Bonneville Power office planned for Clarkston port

A developer is planning to construct a new 20,000-square-foot regional maintenance facility for the Bonneville Power Administration on land he recently leased from the Port of Clarkston.

Port commissioners decided unanimously the agreement was the best use for the property, Port Commissioner Mark Brigham said.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity it brings,” Brigham said. “It will ... continue to build the Port of Clarkston.”

Bonneville Power markets wholesale electrical power from 31 federal hydroelectric projects in the Northwest, one nonfederal nuclear plant and several small nonfederal power plants.

The administration’s complex will have three buildings and replace an existing location in North Lewiston this spring, according to the project’s developer, Mark Heuett of Asotin.

Bonneville Power will store power poles at the site as well as equipment such as transformers for substations, Heuett said.

The Clarkston building will have many features not available at the power administration’s Lewiston site, such as more robust infrastructure for telecommunications and security as well as a better building layout for employees.

“This is a new, modern facility built up to their current specifications,” Heuett said.

The Bonneville Power buildings will be on 3 acres of the 5½-acre lot at 13th Street and Port Way that Heuett is leasing for $475 per acre per month. The lease carries a requirement that at least $2 million is invested, Port of Clarkston Manager Wanda Keefer said.

Heuett is still deciding what to do with the remainder of the property. One possibility is a manufacturing plant for deck boats. The vessels are similar to pontoon boats, but use a different flotation method.

That venture would be just one of his water-related businesses. Heuett acquired Hells Canyon Marine and Phantom Boats and combined them into a single company. He is constructing an 18,000-square-foot welded boat manufacturing facility for that venture at the Port of Wilma, just west of Clarkston.

He also owns Civic Power Train, a company that distributes components for welded aluminum boats in the United States and Canada. He is renovating a former Inland Metals building at the corner of Fifth and Diagonal streets in Clarkston for that business.

Those enterprises and Heuett’s experience make him a good fit for the Port of Clarkston, Brigham said.

His other projects include converting a former bar, Der Litten Haus, in downtown Clarkston into a probation office for the Washington Department of Corrections and a Lee Morris clothing store into a CHAS non-profit dental clinic.

“It’s nice to have someone who is in that growth mode be part of the Port of Clarkston moving forward,” Brigham said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.