Remaining farmland in central Idaho Falls dwindling with recent sale

The last big unincorporated piece of farmland in the center of Idaho Falls has been sold. The 60-acre property on S. Holmes Avenue between the Home Depot and E. 25th Street is the last large piece left undeveloped in what is now an area of shopping centers along 17th Street and subdivisions spreading south.

The property was bought by the Wasatch Group, headquartered in Logan, Utah. The firm is involved in the development, acquisition, management, investment and financing of residential and commercial real estate in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Washington. The sale was brokered by Randy Waters of SVN High Desert Commercial Real Estate of Idaho Falls.

Idaho Falls heritage property

More than a century ago, this property was part of the farm owned by Roy and Lucille Bennett, and until the purchase by the Wasatch Group, it was owned by the descendants of Jennie Bennett Lee of Idaho Falls and Virginia Bennett Questa of Reno, Nevada, Roy’s and Lucille’s daughters. The Lee and Questa families were instrumental in the development of the Albertson’s Shopping Center, Shopko, Sam’s Club and Home Depot.

Lee was still living on the remaining Bennett family property in 2011 when she passed away. Jennie Lee Drive off of 17th Street is named for her. The remaining 60 acres of the Bennett Farm was still being farmed through this summer for hay. The acres are listed as irrigated farm land in the Bonneville County Assessor’s Office online records.

Multifamily and commercial development

A Wasatch Group spokesperson told the East Idaho News that the firm’s plans currently encompass mixed-use, including a multifamily housing and commercial development. Wasatch said it would like to start construction next summer. Before that can happen, the firm wants to have the property annexed into the City of Idaho Falls. The 60 acres is the last large piece of unincorporated Bonneville County land in the heart of Idaho Falls that has not yet been annexed.

As a voluntary Category A annexation, the inclusion into Idaho Falls city limits is a given. Idaho Falls is obliged to rezone the property upon annexation, either in the annexation ordinance or in a separate post-annexation zoning ordinance, since the county’s zoning doesn’t carry over for annexed property. A rezone for the proposed mixed-use is not incongruent with the surrounding land uses for commercial, residential and city park properties. Bud Cranor, public information officer for the City of Idaho Falls, said he was not aware of any communications yet between the City and the Wasatch Group.

The Wasatch Group’s plans include extending Jennie Lee Drive south to E. 25th Street. A commercial property owned by Wasatch Venture Investments, part of the Wasatch Group, intersects Jennie Lee Drive just north of the 60 acres. That property hosts the facilities of Club Apple, a health club business in Idaho Falls.

Neither the Wasatch Group nor SVN High Desert Commercial Real Estate responded to inquiries from the Idaho Business Review before this article was published.