INDUSTRY DIRECTORY

SIMPLOT PLANNING CONSTRUCTION ON NEW HQ

Published online: Sep 19, 2012 Potato Storage, Potato Harvesting
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The J. R. Simplot Company is planning to begin construction in late 2013 or early 2014 of a new headquarters building in Boise, Idaho.

Company officials anticipate the building will be about 10 stories high and measure roughly 300,000 sq. ft. Final size and configuration are still under consideration.

The new headquarters, which should be ready for occupancy two years after construction begins, will be designed to better meet the company's needs for a modern, collaborative work environment, according to Simplot president and CEO Bill Whitacre.

"The goal is to bring most of our Treasure Valley-area employees together at one central location that will be distinctive to the J.R. Simplot Company," he said. "This consolidation will strengthen our culture of innovation and offer better opportunities for our personnel to leverage their wide range of talents and expertise in a more collaborative work space."

"Our current leased space at One Capital Center has served us well for many years, but it is not large enough or configured in a way that can best serve our needs in the future," Whitacre added. "We will be working with the ownership of One Capital Center to find a replacement tenant."

More than 900 Simplot employees who are now located at One Capital Center, the company's Food Group headquarters on Federal Way, and other local facilities will join together in the new building.

The new headquarters will be located downtown Boise between 9th and 11th and Front and Myrtle streets at the Jack's Urban Meeting Place (JUMP). The Simplot family's JUMP project, named after J.R. Simplot, the founder of the company, is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2014. The JUMP project developed from JR Simplot's idea for an agricultural museum but has expanded into a broader concept. The JUMP project will include a six-story, 65,000 square foot building, 3½-acre park, and an outdoor amphitheater.


Artist rendering of the JUMP project. Simplot's new headquarters is NOT included in this rendering.

Hoffman Construction and Adamson Associates, Inc., the companies involved in building and designing the JUMP project, respectively, will fill those same roles for the new Simplot Company headquarters. Hoffman is based in Portland, Ore., and Adamson is headquartered in Los Angeles. Employees at the new headquarters building will use the 500-space underground parking garage currently being built at JUMP during business hours, Monday through Friday. The underground garage will be available for public parking on weekday evenings and weekends.

Simplot plans to find one or more tenants to occupy its Food Group building when employees from that site relocate downtown to the new company headquarters. The 75,000 sq. ft. Food Group structure was built in 1992.

SOURCE: PotatoPro.com