Former Hoku plant gets new leasee

A couple hundred jobs may be added to the City of Pocatello. The long-time vacant metal company, formerly known as “Hoku,” has just been leased a few weeks ago.

“And working with the whole idea of either re-purposing it or building this polysilicon plant back up to where they can start producing the polysilicon,” said Mayor Brian Blad.

Mayor blad says it can either go one of those two ways. Meanwhile, he says they have a two year lease with the plant. The land it sits on is actually run by the Pocatello development authority, which will not be changing.

The mayor says the plan is to make polysilicon for solar panels from the plant, but if the new leasee has a different plan with the site or location, the mayor says he’s planning to work with them.

“We will be working very closely with them as far as the Pocatello Development Authority, as far as Bannock Development Authority, we’ll all be working very closely to re-purpose that property.”

The mayor says he’s unsure how much the company was leased for, but is happy for the site to come alive again for new jobs.

It is unknown when the hiring process will start, but stay with Local News 8 and Eyewitness News for future updates.