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Jackson Hole Junction will be next large shopping center in Idaho Falls
Teya Vitu//April 3, 2018//
A developer has started work in eastern Idaho on what will be the area’s third largest shopping center.
The first announced tenant for the 44-acre Jackson Hole Junction mixed-use development at the burgeoning south end of Idaho Falls is a full-service 100-room Holiday Inn hotel, set to start construction in summer for a summer 2019 opening.
Jackson Hole Junction Commercial Center LLC started site work April 2 off the Interstate 15 interchange at Sunnyside Road (U.S. 26) in Idaho Falls.
Three other restaurant and retail tenants are just a signature away from becoming the first committed commercial tenants at Jackson Hole Junction, all along Sunnyside Road, said Matt Morgan, managing member of Jackson Hole Junction Commercial Center LLC.
Jackson Hole Junction is expected to have 18 structures plus two hotels with only three buildings larger than 20,000 square feet for larger anchor tenants. One building could be 80,000 square feet, but the bulk will be smaller than 10,000 square feet, he said.
Morgan is leaning away from big box stores, in part due to the shape of the property. Many of the buildings will be at odd angles to each other as they fit within uneven eastern and western boundaries. The meandering Pioneer Road and the Sidehill Canal define the site, and an S-curving road bisects the property.
“When you look at the shape of the land, it didn’t lend itself to a big-box type tenant,” said Morgan, also president of Morgan Construction and Development in Idaho Falls.
The first three retail buildings – two along Sunnyside Road – could start construction in summer or fall. Morgan hopes to wrap up negotiations within two months with one regional and two national tenants; he would like to see stores open at the end of the year or in early 2019. He did not name the restaurant and retail entities he is targeting.
Morgan anticipates building out the $125 million Jackson Hole Junction in six to eight years, “10 to 13 years, worst case scenario.” In all, he anticipates 180,000 to 200,000 square feet of retail and entertainment and a total of 404,000 square feet counting all four of the two proposed hotels.
Holiday Inn will start construction first at Jackson Hole Junction
The developer of the $14 million, four-story Holiday Inn at Jackson Hole Junction already owns and operates five Idaho Falls hotels.
InnTrusted LLC, an Idaho Falls hospitality and management firm, owns the Holiday Inn Express, both Hampton Inns, and the La Quinta Inn & Suites and Candlewood Suites in Idaho Falls. In all, InnTrusted has 15 hotels in Idaho, Montana and Utah, including the Fairfield Suites and Holiday Inn Express in Pocatello; a Comfort Inn in Jerome; and a Holiday Inn Express in Nampa.
“We feel Idaho Falls is really growing and we have a lot of business coming to the Idaho National Laboratory and the events center is coming in (about 1 mile north at Snake River Landing),” InnTrusted CEO Rusty Landon said. “We feel there is a need for a full-service hotel in Idaho Falls.”
Overall, the InnTrusted properties in Idaho Falls have an occupancy rate above 70 percent year-round, which is considered strong. Landon said his Idaho Falls properties rely on corporate business but in summer they get business “from all over the world.”
Jackson Hole Junction is on U.S. 26, the highway that leads to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.
“We’re excited about Jackson Hole Junction,” Landon said. “The growth (of Idaho Falls) is going that way and it’s right off the freeway.”
An architect and general contractor have not been selected.
Jackson Hole Junction developer Matt Morgan plans a second hotel perpendicular to the Holiday Inn, and InnTrusted has the option and right of first refusal for the second hotel. It has become common for hotel owners to place competing brands next door to each other.
Landon believes he will build the second hotel, too, but likely not before the Holiday Inn is open. He said it will likely be another InterContinental Hotels Group brand, like Holiday Inn. InterContinental also includes Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites and the new avid Hotels brand, opening its first hotel in Oklahoma City later this year.
“We’re excited to do a second hotel,” he said. “We want to see how this one ramps up.”
Third largest shopping center
Not including the two hotels, Jackson Hole Junction at build-out would be the third largest shopping center in eastern Idaho beyond the Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls and Sandcreek Commons in Ammon, said Brent Wilson, a Thornton Oliver Keller commercial real estate broker based in Idaho Falls.
Jackson Hole Junction adjoins the southern boundary of the 450-acre Snake River Landing development. Snake River Landing in the past 15 years has converted a former gravel pit with some 300,000 square feet of Class A office/commercial space, 34 single-family homes so far since 2009-10, an extension of the city’s greenbelt with a pier stretching into the river, 292 apartment units and The Waterfront multipurpose building to stage events.
“Certainly, we believe anything that happens on the west side of town is good,” Eric Isom said about Jackson Hole Junction. Isom is chief development officer at Ball Ventures, the developer of Snake River Landing. “All the activity seems to spur more action.”
Jackson Hole Junction, Snake River Landing and Taylor Crossing are an expansive city redevelopment project between Interstate 15 and the Snake River spanning 2½ miles from Broadway to Sunnyside Road. The Idaho Falls Redevelopment Agency awarded $4 million in tax increment financing to Jackson Hole Junction for infrastructure and road improvements.
Jackson Hole Junction serves city expansion to the west and south.
“It’s always exciting to see development in Idaho Falls,” said Brad Cramer, community development services director at the city of Idaho Falls. “With this project in particular it’s great to see quality development happening around one of the main entryways into our community. This will be a nice complement to the existing businesses at the interchange, to the future event center to the north, and continue to create a welcoming gateway to Idaho Falls.”
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