Downtowns driving economic revitalization across Idaho

Downtowns are important economic hubs for many Idaho communities.

Not only do downtown business districts generate sales and create jobs, but they also contribute to quality of life as they serve the needs of residents, workers and visitors.

Those were a few of the takeaways from a program on downtown revitalization, which was one a half-dozen topics under discussion at the recent Idaho Economic Development Association’s annual conference.

It was a tale of three cities as representatives from Boise, Sandpoint and Idaho City talked about efforts both big and small that are underway – and investments being made – to increase economic vitality and growth in their downtown areas.

The panel of experts included Lynn Hightower, executive director of Downtown Boise; Jennifer Stapleton, Sandpoint city administrator; and Michelle Audette, secretary/treasurer of the Idaho City Chamber of Commerce.

Stapleton described Sandpoint as the nation’s “seventh fastest-growing micropolitan area,” a ranking that attracts tourists and year-round residents to its employment opportunities, recreation amenities, festivals and special events. Quite a few of the latter are centered in a downtown filled with historic buildings that are gussied up in the summer with flower baskets and lights at the holidays.

Some of the new employers are attracting quality employers, many of them drawn to the area’s advanced fiber network, which the city has been working on the past few years.

Not only do large employers such as Litehouse Foods, Quest Aircraft and Tamarack Aerospace Group like the high-speed internet, but so do a lot of startups, home-based entrepreneurs and retailers. “It really helps the retailers with online sales to make it through the shoulder season,” said Stapleton.

The city has spent $6 million in bike path improvements, enhanced pedestrian crossings, angled parking and underground utilities to make the downtown business district more user friendly, she said, adding that the other two legs of “our economic development stool” are the Chamber of Commerce and Bonner County Economic Development Corp.

Downtown Boise is the most vibrant economic growth center in the state, said Hightower, citing a range of metrics.

One of the most telling: A building boom over a five-year period (2015 to 2020) with projects having a value of $1.3 billion, said Hightower of offices, a blitz of new hotels, retailers, restaurateurs and residential units that have risen or on the drawing boards and spread over downtown’s 60 square blocks.

The upshot is that downtown is now the largest employer center in Idaho with a high ratio of professional-level jobs that pay more. Those structures also have a property tax value of nearly $2 billion, revenue that’s plowed back into public services benefiting Idahoans.

Downtown Boise is also an education mecca of sorts, with 27,000 students from preschoolers to law school attendees, said Hightower. It’s also an arts and culture center, she added.

“It’s a good time to be in downtown Boise,” said Hightower, speaking of the tours that she leads with delegations from other cities wanting to know “the secret” to downtown’s revitalization.  She tells them it’s “a 40-year success story.”

While Boise’s downtown is benefiting from a larger economic boom, boosters in Idaho City are just starting to breathe some new life into their own historic downtown.

Growth in the city’s chamber of commerce, comprised of new arrivals and longtime residents, has helped bring some small changes to the area. Fundraisers have led to the painting of a visitor’s center, the installation of new signs and events.

“Idaho City Days, a weekend of fun that celebrates our community, drew 5,000 people in its third year,” Audette proudly declared. “That’s put more money into the pockets of local businesses,” she said.

“We also (recently) got cell phone service. So we’re super excited about that!”