Three-story office building planned for MK Simpson Boulevard

Looks like another new building will be going up on MK Simpson Boulevard, a three-story, 62,250-square-foot office building just east of Idaho National Laboratory’s Energy Systems Laboratory.

A permit application was filed Oct. 7 with the City of Idaho Falls Building Department by Voigt Consulting. The value of the project, at 650 MK Simpson Boulevard, is estimated at $7.5 million.

The building will be located on 4.5 acres, and be the next addition to a campus that is already booming. A ribbon cutting is planned for Monday at the Cybercore Integration Center (CIC) and Collaborative Computing Center (C3), projects funded by the State of Idaho that will house INL’s supercomputers and cyber-research.

Directors named for National Reactor Innovation Center

Dr. Ashley Finan

Following a nationwide search, Dr. Ashley Finan has been selected as director of the Idaho National Laboratory-based National Reactor Innovation Center, and Nicholas Smith has been selected to serve as deputy director. As NRIC directors, Finan and Smith will lead efforts to accelerate the testing, demonstration and commercialization of innovative reactor technologies in the United States.

"Building and operating advanced reactors is essential to U.S. leadership in nuclear energy, and these roles are essential to achieving that goal," said Dr. John Wagner, associate director of INL's Nuclear Science & Technology directorate. "Ashley has played a key role in the formation of the policy that made NRIC possible. She and Nicholas are ideally suited to develop and implement the NRIC vision."

Authorized by the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA), NRIC will provide resources to test, demonstrate, and assess performance of new nuclear technologies, critical steps that must be completed before they are available commercially. Through NRIC, developers will gain access to the strategic infrastructure and assets of the national laboratories. These capabilities will support a timely and cost-effective path to licensing and commercializing new nuclear systems, which will generate carbon-free electricity and contribute to the decarbonization of major economic sectors.

Nicholas Smith

Finan served most recently as executive director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a non-profit think tank working to enable nuclear power as a global solution to mitigate climate change. Prior to her work with NIA, Finan led nuclear innovation programs at Clean Air Task Force. She holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“NRIC will play a pivotal role in decarbonization by empowering trailblazing companies to demonstrate and commercialize the next generation of nuclear technologies,” Finan said. “I’m inspired by our innovators, labs, and policymakers and their commitment to tackling global challenges. I’m dedicated to leading NRIC to enable demonstration of advanced technology that will achieve our energy, security, and environmental goals, while sustaining the U.S. nuclear fleet’s tradition of excellence.”

Smith has worked with the research and development organization of Atlanta-based Southern Company since 2010, most recently as principal engineer. In this role, he oversaw a Generation IV nuclear reactor R&D program and was responsible for collaboration with reactor designers, national labs and policymakers, and early engagement with regulators. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from San Diego State University, a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University. 

“NRIC will provide on-the-ground capabilities to accelerate nuclear technology readiness from proof-of-concept through proof-of-operations,” said Wagner. “Ashley and Nicholas are the right team to lead NRIC and make advanced reactor demonstrations a reality.”

New recovery center opening in Idaho Falls

Brick House Recovery, a faith-based substance abuse treatment program, will be holding a grand opening Thursday afternoon of its new location in Idaho Falls, at 2020 Landbank Street.

The event will be from noon to 7 p.m., with tours of the building and refreshments. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 2 p.m.

"We'd like to invite everyone to join us and celebrate the grand opening! Our goal is to provide a house of healing and a gathering place for both the addicted and their family members in this area,” said Jason Coombs, who founded Brick House Recovery five years ago in Boise. Coombs said he was responding to an aching need for high-quality, private, faith-based addiction recovery.

“We chose the name ‘Brick House Recovery’ in order to reflect a specific idea,” he said. “We believe that a healthy, sober lifestyle is built much like a house: from the ground up. Both start with a strong foundation and a practical frame. Many people in recovery are eager for immediate, visible results. It’s as if they’re investing in the paint color and light fixtures when they haven’t yet built a strong foundation in the ground, let alone the framework.”

The Idaho Falls center will be the organization’s second facility. For more information, call (208) 650-7359.

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.