Idaho Business Review, Boise articles from April 2004

Idaho Business Review, Boise archives from April 2004

Sports medicine caregivers serve Idaho's active style.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Boise's active community and outdoor recreation hot spots make the city a prime area for the sports medicine industry. But though health care is a growth industry, sports medicine entails a fair amount of business...

Eateries, pubs ponder Idaho's ban on smoking.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert With three months to go before antismoking legislation is due to take effect, restaurant and brewpub owners in the Treasure Valley are pondering their options. Senate Bill 1283 will ban smoking in public places,...

Office condos slated in one of Boise-based BoDo Partner's buildings.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson BoDo partners LLC, which is redeveloping 8th Street Marketplace in downtown Boise, plans to offer about 40,000 square feet of office condominium space in one of the buildings it intends to build, the company said...

Meridian-based Blue Cross of Idaho to add employees.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Meridian-based Blue Cross of Idaho will add up to 40 new employees to staff up for its new role as provider of health insurance for the state government, a company spokeperson says. Blue Cross will supplant...

Middleton to extend sewer to industrial area.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson The City of Middleton plans to extend sewer and water service south, across the Boise River, into the city's industrial area. Middleton recently was approved for a federal line-item appropriation of more than...

John L. Scott Real Estate renovates downtown Boise office.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Interior and exterior renovation of the John L. Scott Real Estate office at 15th and Bannock streets in downtown Boise is expected to conclude in mid-May. The company, which also fields offices in west Boise and...

Garden City cabinetmaker to build new quarters.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Tree City Woodworking, which manufactures and installs cabinets and does other custom woodworking, plans to move in November to a 9,500-square-foot building to be built on Sawyer Avenue in Garden City. "We need...

Sandpoint-based Intermountain Community Bank reports '03 growth.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Sandpoint-based Intermountain Community Bancorp, which operates offices in Nampa, Caldwell, and Ontario, Ore., reported that total assets reached $409.5 million in 2003, up by $122.1 million over 2002. "All...

Boise-based VideoEye Corp. to builds HQ on Emerald Street.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson VideoEye! Corp., which manufactures equipment to make reading and other tasks easier for vision-impaired people, plans to occupy new west Boise headquarters in October. General contractor Petra Inc. recently broke...

Boise-based Norco buys assets of Lewiston-based Willett Bros.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Norco Inc. will expand its presence in north-central Idaho with the acquisition of the welding, safety and medical gas businesses of Lewiston-based Willett Bros. Boise-based Norco acquired the assets from Laura...

Spine Institute of Idaho plans Meridian bldg.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson A $3.7 million building planned north of St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center will house Spine Institute of Idaho. Physicians Samuel Jorgenson and Joseph Verska plan to move from smaller leased quarters on First...

Nampa to sell donated land to fund park project.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson The City of Nampa plans to use proceeds from the sale of donated farmland to buy a larger parcel earmarked for park development. The estate of Leonard and Leota McFarland donated 40 acres in the southwest...

Brighton Investments plans 17,000-ft. office building in Boise Research Center.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Brighton Investments plans a nearly 17,000-square-foot, single-story office building on West LaSalle Street in the Boise Research, at Chinden Boulevard and Cloverdale Road. Brighton has applied for Design Review...

IdaCorp and Idaho Public Utilities Comm. reach settlement on past trading activities.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Customer groups, Idacorp Inc. and the Idaho Public Utilities Commission have reached a $9.8 million settlement on past trading activities involving the company's former trading arm, Idacorp Energy. The...

Commentary: Google faces competition from Yahoo! and Microsoft.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Rick Edvalson With its highly anticipated IPO due sometime this summer, Google has lately been headlining almost every significant business, popular and technical publication. There are obviously lots of people who want a piece of...

Tamarack Resort construction spawns Valley County building boom.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Ken Miller Work at the planned Tamarack Resort is kicking off one of Valley County's biggest construction seasons ever, but local government officials say the $1.5 billion development is spawning a construction boom of its own from...

Albertsons debt gets BBB score.
April 5, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Standard & Poor's Ratings Services issued a BBB rating on the debt instrument that Albertsons Inc. plans to use for its acquisition of the Shaw's supermarket chain in New England. S&P ratings range from AAA...

Annexations pave way for more Eagle Road buildings.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Three large parcels at Eagle and Ustick roads - curiously vacant in the center of the bustling Eagle Road corridor - recently were annexed by Meridian, paving the way for future development of infrastructure and...

Boise Tower banner to come down, Boise official says.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson The City of Boise last week took steps to force developer Rick Peterson to remove a 57-foot Boise Tower banner from the south side of the Boise City National Bank Building, which Peterson owns, next to the Boise...

Aviation-themed bar to land in Old Boise.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert His grandfather was a test pilot. His father flew for fun. So it's not surprising Karl Pence Jr. decided on an aviation theme for the downtown Boise bar he plans to open this month. "I've got propellers hanging...

'Express' spa readied downtown.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert The phrase "express day spa" may sound like a contradiction in terms. But Floating Feather Express Day Spa, slated to open May 1 at Sixth and Idaho streets in downtown Boise, will be designed to attract people who...

'Constant' ethics vigilance stressed.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Lydia Beebe, corporate secretary for ChevronTexaco, believes corporate-board leadership is at a crossroads. "We've seen a lot of major catastrophes or failings what are the basic lessons we should learn, and how...

11-story office bldg. slated for Bannock gets P&Z nod.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Plans for an 11-story office building at 10th and Bannock streets in downtown Boise moved forward with endorsement from the city Planning and Zoning Commission last week. The 180,000-square-foot project,...

Construction to begin on IHOP by Nampa Lowe's.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Construction of an IHOP Restaurant is planned in the Karcher Crossing development in Nampa, on the north side of Nampa-Caldwell Boulevard in front of Lowe's. Interwest Construction, of North Salt Lake City, plans...

3 office bldgs. slated for Fairview E. of Maple Grove.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Three small office buildings totaling 13,370 square feet are planned for a one-acre site on Fairview Avenue east of Maple Grove Road in west Boise, according to an application filed with the city. Construction of...

Banks find opportunities in commercial lending.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Boise-area banks would benefit from a full-scale economic revival, and already have seen some favorable trends. "Despite the economic downturn and the prolonged recovery that we are all still anticipating, it was a...

Bown Crossing road to open.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Construction of Bown Way, a new road connecting ParkCenter Boulevard with Boise Avenue via a bridge across Ridenbaugh Canal, is slated for completion in late April. The three-lane road will pass through Bown...

AmeriBen buys Claims Mgt.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson AmeriBen, a Meridian-based third-party administrator of employee benefits plans that employs 120, recently acquired Claims Management Services. Claims Management Services, previously owned by Susan Schriver and...

DBSI Group's reach grows with buys in Texas, elsewhere.
April 12, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson When Meridian-based DBSI Group of Companies bought a five-story office building in Arlington, Texas, recently, it was adding to a commercial real estate portfolio of nearly 60 buildings in 17 states. The parent...

Boise's Record Exchange thrives amid MP3 downloads and music file-sharing.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Retail music chains' quarterly reports of late contain the word "down" more often than the average blues lyric - a trend attributed to MP3 downloads and music file-sharing. But Boise's Record Exchange is singing a...

Mariel Hemingway and Brian Barsotti plan to build new luxury hotel in Ketchum.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson An 81-room, three-story luxury hotel planned for Main Street in Ketchum may be built starting this summer, if developer Brian Barsotti's plans come to fruition. The high-end hostelry, planned on the site of the...

Redevelopment of former Wells Fargo & Co. bank building in downtown Boise to begin.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Redevelopment of a former Wells Fargo & Co. bank building in downtown Boise is slated to start May 1, and several businesses have made plans to open in it. A group led by Tomlinson & Associates, Boise, is buying...

Online music could be boon, not bane, for retail music stores.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Music retailers and recording companies frequently blame music downloads and file-sharing, legal and illegal, for slipping revenues. But Michael Bunnell, owner of The Record Exchange on 11th and Idaho streets in...

Hedge funds become more mainstream.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Hedge-fund assets doubled in five years to $817 billion by the end of 2003, and the funds continue to generate inquiries from investors even as the stock market looks a bit like its pre-recession self, a hedge-fund...

Executives and business owners answer the question, "What makes an employee a top performer?".
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steve Martin An understanding of the goals of the company or business, and maybe more importantly, a willingness to accept the changes along the way that are needed in order to succeed. The "top performers" are those who are not...

Boisean finds espresso market in Salt Lake City.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert The number of coffee shops the Treasure Valley can support may finally have been reached, one entrepreneur says. A glut of green Starbucks logos and teal winged Moxie cups in the Treasure Valley led Boise resident...

University Inn at Boise State joins Best Value chain.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson The University Inn joined the Best Value Inns chain on April 1, and changed its name to Best Value University Inn. Linda Waters, general manager of the inn on Capitol Boulevard near Boise State University, said...

Nampa TECenter incubator offers space and resources for startups.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Tenants are trickling - not flooding - into Nampa's recently built incubator for high-tech businesses, and that's just what John Glerum wants. Glerum worked as science and technology coordinator for the Idaho...

Panel discussion to address how employers and employees can address religion in the workplace.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson A panel discussion this week will address how employers and employees can express, and limit the expression of, religion and values in the workplace. The Employment and Labor Law Section of the Idaho State Bar...

Three buildings under construction in Meridian attract commercial tenants.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Three buildings under construction east of the Shell convenience store and Arctic Circle restaurant on Linder Road in Meridian are attracting tenants, and owners plan more development immediately west. Jeffrey Hall...

Cameras become must-have feature driving cell phone sales.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Rick Edvalson I was excited about my new cell phone. It has a beautiful, backlit display in full color, built-in Palm PDA functionality, and the ability to add a Secure Digital card for lots of extra file storage. When I showed...

Carlson Leisure Travel Services to add many more employees at Boise call center.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Carlson Leisure Travel Services has added more than 100 employees at its Boise customer call center in the past year, and expects to add more this year, a senior spokesman for the company says. Since opening the...

Wal-Mart plans to build Idaho Falls Super Center.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to build a 210,000-square-foot "Super Center," including grocery store, on Broadway Avenue in Idaho Falls. It will be the first Super Center in Idaho Falls for Wal-Mart, which...

Developers plan four-site commercial project in northern Eagle.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Developers planning a four-site commercial project on Hill Road in northern Eagle aim to offer land and building space priced below alternatives closer to high-exposure roads. Gary Asin and John Moody own the...

Round-up of Boise-area commercial leases and purchases.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Healthcast LLC leased 5,850 square feet in the Extended Systems Inc. building, 5777 N. Meeker Ave., Boise. Craig Driver and Bob Runyan of RFR Properties LLC handled the transaction. Marketing Media Group (MMG),...

Boise-area bid briefs: April 19, 2004.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Bids are to be opened at 4 p.m. April 19 to supply and install gym bleachers at Butte County Middle School in Arco. Plans are available from Susan Glenn, Butte County School District clerk, 159 N. Idaho St., P.O. Box...

Boise developer delays construction of Cathedral Place complex.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Boise developer Jim Tomlinson has pulled back plans for the Cathedral Place, an apartment and housing complex he first proposed more than two years ago on a 1.8-acre north Boise site bordered by 11th, 12th, Hays and...

Boise-based Petra Inc. marks 10th year in contracting business.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Ken Miller As it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Boise-based Petra Inc. may be on the verge of becoming one of Idaho's top five general contractors, but founder and President Jerry Frank, 45, says he'd rather nurture his...

St. Alphonsus to begin construction of third hospital tower.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steve Martin St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center plans to begin construction this fall of its long-planned third hospital tower at its campus on Curtis Road, near Interstate 184. Work on the nine-story, 400,000-square-foot...

Idaho contractor registration bill dies; backers won't give up.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Ken Miller Idaho building contractors saw one of the state Legislature's longest-running streaks of futility continue in the 2004 session with the abrupt death of their contractor registration bill, but the measure is almost...

Students benefit from Boise State University's service-learning program.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Ken Levy Students in the Construction Management program at Boise State University get firsthand experience with projects they help plan and build. One such project, completed in March, had students building a greenhouse at...

Boise construction permit values decline 18%.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Construction values fell 18 percent in Boise during the first half of fiscal 2004, as the apartment sector fell sharply and the commercial category posted a small gain, the city's March Construction Report says. ...

Boise-area construction project update.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steve Martin Ahavath Beth Israel CM COMPANY, INC. Location Latah and Alpine streets in Boise. The project consists of the relocation of the existing synagogue and the building of a new CMU community hall. Owner...

Zions Bank sees Idaho's economy improving.
April 19, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Greater job creation and a reduction in unemployment factor into a predicted "return to a more impressive Idaho economy," Zions Bank economic consultant Jeff Thredgold said in the spring issue of Insight - Economic...

Sign firms cope with tightened ordinances in Eagle, elsewhere.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Treasure Valley sign companies must learn to deal with frequently changing and sometimes strict city ordinances. A number of local sign companies say their revenues haven't been affected, despite limitations on...

16 bldgs. slated near View Pointe Building in Boise.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Sixteen small office buildings, totaling more than 61,000 square feet, are being planned around the View Pointe Building at the northwest corner of Federal Way and Overland Road, Boise. View Pointe, a five-story,...

Greenhouse on 36th may sprout mixed complex.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson A north Boise site long home to a greenhouse would be developed into a complex of 38 patio homes and townhouses, and at least three commercial buildings, under a proposal from the Terteling Co. The 6.6-acre site at...

Audiovisual firm finds profitable niche.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Technology installed by a Boise audiovisual company entertains weightlifters as they work out, can monitor roads for the police, and is changing worship formats for a Jewish congregation. Those are among the...

Bankruptcies keep rising in 1st quarter.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Idaho bankruptcy filings increased by 8 percent both for the first three months of this year and for the trailing 12 months, compared to year-earlier totals. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boise processed 2,288 cases...

Boise Cascade nets 66 cents a share.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Boise Cascade Corp. reported earnings of $63.5 million, or 66 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared to a net loss of $27.5 million, or 53 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2003. Excluding a pre-tax...

Eastgate to get Tuesday Morning store.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Tuesday Morning, a close-out retailer of home accessories and gifts, plans to open its second Boise-area store May 4 at Eastgate Shopping Center, at Boise Avenue and Apple Street. The Dallas-based chain leased a...

Sports bar sporting 47 TV sets planned for Eagle River complex.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson The co-owner of the Sunrise Family Restaurant chain plans a sports bar and restaurant, with 47 televisions, on East Shore Drive in Eagle, in the Eagle River Development south of State Street. Cheerleaders Sports...

13,000-sq.-ft. bldg. planned for Eagle.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Steven Anderson Eagle Floor Inc. will own and anchor a 13,000-square-foot building planned for the northwest corner of State Street and Iron Eagle Drive, at the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain Business Park in Eagle. The...

Boise Chamber revamps, renames annual trade show.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Lora Volkert Having combined its fall and spring trade shows, the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce is returning the event, slated for June 10, to the Boise Centre on the Grove. The newly renamed B2B Trade Show, formerly the...

Home sales stay strong in Valley through 1Q.
April 26, 2004... Byline: Brad Carlson Home sales rose in Ada and Canyon counties through March, compared to year-earlier levels, and the median price in Canyon County topped $100,000 for the first time. Median prices increased in all categories,...