Magic Valley Manor

Renovation Grand Opening

WENDELL: MAGIC VALLEY MANOR UNDERGOES RESTORATION

The Magic Valley Manor has gone through a rebirth. In 2009 (the 100th birthday of the grand old building) the Magic Valley Manor underwent a million-dollar upgrade to modernize, expand and preserve the facility for many years to come.

The following is an piece that appeared on KMVT 11 on April 29, 2910 by Jay Michaels, on the occasion of the Grand Opening of the restored Magic Valley Manor.

WENDELL— The Wendell Inn was built in 1909; the three story Moorish style structure became Saint Valentine’s Hospital from 1923 until 1952. The building was alcohol treatment center before being renamed Magic Valley Manor in 1959; in September 2009, Safe Haven Healthcare began restoring the building.

Scott Burpee, President/CEO of Safe Haven Healthcare says, “When we started tearing into the building, we found a lot of rotted areas where the gutters on the roof had back flowed against the building, washed out, rotted this and that. Some of the bricks had fallen out of the chimney; there were a couple of corners that the timbers had wasted away.”

Burpee says the entire Magic Valley Manor has been restored to modern standards; the kitchen and laundry room were remodeled, a modern sprinkler system has been installed and a new wing has been added on. He says the building is now incredibly ‘green’ thanks to all of the energy upgrades that were made.

Administrator Amanda Olsen says, “People come in here that don’t have family in here or anything, and they just like to come and look around, and tell stories about when they were kids. It was a hotel, it was a hospital. So everybody in this community, this is a special place for them.” Olsen says this Italian tile in the entryway was installed three days before similar tile was put in the state capitol in Boise, making this the first Italian tile in this part of the US.

Burpee says the entire Magic Valley Manor building is now secure, with a call system and the entire front yard is now fenced in, in case any of the residents slips out the front door.

Burpee also says, “We’d like everybody to come and see how we can turn a hundred year old building into a modern building, and still make it look a hundred years old!”

You can see the improvements and upgrades yourself at Magic Valley Manor in Wendell this Saturday; an open house will be held from 11 am to 3 pm on Saturday, at 210 North Idaho Street.