BVEP reports plenty of projects looking at the Treasure Valley 

The Boise Valley Economic Partnership says that despite a generally gloomy national business climate, Idaho’s pipeline of potential projects is healthy, with 16 “solid, active projects taking a look at the Treasure Valley.” The statement came in BVEP’s monthly ROI Report, which also said four of those projects have put the Boise area on their short lists.

  “What is unique about this situation is that, while some of the referrals have come from the Idaho Department of Commerce, more and more are coming directly to BVEP,” economic development services director Jana Chalfant wrote in the report. She added that six had surfaced only in the past month.

  Eight (code-named) projects were briefly described:

  Project Jade – A solar manufacturing facility that wants to build a 140,000-square-foot building for 1,200 employees.

  Project Everest – A major retailer looking for a distribution center. The Treasure Valley is one of two sites in Idaho on the short list.

  Project Lee – An industrial manufacturer looking for a 600-acre site to be developed in three phases over five years.

  Project Trumpet – A data center that would provide customer support and financial processing services on 40,000 acres. The company, which would employ between 1,500 and 2,000 workers, put the Treasure Valley on a short list of six other locations.

Project Chat – A call center with a bilingual component looking for up to 20,000-square-feet of office space that can be ready by March 2009.

  Project Wintergreen – A data center needing two 100,000-square-foot office buildings.

  Project Distribution – An unspecified type of firm looking for a build-to-suit site for a 35,000-square-foot facility that would employ 100 workers. BVEP said senior management has visited Boise and added the Treasure Valley to a list of sites including Vancouver, Wash. and Phoenix, Ariz.

  Project Just-in-Time – An unspecified type of firm that wants 150,000-square-feet of Class A or Class B office space to begin refurbishing in November. The company, which would add about 1,000 jobs, started looking at the Treasure Valley after participating in BVEP’s September FAM (familiarization) trip, which brought site consultants to Boise from firms in New York, N.Y.; Cleveland, Ohio; Fairhaven, N.J.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Chicago, Ill.   

  The report also carried a column by BVEP marketing director Linda Alden discussing recent national media attention focused on the Boise area – including pieces published this summer in USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, and coverage from CNBC’s “On the Money” and The New York Times set for release this month – and a roundup of its second-annual Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) tech grant workshop held in Boise Sept. 5.

  A round of similar SBIR workshops was also held throughout the state in September, with the Idaho Regional SBIR Conference slated for Oct. 28 and 29 in Boise. For more information on the conference contact Idaho Department of Commerce federal funding coordinator Mark Strait at 208-334-2470. 

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