Gardner Co. is moving ahead with its two downtown Boise hotels

The Gardner Co.’s two hotels planned for downtown Boise’s Parcel B will reflect the property’s history as a railyard with façade textures, colors and material reminiscent of the metal and lumber of times past.

“We have given a lot of thought to history,” said Geoffrey Wardle, Gardner’s chief counsel and vice president of development.

Wardle and Gardner Senior Vice President David Wali introduced the company’s new $80 million two-hotel proposal Aug. 20 to the Greater Boise Auditorium District, which owns Parcel B, bounded by Myrtle, Front, 11^th and 13^th streets.

The prior visit Gardner officials made to GBAD involved a 220-or-so-room hotel and an apartment building. The company replaced the apartment building with a second hotel to increase the combined room count to 300 after GBAD Executive Director Pat Rice had publicly mentioned the Boise Centre, which GBAD owns and operates, need a full-service hotel with about 400 rooms.

Gardner’s proposal has scaled back its full-service hotel for Front and 11^th streets to 170 rooms on seven stories and added a five-story, 130-room limited-service at Myrtle and 11^th streets. The proposal also calls for an eight-level. 900-plus space parking garage that could have condominiums built atop it at a later date.

A fourth quadrant of Parcel B would remain undeveloped for the time being but could end up as a third hotel, an office building, retail or apartments at a later date, Wardle said.

More than half of the exteriors of both hotels will be clad with a mix of stone, metal panels and Nichiha fiber cement that “looks and feels like wood,” Wardle said.

Gardner intends to create a four-block grid on Parcel B. The lot has never been platted, Wardle noted.

There will not be streets for cars within the property, but the plan is to make it inviting for pedestrians and tap into the Pioneer Corridor walkway/bike path that connects the Boise River to downtown.

Gardner has a reputation of moving swiftly with construction projects, but a construction start date has not been set for these hotels.

“For us, it’s always too late,” Wali said. “There’s a chance it could (start in) November. Realistically, the first quarter.”

Construction is expected to take 18 months, he said.

Gardner Co. has not publicly revealed the hotel brands, but Wali did tell GBAD Executive Director Pat Rice that the company is negotiating with Embassy Suites. Wali and Wardle told the Idaho Business Review the second hotel would be an affiliate of the same hotel flag, and a single operator would operate both properties. Embassy Suites is a Hilton brand.

Wali expects to announce the hotel brands by the end of October.

The Gardner hotels are among four downtown Boise hotel proposals in the development stages. The Myrtle Street/Capitol Boulevard intersection has two active proposals with a Marriott Residence Inn and an Inn at 500 Capitol, and a Hyatt Place is under consideration for Bannock Street between 10th and 11th streets.