|
| Newspaper Articles |
|
|
International Falls Riverfront Eyed for Development IInternational Falls soon will see construction along a 3,300-foot stretch of the Rainy River. The 70-acre site east of downtown may include a homeland security center, vacation log homes, and a hotel and convention center. In July, Boise Cascade, LLC sold the land — one of the last undeveloped waterfronts in the city — to Ultimate Development LLC for $1.4 million. In turn, Ultimate Development sold 11 of the acres to the city for $300,000. The site is one of three in International Falls under consideration by the Department of Homeland Security for a new U.S. Border Patrol facility. Ultimate Development is co-owned by Kathryn Volin and Kristen Rieser, who operates a food manufacturing and baking company in Wisconsin. Her father-in-law is William Rieser, Ultimate Development’s chief executive. He partnered with Volin in previous real estate deals and brought to her attention land she bought and is developing in Horseshoe Bend, ID. That purchase set the stage for the July acquisition by Volin and Kristen Rieser in International Falls. Volin also is president and sole owner of Ultimate Log & Custom Homes LCC. Her company has begun a $29 million waterfront development in Horseshoe Bend on a former Boise Cascade mill site. She said Boise Cascade executives invited her to look at the Falls property after they closed the Horseshoe Bend deal in March 2005. Volin has partial or full ownership in six companies. She is the founder and president of Communication Concepts International, Inc., a Minneapolis firm that trains businesspeople. She also has a small development of single-family homes in Woodbury, MN, a project she said “has been a very expensive experience. Minnesota’s market is nothing compared to Idaho.” She views International Falls as “a terrific market for bringing in new jobs,” crediting Falls Mayor Shawn Mason for bringing the buyer and seller together. “She desperately wanted it to happen,” Volin said. Mayor Mason explains it simply: “The property is key to the city’s future.” She said the city plans to sell part of its 11 acres to another developer, noting tourism is International Falls’s No. 2 industry, behind the Boise Cascade paper mill. “(Tourism) could be even stronger,” she said. Mason said she’s grateful to have a developer that solicits the city’s input. “I shudder to think if it were a developer that would sit on the land and wait for the value to go up, then sell it in 10 years,” she said. Several companies have expressed interest to Volin in developing the property. She doesn’t have a timeline, noting it depends partly upon Homeland Security’s decision. Planning groups in the Falls previously had approached Boise Cascade about the land, said Paul Nevanen, director of Koochiching Economic Development Authority. He envisions mixed use development that would “mirror what’s across the river” in Fort Frances, Ontario, including public access for boat landing, docks, picnic area, and space for festivals and events.Bob Anderson, Boise Cascade’s public affairs manager, acknowledged the numerous city requests that the company sell land it no longer was using to store wood and bark, but was holding for a possible mill expansion. When Madison Dearborn Partners bought Boise Cascade’s paper and wood products manufacturing businesses in 2004, the new owners decided to sell non-core business assets.The land went on the market in Spring 2005, Anderson said. “We had a lot of calls,” he said, though fewer than a half dozen generated serious offers. Nevanen believes a casino would be ideal given U.S. traffic passing through the Falls into Canada. Both Nevanen and Mayor Mason doubt that’s realistic given that area tribes have pledged not to build casinos on non-Indian land. Volin cited one possible “loophole:” A floating casino could be sited on international territory, though there currently are no offers. The Government Services Administration will make the Homeland Security decision on a Falls site, said Assistant Chief Lonny Schweitzer of the U.S. Border Patrol. Homeland Security plans to upgrade Border Patrol operations in International Falls, Duluth, and Grand Marais, all built in the early 1960s, he said. Since Sept. 11, 2001 the number of Border Patrol agents in the area assigned to the Canadian border has tripled, he said. U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton, D-MN, who favors increasing security in the area, has introduced a federal bill that would add 236 agents in 13 states along the northern border. While Homeland Security is required to increase the number of agents along the northern border by 20 percent each year, Dayton said there are 44 fewer agents today than in 2004.
Idaho Business Review Big Plans For Old Lumber Mill Site The new owner of the old Horseshoe Bend sawmill is planning a commercial and residential development on the 75-acre site. Kathryn Volin’s company, Ultimate Log & Custom Homes, bought the former Boise Cascade sawmill site in Horseshoe Bend 15 months ago. She plans to develop town homes and single-family homes in three phases, and to continue to bring new commercial and light manufacturing businesses to the site on Idaho 55 and Mill Road, she said. “We’re ahead of schedule. We’re really moving along,” she said. Crews are building a new road through the site to replace Mill Road, which the Idaho Northern & Pacific Railroad owns, she said. She is matching a $500,000 Idaho Community Development Block Grant to pay for the road. Volin is continuing to line up financing for the project, to be called Riverbend. She expects it to cost over $30 million. She said she plans to move Ultimate Building Solutions – a custom log home and log siding business she owns – to the Horseshoe Bend site from Victor late this month. That business employs six, but will more than double that number after the move, Volin said. She’s buying a new lathe, made in Finland, which she said should enable Ultimate to double production and sales. Ultimate would occupy 25,000 to 30,000 square feet in an existing light-manufacturing building out of the total 107,000 square feet, Volin said. Idaho Forest Inc – which also manufactures products for log homes – is using 15,000 square feet there as well as 1,000 square feet of showroom and office space in Ultimate’s main office building. Idaho Forest plans to employ up to 15 eventually, Volin said. Volin said the 17-acre light-manufacturing area, which includes a 107,000 square foot building and several small buildings, also attracted G.R. Peterson Enterprises. The machine shop, relocating from Santee, Calif., will employ about six in a 15,000-square-foot space. The Cabinet Maker plans to occupy a stand-alone building of 15,000 square feet next month, and employ 15-16, she said. She plans to reserve a separate 19-acre area along Idaho 55 for commercial uses including a restaurant and shops. She has a liquor license for lease or sale. Some town homes also could be built there, as “we’re open to whatever works for the community,” she said. Plans for the 9.5-acre first phase of residential construction call for 56 single-family homes, town home and three four-plex buildings. Construction started recently, and 17 lots are reserved, said Garth Baldwin, or Baldwin Realty. Homes will cost up to $250,000 in this phase, but 14 of the homes can’t exceed $136,100, Volin said. Those homes may be purchased without closing costs under a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program for people who earn less than $28,000 annually. Volin plans to develop about 40 single-family homes – priced from $295,000 to $1 million – along the Payette River in the second phase of residential construction. She plans about 30 town homes in a separate six-acre area overlooking a connecting waterway. The Horseshoe Bend City Council is expected to consider final approval of the entire master plan July 12, she said. Horseshoe Bend leaders voiced a need for more affordable housing when Volin first indicated she was interested in buying the former Boise Cascade site, she said. She said she also plans to build a skate park or other youth-oriented park on a city-owned site that’s yet to be determined. Boise Cascade closed the mill about two years ago. It last employed about 15. Volin also owns a Minneapolis-based Communication Concepts International Inc., and is the author of Buff and Polish: A Practical Guide to Enhance Your Professional Image and Communication Style.
Project May Breathe New Life Into Horseshoe Bend A $29 million residential, retail and commercial development is under way in Horseshoe Bend, breathing new economic life into a town that fell on hard times when Boise Cascade closed its lumber mill there in 2004. Ultimate Log & Custom Homes LLC has launched the first phase of its Riverbend Development on 75 acres where the old Boise Cascade mill once stood, company President Kathryn Volin said Tuesday. The development company is hiring local workers for a $1.2 million road project it is undertaking. Meanwhile, other area residents are finding work with businesses that have begun relocating to a 17-acre commercial site in the project, Horseshoe Bend officials said. After the mill closed, laying off all 15 workers, “A lot of people had to leave town to find work,” Horseshoe Bend City Clerk Denise Hall said. “But this development expects to create 30 new jobs this year. And there are plans for large companies to move in here, and they would also employ some Horseshoe Bend people.” Shirl Boyce, vice president of the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, said the development will help attract businesses that want to relocate to Idaho, but prefer a more rural setting. “Everybody does not want to exist in the same place,” Boyce said. “This will also be good for businesses that want to be near Tamarack Resort, without actually having to live there.” Phase 1 of the Riverbend project will consist of 56 lots on 9.2 acres. It will include single-family homes, town homes and three four-plexes that will be rental properties. The development could serve area residents and act as a bedroom community for Boise as well as a site for outside buyers looking for a home near Tamarack, Boyce said. “We already have reservations for about 24 lots,” Volin said. “And we think we have a buyer for the four-plexes.” Fourteen lots will be set aside in the initial phase of construction for affordable housing, she added. Using a subsidy from the U.S. Agriculture Department, those homes will be available for people earning less than $28,000 a year. Under the program, the price of those homes cannot exceed $136,100 and can be purchased with no closing costs. The price of the remaining homes in Phase 1 will top out at $250,000. Phase 2, which could be under construction by fall, will be a 29-acre gated community where homes overlooking the Payette River will start at $395,000. Homeowners will be able to buy lots and choose their builders of have Ultimate Log & Custom Homes build their homes. The first two phases of the development could last two years. Phase 3 will consist of private town homes with views of the Payette River and the nearby mountains. Construction is expected to begin next fall. Home prices in this area have not been determined, Volin said. Nonresidential portions of the project include:
Companies relocating to the area can lease space in one of six still-standing structuress built by Boise Cascade. The first company to arrive at Riverbend was Idaho Forest Inc., a manufacturer of specialty wood products that left its previous location near Boise Airport recently for 15,000 square feet in the development. “We have everything we needed here in terms of storage and manufacturing space,” said company President David Jones. The Horseshoe Bend location also puts the company closer to Tamarack, a customer, Jones said. Jones employs five people, four of whom come from the local work force. “We hope to increase that to 10 people next year,” he said.
The Idaho World Horseshoe Bend’s a Changin’ Horseshoe Bend. The recent purchase of the 75-acre mill property by Kathryn Volin, President of Ultimate Log and Custom Homes, LLC, of Idaho (ULCH) in ‘downtown’ Horseshoe Bend, will be divided into residential, commercial and light manufacturing. Shirl Boyce, Vice President, Economic Development Services, Boise Valley Economic Partnership said, “I work with five counties, the federal government designation for this part of Idaho, Boise, Ada, Gem, Canyon and Owyhee to help with economic development. Our goal is that one size doesn’t fit all. We encourage each community to become what they want. This gives the people coming here a variety of choices. This development for Horseshoe Bend is one that is so exciting it gives me goose bumps. Kathryn’s grants require her to provide 50 jobs within two years, we’re already looking at more than that. The impact on the local tax base is going to be tremendous. It’s a very exciting time for Horseshoe Bend.” Currently under construction, pending the last approval of sewer and water installation at the July City Council meeting, will be 56 home sites which will include single family homes, town homes and three 4-plexes. This development is situated north of the railroad tracks on 9.5 acres. There are 20 lots in this development with deposits put down on them. Lots start at $30,000 with city amenities and pressurized irrigation. Each buyer will make their own building arrangements to comply with the approved city plans. At the same time, approximately 17 acres are available for buildings that will be leased for light manufacturing. This area will be bermed and fenced with existing buildings of 7,500 to 107,000 sq. ft. space available. Sites are available to build for specific needs. Currently in production is Idaho Forest Products, Inc. They occupy approximately 15,000 square feet plus a showroom/office in the main ULCH building. They will employ approximately 15 people. Other confirmed tenants are G.R. Peterson Enterprises, Inc., who will be relocating their machine shop facility from Santee, California in late June, and will employ five or six people. The Cabinet Maker Company from Boise will be moving their custom cabinet and wood products manufacturing in August and will employ approximately 16 people. ULCH will be moving their custom log homes and log siding business to the site in late July. A new log lathe, which will produce up to 5,000 linear feet of logs per week, will be arriving from Finland any day. ULCH will be in full production by early August; they will employ approximately 15 ‘logger-type’ people. The second phase of the residential portion which has received preliminary approval from the City will be Riverfront Estates. This phase will have many water amenities and views overlooking the Payette River and the mountains. Twenty of these sites are already reserved. The third residential plan will be private town homes with single and two story homes overlooking the Payette waterway with incredible mountain views. There are currently a number of builders interested in this complex. The last 19 acres of the property will consist of commercial sites along Highway 55. In this area there are sites available for lease or purchase for a restaurant, liquor license can be purchased with this lot, a family center, motel, office space, and retail businesses. Walking paths, ponds and other beautification will be developed. Currently a street is being built into the property, as the current ‘street’ isn’t really a street, but private property. For more information on the site plan either call ULCH at 208-793-2822 or visit their web site at www.ultimatelogandcustomhomes.com For building lots and building plans call Garth Baldwin at 793-3149 or email him at Garthbaldwin@aol.com Volin and her golden retriever, Lucky Bailey of Horseshoe Bend, are Idaho residents living 60% of the year here and the other 40 in Minnesota where she is President of Communication Concepts International, Inc. She owns and operated a training resources business. For more information you can visit her web site at www.buffandpolish.com. |
