14th Street apartment proposals counter pocket park with brewery/restaurant

Two downtown development heavyweights still await a decision on which one gets to build a mixed-use apartment/retail complex at 14^th and Idaho streets.

The Capital City Development Corp., which owns the .56-acre adjacent lots at 1401 and 1403 W. Idaho streets, expected a decision from the May 11 CCDC Board of Commissioners meeting.

But the proposal review committee, composed of CCDC staff and commissioners and city planning staff, hasn’t made a commitment to either LocalConstruct’s 39-unit not-yet-named apartments with a pocket park and street-level live/work units, or to Gardner Company‘s 50-unit WaterCooler Apartments that may include a brewery and restaurant.

Gardner and LocalConstruct leaders both presented their projects May 11 to the CCDC commissioners.

Both developers have contrasting visions that touch on CCDC’s priorities in seeking a developer for the Watercooler building and parking lot that the agency has owned since 2003 and 2005.

Gardner offers a 50-unit, five-story apartment complex. It would keep  the 1940 structure that originally housed Boise Heating and Air Conditioning, and now is home to the Watercooler, which provides workspace for emerging companies. Gardner Executive Vice President David Wali said the “potential tenant for the building” is Dave Krick, owner of Bittercreek Alehouse/Red Feather Lounge.

Krick sat alongside the Gardner team at the commission meeting and told the commission he intends to put a brewery/restaurant in the 8,000-square-foot Watercooler building. The Watercooler, a tenant since 2008, will have to leave when CCDC selects a developer.

“We’ve been looking for a location in downtown for a long time,” Krick said. “I think 14^th Street is ripe for the next best corridor in downtown Boise.”

LocalConstruct proposes a 1,450-square-foot corner retail space that could be a café with the park outside the door.

“We’re here to help you guys revitalize downtown,” LocalConstruct Co-President Mike Brown said.

The review committee is looking for a project that will serve as a catalyst for additional neighborhood development. They also want a quick construction timeline and a project that is in context with its surroundings.

Gardner built and owns the recently completed Eighth and Main building, owns the U.S. Bank tower and is now building the City Center Plaza in the center of the Boise downtown. Gardner also built the large Nampa Library Square project, which was completed this year. Local Construct owns The Owyhee office building and hotel, and plans to build the 5^th and Broad, a 157-unit apartment complex in downtown Boise’s Central Addition in the block bounded by Fifth, Sixth, Myrtle and Broad Streets.

The Gardner proposal for Idaho and 14^th has an $11.5 million estimated price tag that does not include the money that a Watercooler building tenant would invest. This would generate an estimated $1.237 million in tax increment funding for CCDC through 2026, the end year for CCDC Westside urban renewal district.

The LocalConstruct project is estimated at $5.8 million, with projected tax increment of $630,000 through 2026, CCDC project manager Shellan Rodriguez said.

CCDC bought these adjacent lots of .56 acre in 2003 and 2005 on the heels of creating the 144-acre Westside Urban Renewal District in 2003. It is the only property CCDC owns in the Westside District. The district acquired it in a property exchange deal that resulted in the Banner Bank building two blocks to the east.

The property has been appraised for $985,000 and that likely will be the purchase price. Redeveloping the property aligns with CCDC’s 2006 14^th Street Neighborhood Design and Development Strategy. This strategy seeks to “create lively neighborhoods infused with housing in emerging mixed-use districts.”