved in so many winning proposals for important collaborative projects,” said INL Director Mark Peters. “DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative is a critical nationwide effort.”

The Grid Modernization Initiative is a strategic portfolio of projects intended to set the United States on a cost-effective path for an integrated, secure, sustainable and reliable electric grid. As described in DOE’s Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan, these projects focus on new concepts, tools, platforms, and technologies to better measure, analyze, predict, and control the grid of the future — one flexible enough to support a competitive national economy and an array of emerging services, while remaining affordable to consumers.

The initiative includes the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium, a strategic partnership launched in 2014 between DOE and 14 of its national laboratories. This followed a 2012 White House report that said outages caused by severe weather typically cost the U.S. economy between $18 billion and $33 billion a year from lost output and wages, spoiled inventory, delayed production and disruptions to energy distribution.

Many of the INL projects will involve its Real-Time Power and Energy Lab, said Rob Hovsapian, lead engineer for INL’s Energy Systems & Technologies Division and an author on nine winning proposals. These projects will leverage the lab’s expertise and infrastructure to analyze dynamic and transient aspects of advanced power and energy systems in real time.

Information below highlights the projects that INL will lead.

Smart Reconfiguration of Idaho Falls Power distribution network

The $1 million two-year collaboration with the city of Idaho Falls aims to make the city’s municipal power distribution more robust and dependable. Idaho Falls Power Director Jackie Flowers said the idea of working with INL came after an outage in December 2013 left city residents without electricity for hours in subzero cold. Idaho Falls and INL will work with Schweitzer Engineering Labs, Washington State University and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to test smart reconfiguration. INL’s Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) allows engineers to model how the city can spread load evenly during times of high demand. Battery research at the lab will allow the utility to explore ways to store energy from its hydroelectric and wind turbines.

Systems Research Supporting Standards and Interoperability

The project seeks to understand how plug-in electric vehicle charging will affect the grid and how disturbances on the grid could affect PEVs. This project will leverage capabilities of multiple national laboratories to perform “hardware-in-the-loop” studies that integrate communication and control system hardware with simulation and analysis activities. The $3.6 million, three-year project includes Siemens Engineering, Bonneville Power Administration, DTE Energy, Eversource, University of Delaware, California Energy Commission and USDRIVE Grid Interaction Technical Team.

Diagnostic Security Modules for Electric Vehicles to Building Integration

The overall goal of this project is to develop a Diagnostic Security Module framework to protect against cyberattacks that might come through communications systems required for PEV charging and load management. INL will lead a consortium of national labs and private partners including University of Louisiana-Lafayette, ChargePoint, and California Energy Commission. The project will cost about $1.65 million over three years.

Weather Data to Improve Capacity of Existing Power Lines

This $2.35 million project could increase the capacity of existing power lines using modeling and weather station data. In areas where wind plants are being developed, wind blowing on a high-voltage line can cool it enough to safely increase the amount of current it can carry by 10 to 40 percent. INL’s work includes a transmission line planning and routing toolkit and Human Factors R&D to help integrate weather and simulation information into control room operations. Partners include Idaho Power Company, WindSim, Altalink, Alberta Electric System Operator, StormGEO, Stantec and Oregon State University.

INL is part of DOE's complex of national laboratories. The laboratory performs work in each of DOE's strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation's leading center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.

See more INL news at www.inl.gov.