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Tag: Residental Construction

Workforce housing on the way at Ash and River streets

Workforce housing at Ash and River streets will include garages, carports and landscaping. Image courtesy of Dean Papé.

Foundation work started in mid-April on a 34-unit, two-structure workforce housing complex off River and Ash streets in downtown Boise.

Eugene, Oregon,-based deChase Miksis, headed by Dean Papé in Boise, and prominent Portland developer Mark Edlen took up the challenge from the Capital City Development Corp. to build workforce housing on an oddly configured .71 acre lot the shape of Nevada.

They were the only applicant to follow through CCDC’s request for proposals process for the deed-restricted project. CCDC requires rents be affordable for a family of four earning between 80 percent and 120 percent of the area median income – $70,300  for a family of four – so  that no more than 35 percent of the wage goes to rent.

The workforce housing stipulation will be in place for seven years.

Construction recently started on a 34-unit workforce housing complex off River Street. Photo by Teya Vitu.

“What attracted us to it was the opportunity to do workforce housing,” Papé said. “We believe the need and demand is there.”

The $7.34 million project, yet to be named, defies the conventions of downtown apartment development with 22 three-bedroom units, nine one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. Closed-door garages will come with 22 units and the rest will have carports, Papé said.

“These are typical amenities you’d find in the suburbs, not downtown.” he said.

Pivot North of Boise is the architect, with conceptual designs from GGLO Design of Seattle. The general contractor is Visser Building Company of Boise.

“Those quirky sites create something more interesting,” said Shellan Rodriguez, CCDC’s real estate development manager. “From my perspective, it is surrounded by public rights of way. It has a lot of front door space pointing to the Pioneer Corridor, which is unique.”

The historic 1907 stone Hayman House sits on 4,609 square feet between River Street and the apartment project as does a 3,100-square-foot strip of adjacent city land. CCDC, which owned the Hayman House and apartment property, in early May deeded the Hayman House to the Boise Arts and History Department.

River Street Lofts nearing construction start

River Street Lofts will offer 10 condos at River and 15th Streets in Boise. Image courtesy of Tim Nau.
River Street Lofts will offer 10 condos at River and 15th Streets in Boise. Image courtesy of Tim Nau.

The next downtown Boise condo project awaits only a building permit to get started at River and 15th streets.

The River Street Lofts will offer 10 three-bed, three-level townhome-style condos priced at about $389,000. Six are already sold, said Tim Nau, partner at Energreen Development Co., the project developer.

McCall-based Nau expects to start construction in early March and wrap up around October. He said buyers so far are couples and singles in their 30s or 40s.

The garage and entryway will be on ground level, with kitchen, living room and one bedroom on the second level, and the master bedroom and third bedroom on the third level.

Nau will build the energy- efficient complex with LOGIX insulated concrete forms. Heating and cooling will be provided by ductless heat pumps and the condos will have heat-pump hot water heaters – all adding up to energy-efficiency exceeding 50 percent, he said.

Hummel Architects is the architect. Nau is his own general contractor with his company, Energreen Structures.

Cimarron Townhomes planned for I-84/I-184 interchange area

With apartment living coming in vogue in recent years, Boise-based Summit Development owner David Scaggs has found his niche in peppering the Treasure Valley with 60- to 80-unit four-plex townhome complexes.

His current projects are the 36-unit Marena Townhomes across from Boise Towne Square and the 80-unit Cimarron Townhomes, which is due to start construction in the middle of September on Bird Street near Overland and Maple Grove roads. Completion is set for February.

“I love the location,” Scaggs said. “It so close to everything.”

Scaggs builds two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-level townhomes just shy of 1,000 square feet. He has built about 20 apartment projects, 12 of them in the past four years.

“I get everything: single people, married with children, retired couples, retired singles, young professionals,” said Scaggs.

Cimarron will have 18 four-plexes, one six-plex and a duplex. Scaggs is in a 50-50 partnership with Rob Owens at Cimarron. The architect is Robin Gates at Studio L in Boise and Summit Development is the general contractor.

Cimarron monthly rents will be $950 to $1,000.

River Street Lofts destined for River and 15th streets

River Street Lofts may have a front row seat for baseball and soccer. Image courtesy of Energreen Development.
River Street Lofts may have a front row seat for baseball and soccer. Image courtesy of Energreen Development.

McCall developer Tim Nau intends to build a 10-unit, energy-efficient, townhome-style condominium complex at River and 15th streets – across the street from the proposed downtown Boise baseball/soccer stadium and other assorted commercial and office development.

“We didn’t have any idea a sports complex was coming,” said Nau, partner at Energreen Development Co. LLC, the project developer. “I think it’s a really good thing. That gives us a boost.”

The River Street Lofts are proposed with two buildings, each with five condos with three-bedrooms/ two-bath. Because the lofts will be constructed with LOGIX insulated concrete forms, the condos would be more than 50 percent energy efficient with reduced noise penetration from outside or neighbors, Nau said.

“You don’t even know your neighbor is there,” said Nau, who has built 15 custom homes in the McCall area. “It’s like having an insulated bomb shelter.”

Hummel Architects is the architect. Nau is his own general contractor with his company, Energreen Structures.

The Capital City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, is considering funding $150,000 of the estimated $218,000 for streetscape improvement in the public right-of-way, including sidewalks, trees, benches, historic streetlights and relocation of underground utilities.

“This is just the type of development we need to support,” CCDC Vice Chair Dana Zuckerman said.

The condos are 1,332 to 1,370 square feet with an anticipated price of about $375,000, Nau said.

Nau acquired .35 acre at 529 S. 15th St. with two homes built in 1900, according to Ada County Assessor record. The property was for sale and the homes have since been demolished.

“I drove by it for a year,” Nau said. “I finally called on it.”

Coleman Homes looks to increase homebuilding with Toll Brothers backing

An example of The Alexander, a home in the Coleman Homes’ Countryside Collection. Photo courtesy of Coleman Homes.
An example of The Alexander, a home in the Coleman Homes’ Countryside Collection. Photo courtesy of Coleman Homes.

Meridian-based Coleman Homes expects to double its 2015 luxury home production numbers in the Treasure Valley in the coming year after its purchase by national home building powerhouse Toll Brothers.

“We hope to grow to 400 homes next year or more,” Coleman Division President Thomas Coleman Jr. said.

Coleman expects to finish 2016 with about 300 new homes. The company built 203 homes in 2015 and 186, 194 and 143 homes in the prior three years. In all, Coleman Homes has built about 1,100 homes since arriving in Boise in 2004, according to company statistics.

Coleman Homes, retaining its name, will remain “virtually identical in terms of anyone interacting with us,” Coleman said. “We are still building the same housing. We just have a lot more resources at our disposal.”

Thomas Coleman Sr. and Thomas Coleman Jr.
Thomas Coleman Sr. and Thomas Coleman Jr.

Coleman now has the backing of Toll Brothers, which ranks No. 628 in the Fortune 500 with annual revenue of $4.1 billion, making it the No. 1 homebuilding company in the country.

The Coleman family has experience with Toll Brothers. Coleman’s father, Thomas Coleman Sr., sold the family’s Coleman Homes in Las Vegas to Toll Brothers in 1997.

Coleman Sr. started Coleman Homes in Bakersfield, Calif., in 1972, which remained the main operation until he sold it in 2003. Coleman Sr. expanded to Las Vegas in 1980.

Meanwhile, Coleman Jr. had not been to Bakersfield since high school and moved to Boise in 2004, first as a land developer. He re-established Coleman Homes in 2007.

“My dad was living in Santa Barbara,” Coleman Jr. said. “We looked in a 1,500-mile radius at communities with opportunity. One was here. Mostly, it was economic. Population growth and employment growth is quite steady. Personally, it’s a nice place to live.”

Toll Brothers ownership will allow Coleman Homes to move ahead with four new housing communities for which the company had been cash-constrained until now.

Coleman Homes in Meridian was Coleman Jr.’s company with Coleman Sr. involved as an investor.

“Around the end of 2015, dad and I talked about trying to limit his investment in the business,” Coleman Jr. said. “This coincided with an option to get more equity into the business (with Toll Brothers).”