Top Projects honored in annual event, including Boise’s tallest residential building

The towering Arthur truly stands out above the rest.

Boise’s newest and the state’s tallest residential building was recognized as the Top Project of the Year for 2025 during this year’s Idaho Business Review‘s 21st annual Top Project awards ceremony October 16 at the Boise Centre.

A crowd of about 300 filled the venue to help pay tribute to those builders, developers and contractors who are bringing new life to Idaho’s construction industry. In addition to Arthur, three top awardees were honored in four additional categories, plus two winners in a fifth group, along with a People’s Choice Award honoree, and a Specialty Contractor of the Year recipient.

At a cost exceeding $104 million, Arthur has revolutionized luxury apartment living in downtown Boise. The high rise extends 26 stories into the Boise skyline, while encompassing a whopping 420,000 square feet of space, equivalent to 9.64 acres of land.

Located at the corner of 12th and Idaho streets, Arthur is owned by Oppenheimer Companies, PCP and White Oak Realty Partners. Power Construction and local contractor McAlvain Construction teamed up to complete the work, initially slated for two and a half years, in just 26 months.

“This was a freakin’ cool project to work on,” said Power Superintendent Jeff Pawelko, who happily accepted the award on behalf of his Chicago-based company.

In his brief remarks, Pawelko singled out McAlvain for its role in helping his out-of-town firm navigate an “unfamiliar” local construction market. “Coming into town and having them help us with subcontractors, they did an absolute phenomenal job.”

For a second consecutive year, Rocky Mountain Electric (RME) was honored as the Specialty Contractor of the Year. Established in 1978 and based in Meridian, RME is a family-owned electrical contracting firm. The award also marked the first time one company has claimed the top honor in this category twice, pulling off the feat in back-to-back years.

During his introduction of the highly regarded electrical firm, Wayne Hammon, executive director of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) in Idaho, emphasized the firm’s expertise and know-how when it comes to completing jobs meticulously, the kind of proficient work that only serves to enhance the group’s stellar reputation within the Idaho building industry.

“Rocky Mountain Electric has built a reputation for completing extremely complicated projects correctly the first time,” Hammon said. “That is exactly what you need in a trade partner.”

Hammon also proudly pointed out that AGC represents the state’s largest professional construction network with more electrical contractors and painters than either of these two associations total statewide. At this point in the celebration, he noted that as many as eight AGC members had already been recognized throughout the evening.

“We love specialty contractors because we all know that it’s the subs and trade partners that get the work done,” he said. “We would not build successful projects if not for the hard work and dedication of specialty contractors.”

Another winner connected to both RME and the AGC was Loose Screw Brew Co. Owned and operated by Mike and Pam Garcia, Loose Screw, which opened its second and newest location in downtown Meridian earlier this year, was the overwhelming selection for the prestigious People’s Choice Award.

In the category of Infrastructure/Utility, the Pleasant Valley Solar project in Boise took home the first-place award. At a cost of over $151 million, the project helped create more than 220 area construction jobs. Pleasant Valley Solar 1 in Orchard, Idaho, place second, followed by the Gooding Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Private project category represented the most heavily populated group of nominees with more than 20 deserving honorees. The top spot was claimed by the Philip E. Batt Education Building in Boise, a 6,580 square-foot space that will serve the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights.

Second on the list was the new Wilson Station Apartments, a five-story, 102-unit complex located at State and Arthur streets in Boise. Third-place honors were awarded to Project Gold in Fairfield Idaho, a collection of six, fully ADA-compliant cabins for Camp Rainbow Gold’s Hidden Paradise Medical Camp.

For projects nominated in the Public category, Boise Fire Station No. 5 grabbed the top slot with its new site that replaced a deteriorating 73-year-old facility with a $12.8 million state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot station.

McCall’s Public Library was chosen the second-place winner for upgrading and adding 15,000 square feet to its existing site, which was originally built in 1972. Rounding out the category was the ACHD Traffic Operations Center, a $29 million structure that will help the agency to centralize its traffic management operations.

The Sparrow Hotel, transformed from what was once Boise’s Safari Motor Inn, was the top winner in the Renovation category. Originally constructed in 1966, and located on West Grove Street, the renovation project was managed by architectural group CSHQA.

The Hoffman Construction Office in downtown Boise was honored as the second-place winner, with the Hemlock, considered by many for having set a “new standard” for local dining, was named the third-place recipient.
Two projects were recognized in the Transportation category. The Idaho Transportation Department’s I-15 Fort Hall Interchange in Fort Hall finished in the top spot, followed closely by the Jct. US-20/SH-33 and US-20/University Boulevard Diverging Diamond Interchanges in Rexburg, Idaho.

Visit the IBR website to recognize or highlight a top project for the 2026 awards program.