Underground lot demolished 5 months after crane accident

Crews began digging up the Bank of Commerce parking lot on Yellowstone Highway in Idaho Falls Wednesday as part of a restoration project.

The parking lot made headlines in May when a crane fell through the concrete, hitting one of the cars in the employee parking lot below.

The parking lot will be filled in and replaced with an above-ground lot.

“Phase one is to fill in the parking lot and create parking that our customers really haven’t had a lot of,” said Ron Johnson, chief operations officer of the Bank of Commerce.

Local News 8 previously reported the Idaho Falls fire marshal had determined steel beams in the underground lot had deteriorated due to water damage. The city ended up condemning the structure.

The bank declined to discuss whether this contributed to its decision not to replace the underground lot.

Once the project is complete, Johnson said the bank will have tripled its customer parking.

“We will be decreasing parking for our staff in the process,” said Johnson.

Johnson declined to say where displaced staff would park, but said he is excited about what the bank will look like when construction is complete.

“For the first time on our property, we’ll have landscaping and trees and things to help with our contribution to trying to beautify the downtown business,” said Johnson.

The project is expected to last several weeks. For now the bank remains open. A southbound lane on Yellowstone Highway is closed to allow construction vehicles to pass through.