Idaho Business Review, Boise articles from September 2005

Idaho Business Review, Boise archives from September 2005

'Compassion in business' - Ketchum investment 'guru' brings Dalai Lama to CEOs.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson Kiril Sokoloff, who's bringing the Dalai Lama to Sun Valley next week, may not be a household name in Idaho, but he's widely known as a top investment adviser with a track record of predicting economic change. ...

Photo studios find technology often a boon, sometimes a bane.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Technology is a blessing and a bane for portrait photographers. On the one hand, it allows studios to speed up processing times, broaden service offerings, and erase digital zits with a mouse click. "It enables...

Hotel slated at former Red Lobster site by early '07.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert A 123-room TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel, planned on Capitol Boulevard near Boise State University, is expected to open in 18 months, property owner John Holland says. Construction of the planned four-story...

Blaine lodging said to be full for Dalai Lama visit.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson There's no room at the Inn in Sun Valley next weekend, when the Dalai Lama will be speaking. But sponsor Kiril Sokoloff, Ketchum, said about 80 percent of those expected to attend the public events Sept. 11 and...

Idaho-based Washington Group International inks contracts, ramps up in Houston.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Washington Group International Inc. recently landed two sizable contracts and announced plans to add personnel in its growing oil and gas business. WGI subsidiary Washington Enterprises Emirates LLC signed a...

2 Boise-area Ace Hardware stores sold to Calif. buyers.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Two Boise-area Ace Hardware stores changed hands last week, less than a year after they were opened. Skillman LLC, of Folsom, Calif., acquired the 16,600-square-foot store at the northwest corner of Ustick and Cole...

Spec' retail bldg. planned on Overland.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report A 16,570-square-foot retail building is planned at the corner of Overland Road and South Milwaukee Street, just west of the Boise Spectrum center, according to documents filed with the City of Boise. Overland...

Idaho Design Center to expand.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Idaho Design Center, a wholesale furnishings outlet for residential and commercial interior designers, has moved from Meridian to Boise, where it plans to triple its square footage by December. The company...

Tech Help helps manufacturers lean up production.
September 5, 2005... Byline: John Barclay Five years ago, Woodland Furniture of Idaho Falls was making plans to expand. Lack of space was limiting production, requiring many hours of employee overtime and making it difficult to meet sales levels. The...

Women in Business forum set Sept. 20.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Six female business owners, executives and professionals are slated to discuss life in the business world and share their philosophies of success at the eighth annual Celebrating Women in Business and Leadership...

Idaho Business Review plans Women of the Year event.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report The Idaho Business Review is reinventing one of its most popular events for 2006. For the last six years, the IBR has teamed with the Women's Business Center to name a Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. The...

Colliers International plans Sept. 20 forum.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Ross Moore, vice president and research director for Colliers International in Boston, plans to keynote the commercial real estate firm's annual Boise conference this month. The second annual Colliers...

Idaho-based Washington Group International donates to hurricane relief.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Washington Group International Inc. and the Washington Group Foundation last week made a combined immediate donation of $500,000 to the American Red Cross in support of relief work in Gulf Coast areas devastated by...

Hearings on gas rate hike set in Pocatello Sept. 12, Boise Sept. 13.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report The Idaho Public Utilities Commission will solicit comments through Sept. 20 on Intermountain Gas Co.'s application to impose an average rate hike of 27.6 percent, effective Oct. 1, to pay for costlier supplies....

Export-Import Bank of the U.S. seeks more export clients in Idaho.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Idaho companies seeking to export goods to buyers abroad may be helped by the state Department of Commerce and Labor's new status as a partner with the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The partnership,...

$1.5M in affordable housing set for Mtn. Home, Ponderay.
September 5, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report The Idaho Community Reinvestment Corp. recently invested $1.5 million to fund two new affordable-housing projects in widely separated areas of Idaho. ICRC funded the Mt. Baldy Senior Housing complex in...

SBA's 'HUBZone' financing spurs Garden City project.
September 5, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Low-interest-rate loans intended to spark urban redevelopment are doing just that on the old Garden City Hall site. Gary Asin and John Moody - who own Asin Homes and M Homes, respectively - plan 10 buildings from...

Lattes and laptops: More Boise java joints offer free WiFi.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Starbucks recently expanded its wireless Internet service, or WiFi, to Boise, but most Boise-area coffee shops had already beaten the green machine to the punch. By offering free WiFi - unlike Starbucks, which...

Katrina's aftermath ripples to Idaho.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert While Americans continued to respond to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe with donations, some Idaho companies got involved with contributions and others prepared for business demand. Washington Group...

'Lifestyle' condos slated at 3Boise Valley sites.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson A Boise company plans three sizable developments of single-level "lifestyle" condos for empty-nesters, two with service-retail and office buildings at two west Boise sites, and another in Eagle. The Orchards LLC,...

After 13 years in Boise, Flying M plans 2nd 'M' for Nampa.
September 12, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report The owners of Flying M Coffee House plan to build a second coffee house in an ex-tire store in downtown Nampa. The Nampa Flying M at 14th Avenue and Second Street will house Purple Bean Coffee Co., a...

Montpelier hospital begins $2.9 million upgrade.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Bear Lake Memorial Hospital plans $2.9 million in upgrades to boost care quality for patients and make room for an additional primary-care doctor. The hospital in Montpelier - in the southeast corner of Idaho -...

Forbes writer slated for Boise venture forum Oct. 5-6.
September 12, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Erika Brown, Silicon Valley bureau reporter for Forbes, plans to moderate a panel at the 7th Annual Intermountain Venture Forum at Boise Centre on the Grove Oct. 5-6. Brown is slated to lead a discussion on the...

Buyers for Boise-based Albertsons, Inc.? - Few likely candidates seen.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Albertsons Inc. is up for sale, but who would buy it? In a Sept. 2 announcement that sent shock waves through Boise, its corporate home, Albertsons said it is "exploring strategic alternatives to increase...

Commentary: Guard against data disaster - Back up!
September 12, 2005... Byline: Rick Edvalson The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina reinforces the need for effective backups as part of a business-continuation plan. Obviously, a computer backup alone would have been insufficient to save many of the...

Caldwell's Sky Ranch to get buildings ... at last.
September 12, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Planned for more than six years, the 300-acre Sky Ranch Business Center in Caldwell has been slow to materialize. Developers and city leaders expect that to change this fall. In the 60-acre first phase, buyers...

Here's looking at you - from my cell phone (An Idaho Innovator story).
September 12, 2005... Byline: Angela Jones Special to the IBR Asta Technology Group has made a habit of meeting the challenge of creating new - and desired - technology. Through its seven years of operation, Boise-based Asta has undergone many diverse...

Design West builds new home in Meridian.
September 12, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Design West Architects PA plans to move in December to a 6,000-square-foot building under construction in Meridian. The firm is managing the project that began on Southwest Fifth Street in Troutner Business...

Medical office complex planned on Eagle Road in Boise.
September 12, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Three medical office buildings are planned in Alpine Point Business Park at Eagle Road and Wainwright Drive, between McMillan and Ustick roads. The complex is to include a one-story office building of 10,950...

McCall resort sells 70 of 88 sites.
September 12, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Whitetail Club sold 70 of 88 home sites available in a first-phase offering this summer, its operators reported. The four-season resort on Payette Lake in McCall aims to sell the remaining lots by the end of...

How would office market in southeast Boise fare if Albertsons HQ went away?
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson The southeast Boise office market, centered on ParkCenter Boulevard, survived the loss of one corporate headquarters six years ago. But the corporation wasn't Albertsons Inc., which occupies around half a million...

Interview with Mike Mooney: Ex-KeyBank presidents F&M refreshing.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Mike Mooney took a chance two years ago when he left financial giant KeyBank's top Idaho position for a shared-leadership role at the much smaller Farmers & Merchants State Bank. It was quite a change, but Mooney,...

Ex-Associated Food bldg. in Boise bought by Seattle group.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson The cavernous ex-Associated Food Stores warehouse near the Boise Airport - vacated four years ago when the regional grocery distributor consolidated - has new owners. Meriwether Partners LLC, Seattle, acquired the...

Mission Foods to move to Victory Business Center in Boise.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Growing demand for tortillas is leading Mission Foods to double the size of its Idaho distribution center, says Division Sales Manager Don Carter. The company is to move its distribution center this week from a...

Boise-based Micron opens bigger assembly, test plant in Singapore.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Micron Technology recently opened an expanded assembly and test facility in Singapore. It was needed due to increased production at Micron from the company's partial conversion to larger silicon wafers, the company...

BBB award recipients to share their principles at a banquet in Boise.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson What's in an abstract concept like integrity? The English word stems from a Latin term meaning 'entire,' so it seems integrity is some quality that permeates a person or organization's whole, entire existence....

Agilent says Boise unit to keep growing after buyout.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson The Boise unit of Agilent Technologies Inc. belongs to the company's Semiconductor Products Group - until the end of next month, when private investors plan to complete a buyout. Last month, Palo Alto, Calif.-based...

Ashley Heating's new home in west Boise to triple space.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Ashley Heating & Air Conditioning will more than triple its operating space when it moves to west Boise early next year. Spokesperson DeeDee Ashley said the company acquired a 17,500-square-foot building on...

Former Harley exec to keynote TechHelp event in Boise.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report TechHelp, a "manufacturing extension center" operating at Idaho universities, will host the Fast Forward 2005 Idaho Manufacturing & Innovation Conference Oct. 13-14 at Boise Centre on the Grove. Conference...

Building Materials Holding Corp. downgraded on post-Katrina surge in stock.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report D.A. Davidson & Co. has downgraded Building Materials Holding Corp. from neutral to underperform after the company's stock price jumped following Hurricane Katrina. BMHC peaked at $99.09 Sept. 6, up from $91.35...

Karcher's Mall in Nampa's new Calif.-based owner plans a taller mall.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Karcher Mall's newest owners say they want to make the 40-year-old Nampa shopping center bigger and better - or at least taller and better. Anaheim, Calif.-based Milan Properties LLC purchased the mall from Baum...

Idaho Valley rock suppliers see demand surge.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Growing numbers of homeowners are looking beyond linoleum and laminate. A boom in expensive housing has been a boon to Boise-area granite and marble suppliers, although some say area residents with less expensive...

Idaho Legislature to consider 13 GARVEE road jobs.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Ken Miller Special the IBR It's too early to tell which of the 13 "GARVEE" highway projects proposed by the Idaho Transportation Department will be first out of the chute, but the agency is deciding which projects it will...

Idaho contractors trickle in to comply with registration law.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Ken Miller Special to the IBR An estimated 17,000 building contractors will be required to register with the state by year's end under the new contractor registration law, but only about 500 have done so since registration...

Short form for Idaho's new contractor registration makes compliance easy.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Ken Miller Special to the IBR Complying with Idaho's new contractor registration law requires just a few minutes to fill out a short form, but officials say the anticipated crush of applications makes it all the more important...

Western States Equipment expands Idaho Falls branch.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Western States Equipment plans a 10,000-square-foot expansion to its Idaho Falls "Cat" branch on Foote Drive at the northwest corner of Exit 119 on Interstate 15. Completion is expected by November. The $1.2...

New retail center in west Boise may lure Boise Towne Square Mall tenants.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Ken Levy A new retail center under construction at Emerald Avenue and Cole Road in west Boise may lure some tenants from Boise Towne Square, according to the project's owner. Winston Moore, owner of the so-called Jewel Building...

Capitol Blvd. in Boise beautification project starts.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report A project to beautify Capitol Boulevard from Boise Avenue to the entrance of Julia Davis Park started earlier this month and is expected to conclude in the fall. The project includes relocation of sidewalks on...

Boise Real Estate Briefs: September 19, 2005.
September 19, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Star - which was reincorporated as a city only eight years ago - is playing a starring role in Treasure Valley residential building permits this year. Star Mayor Nate Mitchell expects the city to issue more than...

The Transpo Group Inc. opens Boise office.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report For most of the last decade, The Transpo Group Inc. provided traffic- and transportation-planning services to Idaho clients from offices outside the state. That changed last week when the Kirkland, Wash.-based...

Toyota dealership goes up in Ontario.
September 19, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report McAlvain Construction, Inc. and Steve's Hometown Toyota conducted a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 6 for the new Hometown Toyota dealership in Ontario. The landmark, state-of-the art Toyota showroom and...

Hispanic business owners, family members work to succeed in Idaho without financial 'crutches'.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert What's it like being Hispanic, in business, in Idaho? If you're Hispanic, do you leverage your status to advance in the Anglo-dominated world? Although government programs are available to minority-owned...

Hispanic-owned businesses frequently involve multiple generations of the same family.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Lora Volkert Hispanic-owned businesses frequently go into multiple generations, with cousins, uncles and grandparents working side-by-side and children starting in the company when they're old enough to use a broom or wash a table....

Tamarack Resort, DreamWorks Animation execs to speak at venture forum in Boise.
September 26, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report DreamWorks Animation executive Derek Chan and Tamarack Resort CEO Jean-Pierre Boespflug are scheduled to speak at the seventh annual Intermountain Venture Forum Oct. 5-6 in Boise. The forum is slated to start...

Eight national retailers join 75-acre commercial development in Nampa, Idaho.
September 26, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Eight national retailers will join anchor Costco Wholesale Corp. in the 75-acre development getting under way near the planned Karcher Road interchange with Interstate 84, Nampa. Russ Keithly, one of the...

Commentary: Google scores again with gee-whiz searchbar.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Rick Edvalson I remember watching with amusement as a stocker from a bread company rapidly shuffled the products on the bakery isle. His object was clear: arrange everything as quickly as possible such that his new product got...

Idaho Energy Conference to focus on energy-efficient design and construction.
September 26, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Supporters of energy-efficient design and construction will gather to exchange ideas next month at the Idaho Energy Conference. The three-day event, slated Oct. 12 to 14 at the DoubleTree Riverside Hotel in...

Idaho governor's EnviroGuard Awards go to three Boise businesses, one state agency.
September 26, 2005... Byline: IBR Staff Report Three Boise businesses and one state agency were honored Sept. 21 with the Mayor's EnviroGuard Award. The award is given each year to Boise businesses that conserve energy and promote a healthy environment,...

City of Boise touts industrial bonds as financing choice.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Boise manufacturers aiming to finance an expansion should consider using industrial revenue bonds, City of Boise officials say. Boise recently authorized up to $5.2 million in industrial revenue bonds for Western...

Boise developers, officials seek to avoid battles with homeowners.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson Who would have thought a long-deserted ex-bakery site on the Boise Bench would turn into a NIMBY showdown? Most of the 4.6-acre site on Crescent Rim Drive, above Ann Morrison Park, had been zoned for...

Boise's infill development comes in for review by city, self-styled task force.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson Who's doing what to revamp Boise's infill-development ordinance? Mayor Dave Bieter, in his State of the City address Sept. 15, touted what he called "the Crossroads Initiative," which he said would "bring...

Building Owners & Managers Association's Boise chapter to track '06 property-tax moves.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Steven Anderson Boise attorney Geoff Wardle may be beating a path to the Statehouse as president of the Building Owners & Managers Association's Boise chapter. A real estate and land-use attorney with Hawley Troxell in Boise,...

Native American contractor from Idaho Falls named Minority Small Business Person of the Year.
September 26, 2005... Byline: Brad Carlson Idaho Falls contractor Rick Gokey has been named 2005 Minority Small Business Person of the Year for Idaho by the The U.S. Small Business Administration. Gokey owns Eagle Rock Timber Inc., an Idaho Falls...