Boise Development Thread - Part II

[BoiseAirport]

Originally Posted by Boisebro

couple of questions for those-in-the-know:

1 - is there an estimated height for the 10-story hotel? BA's rendering looks like it'll be about the same height or slightly taller than the hampton, which according to emporia is 120 feet.

2 - what is the proposal on the BSU campus next to the dorm towers in BA's rendering? it looks like a 7-8 story structure; is that a placeholder for the graphic arts building?

3 - while these two new hotel proposals are great, i seem to recall the boise convention center wanting a 400-room hotel to support the expansion, ideally within a block or so of the grove (IMO, one ideal location would be the surface parking lot on front and 6th; another would be across the street from Hotel 43). here's the quote from the statesman that i'm referring to:



granted, there is a difference of opinion in the piece, and it looks more like we're getting smaller hotels to fill the need instead of one large one.

we now have two smaller proposals with a total of 250 rooms, which suggests there's still a potential need for 100 to 150 more rooms. i wonder if one more proposal is in the works... perhaps a mixed use hotel/condo/office structure on one of the lots i mentioned? a 150 room hotel combined with condos/office space on a smaller lot like the one by Hotel 43 could even result in a new tallest. thoughts?

1 - There's no height estimate I'm aware of. My rendering was conceptual based on a slightly higher floor-to-ceiling ratio for both rooms and lobby. Could be a bit taller or shorter in real life.

2 - That's the Fine Arts Building. I put it at a height equal to the business building. It will be between 4-6 floors depending on how fundraising goes.

3 - There are positives and negatives to having one large hotel vs. several smaller hotels. Neither option is necessarily better or worse than the other, I think it's just a matter of what we as a city want. It's better for attracting large conventions to have one large hotel. But a few smaller hotels are better from a customer standpoint as more competition will mean lower prices and more product variety to choose from--making Boise a more attractive destination for smaller conventions.

The current Boise Centre isn't very well set up for the really large conventions. The expansion will help, but the Boise Centre will still need to be renovated (probably with more floors added) and unfortunately lawsuits are holding up that process. Until it's renovated, I don't think there will be much advantage to building 1 large hotel vs. several smaller ones.

I'd love, love, love to see a hotel on that space across the street from Hotel 43. I don't know who owns that land--I recall it was slated for the second phase of Capital Two Center, which would have it be an office building. But being so close to that convention center, a hotel seems like it'd be a perfect fit.

[Architecture Buff]

Google map aerial view of building sites for the two new hotels:



Broad & Capital (Pennbridge) at 10 floors with hotel north and south along Capital across from Hampton Inn at 11 floors, and The Inn at 500 Capital at 7 floors going west east along Myrtle just north of the Flicks.
All three hotels have parking garages, with the two new ones showing parking garage entrances in current renderings. (The Inn at Capital) per Statesman says no onsite parking for guests.
But:
There would be on-site parking for employees of the hotel and a restaurant Obie plans to build and lease to a restaurateur. Covered parking at ground level. (Sven Berg for the Idaho Statesman, his understanding)
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/0...#storylink=cpy

[Architecture Buff]

List of downtown hotels with number of rooms and floors:

The Grove Hotel.................... 250..... 13 in a 17 story bldg.
Hampton Inn & Suites............ 186..... 11
Pennbridge (Capital & Broad).. 180..... 10
Hotel 43............................... 112..... 6
The Inn at 500 Capital............ 104..... 7
Safari Inn............................. 103..... 3

Total rooms........................... 974

[Architecture Buff]

Boise Heights 5 floors:


http://www.esiconstruction.com/Proje...2/Default.aspx

[Bodo_business]

Originally Posted by Architecture Buff

List of downtown hotels with number of rooms and floors:

The Grove Hotel.................... 250..... 13 in a 17 story bldg.
Hampton Inn & Suites............ 186..... 11
Pennbridge (Capital & Broad).. 180..... 10
Hotel 43............................... 112..... 6
The Inn at 500 Capital............ 104..... 7
Safari Inn............................. 103..... 3

Total rooms........................... 974

From what I remember (trying to dig up the source), Safari is closing up soon, so downtown will only net 181 additional rooms with the two new hotels. That means there still might be room for a large 400+ hotel.

[DonDay]

Statesman is wrong. There will be 24 spaces integrated into the bundling on the first floor. The building is proposed to be 96 feet. It will also have a bike storage room and be heated by geothermal.

Edit: there are 24 parking spaces... Who gets to use them or not isn't clear, so Statesman phrasing might be right.

[Architecture Buff]

According to what has been printed, the Inn at Capital will be using the same garage as the Hampton Inn. There probably is a valet charge + tip. Parking at the hotel is for the restaurant, and employees(covered parking is what I have been told). It must be one level on the Myrtle St. entrance shown in rendering.
Myrtle St. garage charges a weekday charge of $12.00 a day, and $5.00 on weekends.
All the details will come out in do time.

[Sawtooth]

Originally Posted by Bodo_business

From what I remember (trying to dig up the source), Safari is closing up soon, so downtown will only net 181 additional rooms with the two new hotels. That means there still might be room for a large 400+ hotel.

I have heard the same about the Safari. I've seen photos of the original historic Main Street facade and I hope they bring that back at some point.
I would also include the Red Lion Downtowner in the room count and the infamous Cabana, and other hotels in the downtown area like the Marriott's on Capitol, and the hotel across from The Water Center on Broadway, maybe include The Riverside because it is only a minutes drive from the center of downtown.

I've been thinking that a do-over of the One Capitol after Simplot moves would be visionary for a highrise hotel.

[BoiseAirport]

^^^ Perfect use of that smiley.

An empty parcel on 14th and Idaho owned by CCDC has received two proposals from the Gardner Company and LocalConstruct, respectively.

http://idahobusinessreview.com/2015/...on-ccdcs-desk/

Two 14th Street apartment proposals land on CCDC’s desk

Gardner proposes a $9 million, five-story apartment complex with 50 units and 80,000 square feet. Local Construct proposes a $4 million, three-story complex with 39 apartments and 37,000 square feet, according to CCDC documents.

Gardner Company's proposal:



LocalConstruct's proposal:



Of the two, I favor Gardner Company's. In terms of scale, design, and effect on walkability it has the edge, but I'd be fine with LC's proposal.

[Hawk]

Originally Posted by BoiseAirport

Gardner Company's proposal:



LocalConstruct's proposal:




Of the two, I favor Gardner Company's. In terms of scale, design, and effect on walkability it has the edge, but I'd be fine with LC's proposal.

There's no question that Gardner Company's proposal is the better looking one. LC's proposal would still fit in though. It looks to me like cheap materials would be used for that build.

This year may very well be an exciting year for new projects downtown. I cannot wait to see what's going to be proposed next.

[frankster]

IMO, it's nice to see Gardner Company getting into the apartment business downtown. It seems that they propose great looking buildings and take no time getting them built once they're approved.

[Hawk]

Originally Posted by frankster

IMO, it's nice to see Gardner Company getting into the apartment business downtown. It seems that they propose great looking buildings and take no time getting them built once they're approved.

They are a great Company! One thing I've noticed that I that think is a good quality about Gardner Company is that even if they're not picked for a project they don't give up and seem to immediately move right on to the next potential build.

[Architecture Buff]

Originally Posted by Sawtooth

I have heard the same about the Safari. I've seen photos of the original historic Main Street facade and I hope they bring that back at some point.
I would also include the Red Lion Downtowner in the room count and the infamous Cabana, and other hotels in the downtown area like the Marriott's on Capitol, and the hotel across from The Water Center on Broadway, maybe include The Riverside because it is only a minutes drive from the center of downtown.

I've been thinking that a do-over of the One Capitol after Simplot moves would be visionary for a highrise hotel.

I was doing hotels within walking distance of Bodo and the convention center.
Here are a few more:
Red Lion.....182....7 & 3
Marriott Town Place.....121.....4
SpringHill Suites.....230.....3
The Modern Hotel.....39.....2

[frankster]

I also hope this isn't a sign of things to come from Local Construct. Maybe this is just a bad copy from their worst angle, but I'm hoping for some attractive buildings.

[Architecture Buff]

I prefer the Gardner rendering.

[Hawk]

Thanks for the enlarged rendering AB! seeing it has change my mind somewhat about LocalConstructs proposal. I like that industrial look that it has. Originally when I first looked at it I immediately thought that it looked more like something you'd see rendered from a HS drafting student for his/her assignment.
I do like some Buildings that have an industrial touch to it. But it has to be done right. One new fad that's caught my eye recently is that of using shipping containers. Sometimes they're pretty darn impressive. In fact, that's something I'd like to see incorporated into a small build downtown. But anyways, in the end if LocalConstruct's design is chosen, I would like to see the metal grated panels painted more of a grayish color instead of the white that matching the rest of the building.

[Architecture Buff]

Since Gardner Company is on a roll, they should take over the Capital Terrace project for the hotel they want next to their buildings.

[Visualize]

Originally Posted by Hawk

Thanks for the enlarged rendering AB! seeing it has change my mind somewhat about LocalConstructs proposal. I like that industrial look that it has. Originally when I first looked at it I immediately thought that it looked more like something you'd see rendered from a HS drafting student for his/her assignment.
I do like some Buildings that have an industrial touch to it. But it has to be done right. One new fad that's caught my eye recently is that of using shipping containers. If it is done right they're pretty darn impressive. In fact, that's something I'd like to see incorporated into a small build downtown. But anyways, in the end if LocalConstruct's design is chosen, I would like to see the metal grated panels painted more of a grayish color instead of the white that matching the rest of the building.

I was going to say the same thing about the shipping containers...as in that's what LocalConstruct's design looks like. I'm really hoping for something entirely different out of the Roost and Nest projects. With names like those, and this rendering now, I'm a little worried. I suppose a little variety in architectural styles is a good thing, but I just cannot get behind that.

This abomination was proposed in the Lusk St neighborhood a couple years ago, where there is now a much larger, urban, and classier complex under construction.

[Hawk]

Yikes! I'm glad that it didn't get built. as I said it before, doing those types of builds can be very tricky. Especially if you want it to be appealing to the eye, and not look like it was just thrown together in a hurry. Here's an example where that type of build in my opinion was done right:




It actually looks like someone put a little thought into what he/she was designing. It's attractive, yet functional without altering the shipping containers to where they're unrecognizable.

[Visualize]

Yeah, I didn't mean to make it sound like this is an architectural style you openly promote. From that angle it has some positive elements...mainly the cantilevered section with the recessed lighting, otherwise it still just looks like a shipping yard. I've seen it in some other cities and it didn't fit, but maybe similar to your example as a modern-industrial house it could find a place.