Mixed-use project will bring retail, office, student housing to Rexburg

Rexburg-based Hemming Corp. will start construction in April on a mixed-use project with 200,000 square feet of commercial and office space plus student housing for single and married students attending Brigham Young University-Idaho one block to the east.

Hemming Cedars is the second phase of the Hemming Village project that the company started across the street in 2009. It includes 48,000 square feet of retail and office space that opened in 2010, and a 110,000- square-foot, 60-unit student housing complex with 360 beds that followed in 2013.

Hemming Corp. President Richie Webb said he thinks Hemming Cedars will be the largest mixed-use structure in eastern Idaho. Along with retail and office, Hemming Cedars will have 75 units for unmarried students and 60 units for married students. Webb expects to complete the project in January 2018.

“Married student housing has gone away from campus,” Webb said. “We wanted to do something closer to campus.”

Hemming Cedars and Hemming Village are located on West Second South between South First West and South Second West.

The $40 million Hemmings Cedars is largely financed with  $32 million federal New Markets Tax Credit funding supplied by the Montana & Idaho Community Development Corp., which provides financing for projects that would not otherwise happen in low-income areas.

Webb said Hemming Cedars could not be built without the tax credit financing because of the cost of acquiring incoming-producing apartments, business and homes to make way for the project.

Hemming Corp. also tapped into New Markets Tax Credits to build the Targhee Professional Offices, a pair of 41,000- and 22,000-square foot medical office buildings in Rexburg.