City officials in Pocatello say they want developer for Hoku Plant

POCATELLO – Pocatello city officials met on Monday for a special executive session.

Not much was revealed about the Hoku property, but city leaders say they are still hopeful when it comes to that facility.

Hawaii based company Hoku Materials started building their facility in Pocatello back in March of 2007.

The city was given a sense of hope that it would create jobs and industry expansion, so much hope that they leased the property to Hoku for a dollar a year for 99 years.

In 2013, Hoku filed bankruptcy and the city entered into a lease agreement with JH Kelly. JH Kelly has since sold the assets and facility to VA Metals.

On Monday the Pocatello Development Authority held a special meeting inside city hall to discuss the Hoku property.

“The agenda for the Pocatello Development Authority had an action item for Hoku. There was no action taken on the Hoku property. They entered into an executive session where they discussed a number of different things and unfortunately as much as I wish I could, I cannot speak about or respond to anything, disclose anything that happened in the executive session,” says Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad.

The Mayor says the meeting was more about information gathering.

“The desire is to remove the dirt or the land from the Pocatello Development Authority and start to have somebody start developing that area, whether it be a business park or whether it be a polysilicon plant. The desire is to get that land into productive use,” says Mayor Blad.

The Mayor also says they’ve been working on the property and discussing it for years.

“My hope and my desire is that we find somebody that is going to locate there and is going to actually make that, bring that into productive land and property,” says Mayor Blad.

Mayor Blad says over the years different companies have expressed interest in the property, but none have acted on it or made any offers.

This article was first published by KPVI. It is used here with permission.