Last week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced where the temple in Pocatello, Idaho will be built. For the city of Pocatello that means big changes are on the way.
Mayor Brian Blad says the people in Pocatello have been waiting for the announcement of where the temple will be built since the announcement in April 2017 by then president of the Church Thomas S. Monson. Blad says the building of a temple brings many benefits to the city.
“You’re going to see an economic boom,” Blad said. “Home values will increase for sure in the area where the temple is and the attitude and atmosphere will just continue to increase and be good.”
Blad says he has had the opportunity to work with the temple commitee in the location of temple, but says they have been doing most of the heavy lifting.
“There was really no work on my part, once the church decides they are going to build a temple, they are going to build a temple,” Blad said.
For the rest of Pocatello, Blad says exciting things are happening everywhere. One example he sharde is the FBI expansion, making the Pocatello site its secondary site to Quantico near Washington, D.C. Blad says that means that anything that happens in the country will be stored in Quantico and also in the facility in Pocatello.
When the building is finished then they will hire an extra 300 people and other high tech companies will be coming to support the FBI facility providing jobs for hundreds of people.
“It’s awesome… it’s just an awesome place," Blad said.