Developer sees opportunity in old Idaho sugar factory in Rigby, ID

It’s a landmark, a business park and a bit of an eyesore.

But the old sugar factory on Rigby’s north side is Al Brown’s baby and part of new development for a rural Idaho community.

"His wife thought he was nuts when he bought it," said Larry Finn, owner of the Sugarfactory Smokehouse, a restaurant housed in the building that used to be the plant’s garage for beet trucks.

But Brown, a 71-year-old entrepreneur whose career has included homesteading in Alaska and exploring for gold in Canada and Mexico, cites the cardinal rule of real estate — "location, location, location" — as one reason for buying the 83-year-old building.

"I see something other than an eyesore" in the 1,500 feet of front on one of eastern Idaho’s busiest roads, Brown said. "I see an opportunity."

Sentimentality also played a part. When he was a teenager, Brown worked in the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. near Idaho Falls, installing asbestos. Uncomplainingly, he admits he still has dust in his lungs from this work.

"I have a soft spot in my heart for sugar factories," he said. "They’re a big part of my life."

The Rigby plant had been empty for several years.

When Brown made a $150,000 offer to the sugar-producing cooperative that owned it, "they just about broke their arms signing the deal."

It is now home to an auto body shop, a car customizer, a pallet manufacturer and a charter bus company along with the restaurant.

"It’s a really good location for me," said Doyle Pratt, who sells portable sheds from the remodeled factory with 50-foot ceilings. "I’m right next to the highway so all the people on our way to Island Park see my product."

Tenants are free to make their own improvements. Bruce Flint of Challenger Enterprises, the auto body shop, put in sheet rock, insulation and a paint booth.

Flint, who has been in the sugar factory for eight months, likes the fact that his shop is easy to find. It’s pretty hard to ignore a building that is five stories tall with a 210-foot smokestack.

The uniqueness of the location also has been good for the Smokehouse. Finn got the idea for a barbecue restaurant while traveling for a Texas construction company as a cost accountant. He knew Brown through his brother and decided to return to his native Rigby to give the restaurant a try.

At the outset, the sugar factory building was "nasty, nasty, nasty," he said.

But after 40 trips to the dump, some sand-blasting and pressure washing, he said, "for this operation, it’s perfect,"

He has a panoramic picture of the building on one of his walls.

Opened in 1919, the factory operated for just a decade before shutting down in 1929. The Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. turned it into a storage facility for the region. That ended in the early 1970s, and for almost 20 years, it remained vacant.

Then Brown took it over, put on a new roof and installed new power and plumbing.

"It’s been quite a money pit, but it’s been fun," he said.

He has been researching ways to dress up the building’s exterior, and that will require some cleanup on the grounds as well, he said.

"Ignore all that junk out there," Brown said. "It belongs to relatives of mine."

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