Construction on The Avery progresses, opening date announced

Following up on last year’s announcement, The Avery Hotel & Brasserie’s redevelopment efforts are underway, with an opening set for summer 2023. The A.S. Tiner Building, also known as the Averyl Building, will be renovated and restored to include The Avery 39-room boutique hotel, the French-inspired Avery brasserie and Tiner’s Alley Tavern, all under the same roof.

The modernization and restoration of a historic building 

The Avery owner and Michelin-star chef, Cal Elliott, and Boise developer, Michael Hormaecha, are restoring the vintage feel of the downtown building and including design touches that modernize the space, creating a mix of modernity and antiquity.

“We’re paying homage to the Tiner family. The name goes in line with what we’re trying to do with our design aspect, our overall philosophy and concept of the project,” Elliot said. “We’re modernizing an old building. It won’t feel like you’re staying at an old hotel necessarily, but you are going to get that feeling of history.”

Financing for the $14 million project, which began in December 2021, was a collaboration of Mountain West Bank and federal New Markets Tax Credits arranged through inland-northwest community development lender MoFi.

After purchasing the building, The Avery team met with the Historic Preservation Commission to establish areas of the building that would be preserved. Elliott said the team has gone above and beyond these preservation efforts by reusing original materials in the building and weaving them into their modern design.

“We’re pulling out some of the original hardwood, some of the fur and kind of repurposing that through the building,” he said. “We want to make sure that there are still original pieces throughout the building, and that the customers can see, touch and feel it. I find that really exciting.”

The upper three floors of the building will include the historic boutique hotel, and the two restaurants will be on the main floor, each containing 72 seats. According to Hormaecha, construction is progressing well and is getting into the final stages.

“The renovation team is completing exterior window installation work and façade restoration,” he added. “The hotel is also getting into the final stages of carpeting and tile and trim work.”

While supplier and manufacturer delays caused a few setbacks in the early stages of development, The Avery team is now preparing for opening of operations and is looking forward to sharing its transformation with the community.

“I think everybody understands it’s been a challenging time to build, and we’ve gone through those challenges,” Hormaecha said. “Now that it’s closer to being finished, there’s this growing excitement to show the public the restoration and rehabilitation that the building’s going through. It’s really remarkable the amount of work, time and investment spent on this building that has been dark and closed for the most part since the early ’60s.”

— Editor’s note: This article was updated Feb. 8, 2023 with the project’s beginning.