BBB buys office in Garden City

After 50 years of leasing office space, the Better Business Bureau has graduated into office ownership with the Nov. 21 purchase of an office building at 125 E. 50^th St. in Garden City.

The BBB plans to move into its new home by the end of January, President and CEO Dale Dixon said.

The BBB acquired the 6,837-square-foot structure for $680,000. The bureau will occupy about two-thirds of the space. Driveway and commercial parking lot maintenance company PC Maintenance has leased 1,700 square feet and two of three small executive suites are still available for lease.

“It’s always been on the radar screen,” Dixon said. The BBB’s Board of Directors finally decided to own rather than rent in late spring. “The time is right. There are a number of factors. The organization is growing and has a good track record of growth. The market for buying a commercial building is good.”

The BBB has been in the same building as the Idaho Statesman for the past five years. Before that, the bureau had its office on Emerald Street east of Orchard Street.

“The Statesman’s been a great neighbor,” Dixon said. “We really appreciate the relationship we had here.”

The bureau’s new home is about nine years old and was previously occupied by the Idaho Council of Government’s Sage Community Resources, which has been renamed Serving Southwest Idaho.

The BBB has 15 employees in Boise but serves the Snake River Valley from Ontario to Idaho Falls, where the bureau has a one-person branch office.

“We have tremendous conference and training space available to us now,” Dixon said. “We can bring business-related events into our space.”

The conference room has capacity for 40 people.