J.R. Simplot is watching his little town grow.
As Micron Technology talks of adding 3,500 jobs, possibly at the southeastern Boise electronics plant, the agricultural mogul beams over what he has created and what is yet to be built.Industry, homes, stores and parks. The 85-year-old Boise billionaire is building it all in the area he calls Columbia, which includes the Columbia Village subdivision.
"We've made some good progress out there and I think we've built a worthy town," Simplot said from his downtown Boise office. "You can get a job and go out there and own a home and that's pretty good.
"We've got stores for them and they'll come. Oh, we've got parks, stores, schools. We've got it all planned."
Simply put, it's Simplot City.
The potato and fertilizer lord started by investing in Micron in 1980. The company grew fast, providing a large industrial base for southeastern Boise. Simplot owns, according to the most recent proxy, 21 percent of the company stock, giving him a say in what happens to his town's workers.
Then he bought land. Simplot said he owns about 2,500 acres in the Columbia area out of the 8,000 acres he owns throughout Ada County.
"It looked like a good location," he said. "It was close to the highway, and you could get water and sewer up there."
A few years ago he started the Columbia Village development, which has produced 556 homes near Micron. About 300 homes could be built next year.
Plans call for 1,200 more homes eventually, along with a golf course, schools and parks. Already he put up about $1 million to build the Simplot Family Sports Park.
His headquarters for the Simplot food division was built nearby. Not to mention the stores.
Simplot developed the outlet mall. Construction is scheduled to start next spring on a 27-acre shopping center. Plans include: a grocery store, discount store, banks and fast-food restaurants. Negotiations are under way with Albertson's to provide the grocery store.
He's got a vision, and with or without Micron expansions, he figures it's going to keep growing.
"It will be big," he said. "There'll be a little town out there. It'll have big stores. Yeah, we're going to have a shopping area."
If they don't call it Simplot City, they might consider Micronia. Other Micron movers and shakers own land in that area. Micron founders Joe and Ward Parkinson and financial backers Tom Nicholson and Ron Yanke have bought hundreds of acres.
"I know we're gonna grow," Simplot said. "We've (Micron) got a h--- of a product."
But Simplot said he doesn't know where the company will grow. He's not sure if Micron will decide to add the 3,500 jobs in Boise or elsewhere.
"Don't ask me," he said. "I don't run Micron. I don't know. It's a big world out there. I imagine we're going to look around for the best deal. Micron is a good company, and they have a lot of smart youngsters. I leave them to call the shots."
Simplot also declined to say if the recent departure of Micron executive Joe Parkinson had anything to do with the expansion plans.
In any case, Simplot said he is pleased with how Boise is shaping up since he moved here in the 1940s. Even with the growth.
"I can't stop it, and it sure is going," he said. "I don't know when it will stop, but it's going. We've got a lot of things other places don't have. I'm just an old man and I've seen a lot in Idaho, and it's going to keep happening."