Ten-story tower planned for 11th and Idaho streets

The newest downtown Boise office tower is slated for 11^th and Idaho streets, across from the Boise Plaza building.

Rafanelli & Nahas, which owns Boise Plaza, hopes to start construction in spring 2019 on a 10-story, 181,000-square-foot office tower on the surface parking lot it owns that is banded by Bannock, Idaho, 11^th and 12^th streets.

“We’d love to start in spring but it will hinge on leasing,” said Scott Schoenherr, a partner at Rafanelli & Nahas, which owns several other downtown Boise office buildings. “That’s going to be the lynchpin. We’re not close enough with anyone (on leasing space). We’re working with one company in downtown and one company not in downtown, out west. It’s all pretty preliminary.”

Rafanelli & Nahas applied June 8 for design review at Boise Planning & Development Services.

This tower has been in the Rafanelli & Nahas master plan since the company in 2006 bought the Boise Cascade, now Boise Plaza, building, along with the full blocks with surface parking lots to the east (now Hyatt Plaza), the south (the proposed 11^th and Idaho), a half block on the west (the eight-story Boise Plaza garage) and three smaller parcels to the north.

Rafanelli & Nahas built the garage in 2009 but the recession slowed progress on the other blocks with the Hyatt Place finally following in 2017.

“We believe in one project at a time,” Schoenherr said. “We got finished with the hotel and started with this.”

Schoenherr brought in the architecture firm Perkins+Will of Seattle.

“It will be a lot nicer than anything we have seen in Boise,” Schoenherr said.

The property will have a large roof deck and  a small park will sit between 11^th and Idaho and the Boise Cascade building.

“One thing we are working on is doing a food hall opening onto the park,” he said. “We will have big doors opening onto the park.”

Schoenherr roughly estimates the tower will cost between $40 million and $45 million. If leasing proceeds satisfactorily, 11^th and Idaho could be open in summer 2020, he said.

“11^th and Idaho” is the working name of the building for now, he added.

The project falls on the west edge of the downtown core but Schoenherr said it’s in the heart of downtown.

“To me, it’s definitely in the core,” he said. “You’re only three small downtown blocks from Eighth Street.”

Parking is already in place for the tower. The eight-level, 951-space Boise Plaza garage was originally planned for five stories but expanded to eight stories in anticipation of the 11^th and Idaho tower, Schoenherr said.