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Post Register
By Casey Archibald
carchibald@postregister.com
N
ew homes, restaurants, an
enormous event center,
businesses and bike trails are
some of the new construction worth
looking forward to at Snake River
Landing in Idaho Falls.
Eric Isom, Snake River Land-
ings Chief Development Of cer,
explained that the idea behind the
project is to create a place where
people can do it all. In fact, one of
their main slogans is Live, work,
shop, play.
We believe that in order to be
a vibrant and healthy community,
[Snake River Landing] needs to
involve diferent age groups and
people from all walks of life, said
Isom.
In 2001, Allen Ball, principal of
Ball Ventures, LLC, and co-founder
of Melaleuca, Inc., purchased the
majority of the land that now makes
up Snake River Landing. Additional
property was purchased in 2006,
altogether making up the 450 acres
that exist today.
Mr. Ball purchased [the land]
with the idea of being able to create
a project that would be unique to the
area of Idaho Falls, said Isom, He
was looking at it as an opportunity
to give back to the community and
do something special.
Isom said extensive money,
planning and studying went into the
Snake River Landing project before
construction even started. In 2006,
the initial streets and the frst two
buildings of the community were
constructed.
Its about 17 percent of the unde-
veloped land within the city of Idaho
Falls, and about 4 percent of the total
land within Idaho Falls, said Isom.
Based on the growth rate of Idaho
Falls in recent years, Isom said Snake
River Landing is developing at a
great pace of about 2.5 to 3 percent.
Considering the amount of land that
the community will expand into,
Isom estimates the project will con-
tinue to grow for several years.
We are a quality development;
the buildings, streets and trails are all
built with quality and care because
Snake River Landing is meant to be
timeless and last forever, said Isom.
One of the major perks of the
community according to Isom, is the
close proximity of the homes to the
businesses, shops and restaurants.
Snake River Landing was planned
as a walkable community with a
healthy lifestyle at the heart of it,
said Isom, Its a place where people
dont have to commute to work
every day by car. Weve put a lot of
efort and money into building the
trail system to give the people who
work and live here an opportunity to
walk to and from work, restaurants,
activities and events.
Tough not yet complete, Legacy
Creek is the frst home division in
Snake River Landing. Te homes
are being developed by Kartch-
ner Homes and are single-family,
detached homes on small lots. Te
shapes and colors of the homes were
designed to be urban, modern and
unique, according to Isom.
About 100 of the 450 acres that
make up Snake River Landing are
reserved for residential living. In the
Legacy Creek development there
will be a total of 34 homes, 10 of
which are currently fnished and
being lived in.
Jordan Anderson, a sales agent for
Kartchner Homes, said the Legacy
Creek houses are designed to have
great functionality but to also keep
family members living in the home
connected. Te homes feature wide
open foor plans, granite counter-
tops, tile foors in the kitchen and
bathrooms, and easy access to the
bike and walking trail.
One of the best parts about these
homes is that there are no more
walls than there needs to be, said
Anderson, Tat makes it so families
can be more connected as they do
their own activities. For example, if
mom is in the kitchen cooking, and
the kids are doing homework in the
living and dining area, they can still
talk to each other about their days.
Isom explained that Snake River
Landing plans to add onto the resi-
dential options for the community
with high-end apartments, townho-
mes, condominiums and an assisted
living facility.
We look at it as an urban living
setting where both older people as
well as young professionals can have
a place where they can be close to
the action, said Isom.
Besides those with an interest in
living at Snake River Landing, busi-
nesses are also welcome to reserve a
place in the community.
Recently, Snake River Landing
announced that Scientech, which
is currently located on Woodruf
in Idaho Falls, will be moving their
of ce to Snake River Landing. Scien-
tech is a global provider of a variety
of products and services that sustain
the global commercial nuclear
power industry, according to a Snake
River Landing press release.
Scientech plans to move into their
new of ce next in summer. Isom
said he thinks the addition of the
company to their community will
beneft it signifcantly.
We are extremely happy and
pleased that [Scientech] has
selected Snake River Landing for
their new location, said Isom, It
is a strong, stable company that
has been in Idaho Falls for a lot of
years. It has a good employee base
and they said they were looking
for an opportunity to expand as
well as increase the quality of their
building and their facility and this
is the perfect location to do that.
Isom added that the presence of
Scientech at Snake River Landing
may encourage other businesses to
locate there as well.
I think it will continue to help
build our reputation and who we
are in the eyes of the community,
he said.
Tough Isom describes Snake
River Landing as a community
within a community, other mem-
bers of the Idaho Falls area are
welcome to enjoy it as well.
Several events are hosted by
Snake River Landing every year,
including their largest event, East
Idaho Harvest Fest & Outdoor
Expo, which will take place on
Sept. 14.
Te event will feature several
diferent cook-ofs including the
annual barbecue championship
called Smoke on the Snake, a
secret ingredient competition, a
pie bake-of, a chili challenge and
a salsa showdown. Other activities
will include games, music, sam-
ples, entertainment for children,
and a presentation of recreational
machines like snow machines,
boats, motorcycles and ATVs.
Te harvest Fest is the biggest
event we have down here and it is
very representative of the prop-
erty because it really does attract
people from all walks of life, said
Liza Leonard, Marketing Manager
at Snake River Landing, Tere is
something for everybody at that
event and its a fun way to end
the summer and bring everybody
down here from the community.
Even larger events will be able to
take place at Snake River Landing
with the upcoming construction of
the Idaho Falls Event Center. Allen
Ball donated the land for the cen-
ter in an efort to give back to the
community, according to Isom.
Tough the event center is not
directly af liated with Snake River
Landing, the committee working
on the project designed it so the
elements and features coincide
with the design that already exists
in the community.
We have a lot of long winter
nights in Idaho with nothing to
do and its too cold to do things
outside, said Isom. I think having
a facility that will bring sporting
events and concerts to Idaho Falls
and provide a place for people to
have their conventions and busi-
ness meetings is just something
that this community sorely needs
right now. We support it and are
behind it 100 percent and we are
ready to do anything we can to see
it happen.
Isom said he invites anyone and
everyone to come and experience
Snake River Landing.
We love to have people come and
talk with us about this community as
a place to live or start a business; we
love to show it of!
This fountain welcomes visitors and residents to Snake River Landing. (Casey Archibald/carchibald@postregister.com)
Snake River Landing offers something for everyone
Several businesses line the streets of
Snake River Landing.
Left: Legacy Creek is the rst home divi-
sion in Snake River Landing.
Casey Archibald/carchibald@postregister.com