UI sells final satellite-campus land parcel

BOISE – The nonprofit University of Idaho Foundation has sold the last parcel of land that once was envisioned as part of the school’s satellite campus in Boise.

Jim Kissler, owner of Norco Inc., a Boise-based oxygen company, said Friday his family’s trust, called Metolius Trust, has purchased 2.5 acres and an option to buy another 3.2 acres on property across the street from the Idaho Water Center.

The Water Center is the only portion expected to be built at the troubled University Place complex. The $136 million project was scaled back to that $50 million building, which has been completed.

University Place fell apart over financial problems and a poor economy. It cost then-university President Bob Hoover his job in 2003, and now is the focus of federal and Ada County criminal investigations.

Neither Kissler nor the foundation would disclose the purchase price. Foundation President Jim Hawkins said the money would help cover debt the foundation took on as part of the botched project.

However, Hawkins and Kissler said the 2.5-acre deal brought a premium price well above appraised value. The foundation purchased that land about four years ago for $1.9 million. Another 3.2 acres belongs to the U.S. Forest Service, which the foundation had an option to purchase when the federal agency moves into the Idaho Water Center by early 2005.

The trust purchased the option from the foundation and expects to pay the appraised value for that land, Hawkins said. The appraisal has not been completed.

Kissler said the trust paid a premium price, noting other potential buyers were interested.

“I chased it,” Kissler said, adding he has no immediate plans for developing the parcel. It could be developed for office, retail or residential space, he said.

The Kisslers bought Norco in 1968 and transformed it from a local operation into a regional business with 600 employees and 42 stores in six Western states.