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Main-Fairview couplet is a new potential new stadium site – or farther west

The Boise Sports Park would have surrounding office, residential and retail no matter where it’s built. File art.

The two locations considered for a downtown Boise baseball stadium for months and years are now off the table.

Stadium developer Chris Schoen has backed away from the St. Luke’s (former Kmart) property at Americana and Shoreline and also the 10.3-acre site that the College of Western Idaho owns at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard.

But his focus remains on the West End, in particular, the undeveloped properties between and along the Main and Fairview couplet.

“There are a number of large parcels that you can put together that are contiguous,” Schoen said. “We need 10 to 12 acres. They don’t all have to be contiguous.”

Schoen and LocalConstruct CEO Casey Lynch confirm the two have spoken about Schoen potentially acquiring LocalConstruct’s 6.6 acres between Main and Fairview at Whitewater Park Boulevard. LocalConstruct has proposed a 223-unit apartment complex for that property but not moved forward with the project.

“I would like to be in a position in four to eight weeks with an announcement that we have a site nailed down,” Schoen said.

All the talk so far over two years has been about a downtown Boise stadium. For the first time, Schoen hints at the possibility he “may have to go a little further west.” A public contingent in the past year has lobbied for the stadium to be farther from downtown.

“The further west you get from downtown, there are much larger parcels available,” Schoen said. “We can still create a terrific destination.”

But Schoen said for now he is still fully focused on the West End’s Main-Fairview corridor.

He still fully intends to develop a mixed-use complex with office, residential and retail surrounding the stadium and intended to have views into the stadium. The mixed-use element provide the tax increment  revenue to pay for the stadium, he said.

Like the stadiums Schoen built in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Augusta, Georgia, the Boise Sports Park will be a park with public access to the concourse, berms and seats when games are not scheduled.

The Fairview-Main corridor feeds directly to and from The Connector. A public contingent in the past year had complained that access to and from the Americana and Shoreline site was difficult.

Schoen had no cost estimate for the latest iteration of the project, which would be the new home of the Boise Hawks minor league baseball team, which Schoen co-owns, and a new United Soccer League professional team. USL is just one level down from Major League Soccer, the top U.S. soccer league. USL is bullish on Boise.

“We have a chance to still make the 2020 season,” Schoen said. “We have to make things happen in a hurry. (USL) are working with us if we have to go to 2012 but the goal is still 2020.”

Downtown Boise stadium proposal is finally official

The first official image of the Boise Sports Park proposal submitted to a city agency. Image from Boise Planning & Development Services website.

After more than a year of public debate, the proposal to build a downtown Boise stadium became official April 24 with the first government filing for the project at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard.

Greenstone Properties of Atlanta, filing as Greenstone Boise LLC, applied with the city of Boise Planning & Development Services to rezone 11.05 acres from C-2D General Commercial and R-OD Residential Office to C-5D Central Business District to allow for the construction of a 5,000-seat stadium and assorted residential, office, commercial and garage development.

The developer seeks to have the Boise Planning & Zoning Commission consider the rezoning at its June 4 or June 11 meetings.

For more than a year, Greenstone has described the proposed details for the project. The city filing is the company’s first official statement describing the plan.

The Boise Sports Park stadium would have 5,000 fixed seats for baseball and, with additional temporary bleachers, 7,500 seats for soccer.

The project proposes 120,000 square feet of office and a 700-space garage behind the right field wall in the baseball configuration and 60 multifamily units along the left field wall. These apartments or condos would be behind a goal in the soccer configuration.

Another 240 apartments and 40,000 square feet of retail are penciled in between American Boulevard and the Boise River. There would be 20,000 square feet of retail behind the third base line bleachers.

The project still has several steps to go through before final city approval, with public comment opportunities at each step along the way.

Downtown stadium project developers start seeking city approvals

More than 300 people showed up at a neighborhood meeting staged by attorney Geoff Wardle (center) regarding a stadium project at Americana Boulevard and Shoreline Drive. Photo by Teya Vitu.
More than 300 people showed up at a neighborhood meeting staged by attorney Geoff Wardle (center) regarding a stadium project at Americana Boulevard and Shoreline Drive. Photo by Teya Vitu.

The developer of a proposed 11-acre downtown Boise stadium-office-commercial-residential complex will make the first official submission to the city of Boise for the project by April 24.

That date is the deadline to submit applications for the June 4 and June 11 Boise Planning & Zoning Commission meetings.

Greenstone Properties will ask to rezone the property owned at Americana Boulevard and Shoreline Drive that the Atlanta-based developer expects to acquire from St. Luke’s Health System in October.

Although this downtown stadium proposal has been publicly discussed by the developer and several government entities for more than a year, this is the first official submission for the project to a government entity to gain government approvals for the project.

Greenstone wants to rezone five lots at Americana and Shoreline to C-5 Central Business District “for activities conducive to a compact and concentrated urban downtown commercial center,” according to the city’s zoning districts document.

Geoff Wardle, a Boise attorney representing Greenstone, said the properties are now zoned C-2 General Commercial and R-O Residential Office. He noted the nearby Fairview and Main corridor that the city calls the West End has been rezoned C-5.

C-5 zoning allows for a wide range of development including the elements specific to Greenstone’s proposal:  office, parking structure, multiple-family dwellings (apartments), outdoor recreation facilities and planned development.

If the city approves rezoning the property, Greenstone can proceed to design review, the next step on the way to a building permit. Each step involves public hearings.

“This is the first of several applications,” Wardle said.

Wardle on April 17 conducted a neighborhood meeting in the parking lot at Americana/Shoreline that drew more than 300 people. All of the attendees who asked Wardle questions were opposed to the proposed location of the stadium. Nobody spoke from the baseball or soccer communities, which overwhelming supported the stadium and location last year at open houses about the project.

The neighborhood meeting is a city requirement before a developer can apply to rezone a property.

Stadium opponents challenge the stadium location and cite concerns about noise pollution, light pollution and the intention to use a potential $27 million in Capital City Development Corp.  bonds to build the $40 million stadium.

“The No. 1 issue is that the location is not appropriate,” said Bob Mayer, a West Bench resident who carried a placard reading “Bieter Boisexit. No Stadium. I condem (sic) the developer and ‘Bieter-offer’.” “You look at the infrastructure around here. (The roads are) already congested. It’s not a good place to do this. It should go where they are doing it now (Memorial Stadium in Garden City). It should be in Meridian.”

At the suggestion of Boise Mayor David Bieter, triggered by an unnamed individual, Greenstone managing member Chris Schoen did explore a land swap that would have College of Western Idaho open a Boise campus at Americana/Shoreline, and would have Schoen build his stadium-commercial-retail-residential complex at CWI’s Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard property.

But that plan seems unlikely to move ahead.

“Neither party is in a position to facilitate the exchange,” Wardle said. “The (St. Luke’s) property is under contract. We’re now moving forward with this.”

Wardle said the Greenstone team has discussed the land swap with CWI officials, but CWI President Bert Glandon has said no formal proposal has been brought to the CWI Board of Trustees, and no decision has been considered regarding the land swap.

Glandon characterized any land swap talks as “hallway conversations,” “very casual” “with absolutely no detail.”

Greenstone expects to apply for design review later in summer, with anticipated construction in 2019. The 5,000-fixed-seat stadium would be ready for the 2020 soccer and minor league baseball seasons, Wardle said.

Boise is on the short list to land a United Soccer League minor league soccer team if a stadium is ready, league officials have said for the past two years.

The properties include the St. Luke’s Business Center, formerly a Kmart, the Shoreline Center and all the land bounded by Americana, Shoreline, Spa Street and 14th Street.

Greenstone proposed to build the 5,000-plus-seat stadium overlooked by a four-story, 60-unit apartment-and-retail structure and a 150,000-square-foot office building. Between Americana and the Boise River, Greenstone managing partner Chris Schoen wants to build 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

Greenstone, Agon Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Boise Hawks baseball team, and St. Luke’s Health System  since March 2017 have had an agreement for St. Luke’s to sell five lots adding up to 11. The sale is expected to close in October.

First official step taken for downtown Boise stadium

Boise State baseball decided not to play in the proposed downtown stadium. Image from Boise Planning and Development Services.
Developers take first official step to build downtown Boise stadium. Image from Boise Planning and Development Services.

Developer Chris Schoen considered moving his proposed downtown stadium to the College of Western Idaho site near the river, but he has now shifted back to his original Americana Boulevard/Shoreline Drive site.

Atlanta-based Greenstone Properties, where Schoen is managing partner, will have a neighborhood meeting on the proposal April 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the St. Luke’s Business Center, 688 S. Americana Blvd.

The neighborhood meeting is a city requirement before a developer can apply to rezone a property. The move is Greenstone’s first official step to gain government approvals for the project.

At the suggestion of Boise Mayor David Bieter, triggered by an unnamed individual, Schoen explored a land swap that would have CWI open a Boise campus at Americana/Shoreline, and would have Schoen build his stadium-commercial-retail-residential complex at CWI’s Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard property.

Schoen did not immediately respond to request for comment from the Idaho Business Review.

“The property is under contract,” Boise attorney Geoff Wardle, who is representing Greenstone, said of the Americana/Shoreline property, which is owned by St. Luke’s Health System. “We’re now moving forward with this.”

The neighborhood meeting comes more than a year after Greenstone committed to the Americana/Shoreline site.

Wardle said Greenstone expects to apply “soon” for a Boise Planning & Zoning Commission hearing to rezone five lots at Americana and Shoreline to C-5 Central Business District “for activities conducive to a compact and concentrated urban downtown commercial center,” according to the city’s zoning districts document.

Wardle said the properties are now zoned C-2 General Commercial and R-O Residential Office. He noted the nearby Fairview and Main corridor that the city calls the West End has been rezoned C-5.

C-5 zoning allows for a wide range of development including the elements specific to Greenstone’s proposal:  office, parking structure, multiple-family dwellings (apartments), outdoor recreation facilities and planned development.

If the city approves rezoning the property, Greenstone can proceed to design review, the next step on the way to a building permit. Each step involves public hearings.

“This is the first of several applications,” Wardle said.

Greenstone expects to apply for design review later in summer with anticipated construction in 2019 to have a 5,000-fixed-seat stadium ready for the 2020 soccer and minor league baseball seasons, Wardle said.

Boise is on the short list to land a United Soccer League minor league soccer team if a stadium is ready, league officials have said for the past two years.

The properties include the St. Luke’s Business Center, formerly a Kmart, the Shoreline Center and all the land bounded by Americana, Shoreline, Spa Street and 14th Street.

Greenstone proposed to build the 5,000-plus-seat stadium overlooked by a four-story, 60-unit apartment-and-retail structure and a 150,000-square-foot office building. Between Americana and the Boise River, Greenstone managing partner Chris Schoen wants to build 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

Greenstone, Agon Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Boise Hawks baseball team, and St. Luke’s Health System  since March 2017 have had an agreement for St. Luke’s to sell five lots adding up to 11. The sale is expected to close in October.

 

Two stadiums jockey for construction starts near downtown Boise

Two downtown Boise sites are under consideration for a soccer/baseball stadium. Image courtesy of Greens
Two downtown Boise sites are under consideration for a soccer/baseball stadium. Image courtesy of Greenstone Properties.

The owners of the Boise Hawks baseball team would like to have a downtown Boise stadium ideal for soccer and baseball ready for the United Soccer League season starting in spring 2020.

The open questions: Where would a downtown stadium be built and when would construction start?

The only agreed-to date in play right now is October, at which time the sale is set to close on the 11-acre St. Luke Health System property at Americana Boulevard and Shoreline Drive to Greenstone Properties.

Greenstone managing director Chris Schoen has proposed for that site a 5,000-fixed-seat soccer/baseball stadium and accompanying commercial-retail-residential complex. Schoen remains confident a stadium will be complete in time for the 2020 soccer and baseball seasons.

square-feet-april-story-blurbBut since November, at the encouragement of Boise Mayor David Bieter, Schoen has considered moving his project to the proposed College of Western Idaho Boise campus site at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard. That’s when someone suggested to Bieter that Schoen and CWI swap properties. The mayor presented the idea to Schoen and CWI President Bert Glandon.

Schoen warmed up to the idea of moving his $70 million stadium-residential-office-retail project to the CWI site, but in early March was still evaluating the CWI site.

“For the CWI site to move forward requires the involvement of a major foundation,” Schoen said in an email. “The mayor is on board but waiting on the determination from the foundation.” He didn’t elaborate on what role a foundation would play at the CWI site.

Glandon also warmed up to the Idaho of possibly moving the CWI Boise campus to the former Kmart building that now houses the St. Luke’s Business Center at Americana and Shoreline.

Glandon said with the 2016 failure of a bond election, he does not foresee construction starting on a Boise campus for five years. The St. Luke’s property would give CWI an existing campus.

But Schoen has made no formal presentation to the CWI Board of Trustees, Glandon noted. CWI has not evaluated the St. Luke site for how it would work out as a community college campus.

“Nothing is going to be quick,” Glandon said. “Is this going to be sustainable for us in the long term?…Until we have some detail, that’s a lot of work to figure out ‘what if.’ Until we have more substantive detail to decide (on the matter), we’re neutral on everything.”

Last fall, Schoen that indicated a $1 million-plus deposit to secure a USL team was expected in November, and when the CWI idea surfaced, Schoen indicated a property swap with CWI would need to be “buttoned up” in 30 days.

Schoen is in close touch with USL and he is co-owner of the Boise Hawks baseball team, which would also play at the downtown stadium.

USL wants a team in Boise. USL currently has 33 teams with six more announced and intentions for 2020 to be the last year for league expansion, though teams in Chicago and Oakland may come onboard after that. The league is one rung below Major League Soccer, the top U.S. professional soccer league.

The 10-acre site now identified as the site of a future College of Western Idaho campus on the west side of downtown Boise.
This 10-acre site is now identified as the home of a future College of Western Idaho campus on the west side of downtown Boise. Developer Chris Schoen would like to use the site for a sports stadium, exchanging it for a site closer to downtown that CWI could use as its campus. Photo by Anne Wallace Allen.

“Boise continues to be a market of great interest to the USL, checking off several boxes that we look for in an expansion city,” USL officials said in a prepared statement. “We are finalizing the deal with the ownership group, which includes details on a venue development.”

Even though CWI has not been formally approached about a property swap, Schoen, who is under contract to buy the St. Luke’s property, would like to close the St. Luke sale in October and “simultaneously swap a portion of it in exchange for the entirety of the CWI site.” He said the CWI site does not require rezoning and does not require the creation of a new urban renewal zone, so it would be possible to start construction in 2018.

Nampa-based CWI leases several locations in Boise. Talk of a property swap comes just as a couple lease extensions are pending with most the other Boise leases up in two or three years, Glandon said.

“The board of trustees remains committed to finding the most efficient and sustainable Boise property we can,” Glandon said. “We welcome any interested property owner to make a presentation.”

The St. Luke’s property at Americana offers 138,573 square feet in four buildings. This includes the former 95,000-square-foot Kmart building that now houses the St. Luke’s Business Center and includes all the land bounded by Americana, Shoreline, Spa Street and 14th Street along with the 31,373-square-foot Shoreline Center property across Shoreline Drive and the former Beehive Salon (1,200 square feet) and Total Woman Fitness (11,000 square feet).

Schoen initially proposed for the St. Luke’s site a 5,000-fixed-seat stadium overlooked by a four-story, 60-unit apartment-and-retail structure and a 150,000-square-foot office building. Between Americana and the Boise River, he outlined 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

“It would be a similar program to the other site: office, retail, residential and other potential uses that would provide TIF revenue to pay back the city bonds,” Schoen said. “Same strategies, same basic components. That site has good advantages. (It has) better visibility from the major arteries into town and better access. Disadvantage is it is not as close to the center city and not as walkable.”

Schoen seeks a $27 million bond from the Capital City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, that would be funded with tax-increment financing paid back with increased property tax revenue from the project.

Boise State seeks a baseball stadium site on campus

Boise State University is considering several sites to build an on-campus baseball stadium. Photo by Teya Vitu
Boise State University is considering several sites to build an on-campus baseball stadium. Photo by Teya Vitu.

Boise State University turned down a chance to field its new baseball team in 2020 in the downtown stadium in favor of building its own baseball stadium on campus.

The university is evaluating several on-campus locations to build a baseball stadium, but no timeline is in place to select a site or start construction, sports information director Joe Nickell said.

“We would hope to have something in place for the first season in 2020,” Nickell said. “We’re not going to rush into anything to make sure we have something by 2020.”

If the Boise State baseball stadium is not ready for the 2020 season, the university will find an alternate baseball stadium on a temporary basis, he said.

A stadium size, design, cost and funding all depend on selecting a stadium site. Boise State hopes to establish a location and start construction “as soon as possible,” but Nickell stressed there is no defined timeline.

Boise State on Oct. 26 walked away from a proposed public-private soccer/baseball stadium at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard with Boise State President Bob Kustra insisting the nascent baseball team should play on the university campus.

The university expects to have a timeline for site selection and building a stadium ready to present to the Idaho State Board of Education in June, Boise State spokesman Greg Hahn said.

Boise stadium developer expects CWI site decision soon

Developer Chris Schoen is considering building his downtown Boise stadium at this site at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard. File photo.
Developer Chris Schoen is considering building his downtown Boise stadium at this site at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard. File photo.

Downtown Boise soccer/baseball stadium developer Chris Schoen has warmed up to the idea of moving his $70 million stadium-residential-office-retail project to the proposed College of Western Idaho campus site at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard.

An anonymous suggestion last fall to Boise Mayor David Bieter floated the idea of CWI swapping its 10.33-acre Whitewater Park property alongside the Boise River for the 11-acre St. Luke’s Business Center property at Americana and Shoreline Drive.

St. Luke’s is observing from the sidelines.

“We are still under contract to sell Shoreline to Greenstone,” St. Luke’s spokeswoman Anita Kissée said. “From our perspective, nothing is different.”

The sale is scheduled to close in October, she added. Greenstone Properties is an Atlanta real estate development company where Schoen is a managing director.

Schoen and CWI President Bert Glandon were both willing to explore the swap, while the stadium opposition group Concerned Boise Taxpayers still opposes using public funding for a stadium without a public vote.

Meanwhile, Schoen is focusing  on the feasibility of the CWI site.

“Yes, we are still pursuing the CWI site,” Schoen told the Idaho Business Review. “We hope to make a determination in the next two to three weeks.”

Schoen initially proposed for the St. Luke’s site a 5,000-plus-seat stadium overlooked by a four-story, 60-unit apartment-and-retail structure and a 150,000-square-foot office building. Between Americana and the Boise River, he outlined 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

“It would be a similar program to the other site: office, retail, residential and other potential uses that would provide TIF revenue to pay back the city bonds,” Schoen said. “Same strategies, same basic components. That site has good advantages. The St. Luke’s site has good advantages.”

Schoen seeks a $27 million bond from the Capital City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency that would be funded with tax-increment financing paid back with increased property tax revenue from the project.

Boise State looks for baseball stadium site

One site under consideration for a Boise State University base ball stadium is within site of Alberstons Stadium. Photo by Teya Vitu.
One site under consideration for a Boise State University baseball stadium is within sight of Albertsons Stadium, the home field of the university’s football team, the Broncos. Photo by Teya Vitu.

With a baseball coach hired and plans to field a team in spring 2020, Boise State University is evaluating several on-campus locations to build a baseball stadium.

One potential identified location is a vacant lot at Beacon Street and Grant Avenue, which is at the opposite corner of the same intersection as the new premium flagship Albertsons under construction. Grant Avenue dead-ends at Albertsons Stadium.

Other locations are under consideration, said Joe Nickell, Boise State’s sports information director.

“We would hope to have something in place for the first season in 2020,” Nickell said.

Boise State on Oct. 26 walked away from a proposed public-private soccer/baseball stadium at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard, with Boise State President Bob Kustra insisting the nascent baseball team should play on the university campus.

Stadium size, design, cost and funding all depend on selecting a stadium site, Nickell said.

Boise State hopes to establish a location and start construction “as soon as possible,” but Nickell stressed there is no defined timeline.

“We’re not going to rush into anything to make sure we have something by 2020,” he said.

If the Boise State baseball stadium is not ready for the 2020 season, the university will find a temporary alternative, he said.

With stadium proposal, the clock is ticking

What gets lost Teya Vitu headshotin the proposed downtown Boise stadium chatter is that professional soccer is the driver for the entire project. It’s a stadium first, surrounded by offices, commercial space and apartments.

Stadium opponents want the city to take more time before a stadium decision is made. And now Mayor David Bieter wants all parties to consider moving the stadium project from the Shoreline and Americana location that has been under planning for more than a year to the site that College of Western Idaho bought at Main Street and Whitewater Park Boulevard.

But proponents of the stadium don’t have the luxury of time. If Boise wants a professional soccer team playing in a league just one rung below Major League Soccer, the country’s top-level soccer league, they need to make some decisions.

United Soccer League is very keen on Boise, based on high and enthusiastic turnout for three pro soccer matches in the Treasure Valley in the past two years. Stadium developer Chris Schoen believes USL soccer would be a bigger draw than the Boise Hawks baseball team that he co-owns and that would share the stadium with soccer.

The time crunch for a stadium is this: USL has announced that the league’s last expansion would field teams in spring 2020, which comes with a USL requirement for a commitment by early 2018 to have a suitable soccer stadium ready for 2020.

Schoen says he has “wiggle room” from USL to pay a $1 million-plus deposit to USL to secure a team and show a firm community commitment to the project.

“The timelines are very, very tight,” Schoen told the Idaho Business Review on Dec. 8. “If we’re going to consider a new proposal, we have to have everything buttoned up in a hurry. We need additional land area (beyond CWI’s acreage) to accomplish critical mass to sustain the process (create tax revenue to pay off an expected $26 million in public bonds to finance stadium construction)… We need to have something buttoned up in the next 30 days if this is going to be something viable.”

An unnamed party in the first days of December presented Bieter with the idea of having CWI swap its land for the St. Luke’s Business Center property that is a former Kmart building. Bieter found the idea viable enough to float it to CWI President Bert Glandon on Dec. 5. CWI purchased its 10-acre parking lot on Boise’s West End two years ago to use as a main campus, but hasn’t built there yet.

“I love the Americana site for the ballpark,” Bieter said. “For me, the biggest thing is CWI.”

The concept intrigues Glandon. The defeat of a $180 million bond election in November 2016 shelved construction for “probably four to five years” of new buildings at the school’s Nampa campus and the proposed Boise campus at Whitewater Park Boulevard.

“If there is something we can get done with somebody to talk about, yeah, let’s sit down and talk,” said Glandon, adding that a 30-day window is possible. He added no details have been presented to him or the CWI Board of Trustees.

Even Schoen sees community value in moving CWI to the St. Luke’s location, which already has buildings in place that the college could use.  The big question is can a property swap and reconfiguring Schoen’s stadium-commercial-office-retail project quickly enough for USL to award a soccer team to Boise?

Schoen hasn’t ruled it out, and the college appears willing to come to the table. So far, all St. Luke’s Health System, which owns the Shoreline and Americana property, is willing to say is: “There continue to be conversations in the community about the proposed sports park development. What I can tell you is that the Shoreline property is under contract with Greenstone (Schoen’s development company) and we are working to conclude the transaction.”

Bieter insists he is not forcing a stadium move, that there is no threat that the city’s proposed $3 million for stadium construction or the estimated $26 million bond from the Capital City Development Corp. would be withdrawn if the stadium project does not move to Whitewater Park Boulevard.

“We just want to give it time to give it a chance,” said Bieter, acknowledging that the time window is quite small.

On the opposing side, a group called the Concerned Boise Taxpayers challenges publicly financing a stadium for the “highly speculative and risky” prospect of landing a pro soccer team.

USL President Jake Edwards has told the Idaho Business Review the league is only waiting for a local commitment to a stadium to award Boise a team.

Edwards attended the USL match in Meridian in 2016 and saw for himself the overflow crowd at Rocky Mountain High School for the game between the Portland and Kansas City Minor league teams. Edwards also kept close tabs on the Basque Soccer Friendly in 2015 that drew 22,000 people to Albertsons Stadium to see Athletic Bilbao and Club Tijuana play in the first international soccer match in Idaho. And he’s aware of the recent indoor soccer international match between the U.S. and Brazil that sold out CenturyLink Arena with only a few days’ notice.

I attended all three of those matches. Boise no doubt is a soccer town. The nation became soccer-savvy in the 2010s, with soccer-specific stadiums built around the country. Boisterous fans now fill soccer stadium in Portland, Seattle and elsewhere.

Boise could also have a thriving pro soccer scene – if a stadium proceeds in a timely manner.

Teya Vitu writes about real estate and construction for the Idaho Business Review.

 

 

Downtown stadium developer plans to submit design documents in January-February

Boise Sports Park could have apartments overlooking left field, offices overlooking right field and a music venue beyond center field. Image courtesy of city of Boise.
Boise Sports Park could have apartments overlooking left field, offices overlooking right field and a music venue beyond center field. Image courtesy of city of Boise.

Terms of a master development agreement for a downtown Boise stadium and mixed-use commercial, housing and office complex at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard should be in place by the end of the year, according to city officials and the developer.

This Boise Sports Park agreement would spell out conditions and guarantees regarding the private development and lease payments for the proposed stadium.

Atlanta developer Greenstone Properties proposes to build the 5,000-plus-seat stadium overlooked by a four-story, 60-unit apartment-and-retail structure and a 150,000-square-foot office building. Between Americana and the Boise River, Greenstone managing partner Chris Schoen wants to build 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

Chris Schoen
Chris Schoen

The terms under negotiation include the donation of the stadium land valued at $5 million by Greenstone; proof of financing for the accompanying private development; and terms of how Greenstone would cover a gap if the taxes generated by the private development do not reach the required $1 million in annual tax revenue.

The objective is for Greenstone’s $1 million lease payment and the $1 million expected in taxes from the private development to pay the annual debt payments on the proposed $27 million public body to build the stadium, said Nic Miller, the  Boise economic development director.

The master development agreement would nail down a public-private partnership that would have Greenstone lease the stadium for 20 years. After that time, the city of Boise would take over stadium ownership.

Schoen is starting traffic, noise and lighting studies for the 11 acres at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard that he is under contract to buy from St. Luke’s Health System.

Schoen expects to submit documents in January or February to start the zoning and entitlement process toward a building permit that will include several public comment periods. He wants to start construction on the stadium and office/apartment/commercial buildings in October or November to have a stadium ready for the 2020 United Soccer League season.

That timeline is realistic, Miller said.

He added that Schoen has met with neighborhood and business groups many times.

“He’s taking it on,” Miller said. “He knows what kind of opposition he’s facing. He’s talking to a lot of people in town.”

Miller anticipates a $27 million bond issued by the Capital City Development Corp. to finance stadium construction, estimated at $36 million. The parties are negotiating now to determine how much money Schoen will have to put forward before a bond is issued.

Schoen is proposing $60 million to $90 million in privately financed development around the stadium.

The city intends to commit $3 million to stadium construction. No official dollar figure is in play from the Greater Boise Auditorium District but it is anticipated the district will consider $5 million, and Schoen will pay $1 million.

“Probably at the end of December or first of January we will have a master development and stadium licensing agreement in concept,” Schoen said.

That would allow Schoen to make a deposit in excess of $1 million to secure a USL soccer team. USL is a 30-team minor league just one rung below Major League Soccer, the top U.S. professional soccer league.

Opposition and rebuttal

In an earlier interview, Sean Garretson, owner of Pegasus Development in Austin, Texas, questioned the feasibility of a 5,000-seat stadium and surrounding mixed-use office, residential and commercial complex at Shoreline and Americana. Garretson was hired by Concerned Boise Taxpayers, the most organized opposition to a publicaly financed stadium. The group is co-chaired by Gary Michael, former CEO of Albertsons, and Bill Ilett, former managing partner of the Idaho Stampede.

Sean Garretson
Sean Garretson

“As an urban planner, I love the concept. It’s just highly speculative and risky,” Garretson said in October. “What can the market support (in regard to the proposed housing, retail and office components)? It’s a question I have.”

Schoen intends to have some office and commercial tenant leases in place before construction starts.

“We already met with corporations to be in a position to do pre-leasing,” Schoen said.

The city of Boise conducted a public stadium survey online and at three open houses that drew 906 responses. City spokesman Mike Journee said 76 percent were positive feedback, 22 percent negative feedback and 2 percent neutral with 727 surveys turned in online, 152 at the open houses and 27 by email.

According to its website, Concerned Boise Taxpayers opposes the stadium project because Boise is overtaxed; the stadium bond is risky; there are stadium project problems elsewhere; “the demand isn’t there;” and there is an existing baseball stadium at the Ada County Fairgrounds. The group says it has 1,000 supporters between its email list, member list and Facebook followers.

The Concerned Boise Taxpayers and Garretson don’t see any certainty that the Boise Hawks baseball team, where Schoen is co-owner, and a potential United Soccer League high-tier minor league professional soccer team will be successful or that a soccer team is a certainty.

“Is it a given the Boise Hawks will have an attendance increase? I don’t know,” said Garretson, a former vice chairman of the Austin Urban Renewal Authority. “USL, they don’t have that. It’s very speculative.”

The USL and Schoen insist Boise is on track to get a USL team if a stadium is ready for 2020.

“We have a definitive agreement with the USL,” Schoen said. “We’re going to have to be able to prove to them we have a venue to play in.”

“Boise remains a desired market for the next and final phase of USL Expansion,” USL spokesman Leonard Santiago said in October.“At this time, USL approval primarily hinges on a successful outcome for the stadium development project under consideration.”

Critics contend a new stadium should be built where the existing Memorial Stadium is or somewhere closer to the center of the valley.  Critics believe the Boise Sports Park site is awkwardly located.

Schoen counters with the stadium’s location near the Boise River Greenbelt and half mile from Grove Plaza.

“The stadium is going to be attractive because it’s super easy to get to,” Schoen said.

Stadium supporters and detractors square off at GBAD board meeting

Greater Boise Auditorium District Chairman Jim Walker noted he has not seen such a large crowd at a GBAD board meeting. The board was hosting presentations in favor and against a downtown stadium. Photo by Teya Vitu.
Greater Boise Auditorium District Chairman Jim Walker noted he has not seen such a large crowd at a GBAD board meeting. The board was hosting presentations in favor and against a downtown stadium. Photo by Teya Vitu.

For people involved in soccer, a downtown Boise stadium is a must-have.

But for the Concerned Boise Taxpayers, there are deep reservations about investing public money in the project, a proposed soccer/baseball stadium at Shoreline Drive and Americana Blvd. The group is also concerned about parking, traffic, noise and lighting.

The president of the Idaho Youth Soccer Association and former CEO of Albertsons Inc. presented contrasting views Oct. 26 at the Greater Boise Auditorium District board meeting on stadium. Greenstone Properties proposes a 5,500-seat stadium that would include surrounding office, retail and residential components.

“This is just a hig- risk project and the wrong place,” said Gary Michael, the former Albertsons boss leading the Concerned Boise Taxpayers. “We feel strongly this project has no place for the District. We are opposed to any public funding. I hope you do your homework and understand the high risk.”

Greenstone Properties has made no formal requests for funding from GBAD, the city of Boise or the Capital City Development Corp. It is anticipated CCDC would issue a bond to pay for the estimated $40 construction cost of the stadium. Repayment would come from $1 million annual lease payments by Agon Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Boise Hawks minor league baseball team.

GBAD has not given any consideration to a dollar amount. The district considered a $5 million investment toward a stadium a few years ago, before Agon Sports bought the Hawks.

“Nobody has come to us asking for $5 million to do this (downtown stadium),” GBAD Executive Director Pat Rice told the Idaho Business Review.

GBAD Chairman Jim Walker backed a stadium when he ran for office.

“The sports park fits the mission for what the District stands for,” Walker said. “As a concept, I’m in support.”

The city of Boise has earmarked $3 million for a downtown stadium in its five-year capital improvement plan, city spokesman Mike Journee said.

“There has not been any appropriation,” Journee said. “It’s still up in the air what amount we’re talking about and when. The developer has not brought a proposal.”

The Concerned Boise Taxpayers have been vocal in the past month, attending the three City of Boise open houses about the stadium and mixed-use project in October at the Boise Centre, Payette Brewing and City Hall.

The open houses offered a stadium survey to participants with the same survey available online and via email.

Residents turned in 906 surveys with 727 online, 152 at the open houses and 27 by email, Journee said.

He added that 76 percent had positive feedback, 22 percent negative and 2 percent neutral.

Boise is a soccer town

Bill Taylor, president for seven years of the Idaho Youth Soccer Association, said a huge number of the online surveys came from soccer enthusiasts. He spoke at the GBAD meeting on behalf of the Better Boise Coalition, a collection of private and public officials that banded together six years ago to promote building a downtown stadium.

“The rhetoric has been that this is a massive project, a massive stadium,” Taylor said. “This is akin to going to a high school football game. To think of parking problems and traffic problems is kind of silly. High school football fields have lights not conducive to neighborhoods.”

The Boise stadium design calls for a sunken field and bleacher overhangs to keep most noise and lighting contained within the stadium, Greenstone managing director Chris Schoen has previously said.

The stadium would primarily serve the Boise Hawks and a projected USL minor league soccer team in a league just one level down from Major League Soccer. The USL in past interviews has said it is eager to place a team in Boise. Along with the two teams, the stadium is being promoted as a site for community events.

“IYSA will use it for championship games. High schools will use it for championship games,” Taylor said. “To me, this is a unique project, not one typical across the country.”

Michael said there have been meetings among government entities and Greenstone in the past couple years that were out of the public view. He said the project was assembled without public involvement.

Taylor dismissed that notion. He said the soccer community banded together to get Kristin Muchow elected to the GBAD board this year.

“The people want this,” Taylor said. “The soccer community came out. The thought of taxation without representation is a silly thought.”

One of the leaders of Concerned Boise Taxpayers is Bill Ilett, former managing partner of Idaho Stampede, the NBA D-League basketball team that moved out of Boise in 2016. Michael had made a reference to the difficulties of operating the Stampede and the Hawks.

Taylor said soccer enthusiasm is growing exponentially in America. Even in Boise, the three high-profile matches in the past two years (the Basque Friendly, the USL and the indoor international friendly) drew large crowds.

“Look at the (soccer) fan base in Portland and Seattle,” Taylor said. “That’s the fan base we have. This is not D League basketball.”

An Austin, Texas, urban renewal and economic development consultant said the plan to build a downtown Boise soccer and baseball stadium with public financing is “highly speculative and risky.”

Sean Garretson
Sean Garretson

“As an urban planner, I love the concept,” said Sean Garretson, owner of Pegasus Development planning and development company. “What can the market support (in regard to the proposed housing, retail and office components)? It’s a question I have.”

Garretson was hired by a group called Concerned Boise Taxpayers in early October to look over the city’s feasibility study for the 5,000-seat stadium and office, residential and commercial complex. Concerned Boise Taxpayers is opposed to the stadium plan.

The project would be a public-private partnership with the city of Boise and Atlanta-based Greenstone Properties.

Garretson acknowledged his analysis is based on limited information. He toured the area where the stadium is proposed on a bicycle Oct. 26-27 during a two-day visit to Boise. He has worked on three Meridian projects: an economic development strategy; a housing study; and a study for a downtown multi-purpose performance center. He wrote also a strategic plan for College of Western Idaho.

The Concerned Boise Taxpayers and Garretson don’t see any certainty that the Boise Hawks and a potential United Soccer League high-tier minor league professional soccer team will deliver the financial success to pay off the bond for the stadium. “Is it a given the Boise Hawks will have an attendance increase? I don’t know,” said Garretson, a former vice chairman of the Austin Urban Renewal Authority. “USL, they don’t have that. It’s very speculative.”

Of studying the stadium proposal, Garretson said, “It’s been a struggle getting the documents we requested. I really think the city should be much more open on this thing. I’m shocked at how much is redacted. This is information that should not be redacted.”

Boise city officials rejected the idea that information was withheld improperly.

“Often in economic development deals, a redaction or denial of records is not uncommon,” said Nic Miller, the city’s economic development director. “Open records law says proprietary information can and should be redacted.”

Miller noted there has been no formal proposal for the stadium.

The 30-team United Soccer League, just one rung below Major League Soccer, has closely monitored Boise’s bid to land a team.

“Boise remains a desired market for the next and final phase of USL Expansion,” USL spokesman Leonardo Santiago said in an email. “At this time, USL approval primarily hinges on a successful outcome for the stadium development project under consideration.”

Boise must meet professional soccer Division II standards for fan and player atmosphere.

“We believe the proposed stadium project in Boise meets and exceeds that criteria,” Santiago said.

As for paying off stadium construction bond debt, Miller stressed that the far larger share of bond payments would be made by Greenstone’s accompanying, privately funded, mixed-use development adjacent to the stadium.

“We looked at a lot of deals similar to this,” Miller said. “One of the things we found, the way this is structured, if the private development does not get built, the sports park doesn’t get built.”

Information about Concerned Taxpayers consultant Sean Garretson was added to the end of the story Oct. 31, 2017.

Boise State backs out of downtown stadium proposal

Boise State baseball decided not to play in the proposed downtown stadium. Image from Boise Planning and Development Services.
Boise State baseball decided not to play in the proposed downtown stadium. Image from Boise Planning and Development Services.

Boise State University has stepped away from fielding a potential baseball team in the proposed downtown stadium at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard.

Greenstone Properties managing director Chris Schoen in the past month has touted Boise State as a possible tenant along with the Boise Hawks minor league baseball team and a USL professional soccer team.

BSU, however, on Oct. 26 announced it intended to build a collegiate baseball stadium on or near campus.

“We are in the middle of the hiring process for our baseball head coach, and an on-campus stadium will be a major selling point — both to the individual we ultimately hire, and to the future student-athletes that will be recruited to Boise State,” Athletic Director Curt Apsey said in a news release.

Boise State had initially contacted Schoen asking if college baseball could use his stadium. Schoen figured Boise State baseball into the 365-day calendar, but the loss of Boise State doesn’t worry him.

“It frees up 55 to 58 dates for us,” Schoen told the Idaho Business Review. “I don’t think it impacts us very much. We started down the road thinking of the Hawks and minor league soccer. It simplifies things for us.”

Bob Kustra
Bob Kustra

Boise State President Bob Kustra in a release said a long-term lease would be “less financially prudent” than building a stadium or entering a lease-to-own agreement on one.

“As a baseball fan, I support efforts that boost baseball in Boise and give our community a chance to enjoy the sport for years to come,” Kustra said. “I wish the Hawks and the City of Boise the best in moving forward. But my primary responsibility as university president is to make the best choices for the future of Boise State.”

Boise Mayor David Bieter, like Schoen, said the Boise Sports Park can succeed without Boise State.

“We are excited by the continued interest of the Boise School District and the other possible users of the sports park and will move ahead with the process to ensure that the project is a good fit for its neighbors and for the city as a whole,” the mayor said in a prepared statement.

Downtown stadium could be headed for a 2020 opening

Boise Sports Park could have apartments overlooking left field, offices overlooking right field and a music venue beyond center field. Image courtesy of city of Boise.
Boise Sports Park could have apartments overlooking left field, offices overlooking right field and a music venue beyond center field. Image courtesy of the city of Boise.

Public and private entities have their sights set on having a downtown stadium ready for Boise Hawks baseball and professional soccer by 2020.

The Boise City Council on Sept. 26 instructed city staff to assemble a financial and legal framework to establish a public-private partnership with Atlanta-based Greenstone Properties. Greenstone managing director Chris Schoen proposes building an 11-plus-acre complex of offices, residential and retail anchored by 5,000-plus-seat Boise Sports Park.

The Capital City Development Corp. expects to create a new Shoreline urban renewal district late in 2018 that would include the Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard area where the Boise Sports Park stadium is proposed. The urban renewal district would be the source of bond financing for the estimated $40 million stadium, and CCDC would own the stadium until the bond is paid off, CCDC Executive Director John Brunelle said.

Schoen hopes to have a public-private partnership in place with the city by November, at which time a deposit of ore than $1 million is due to land a United Soccer League team for Boise. USL President Jake Edwards has indicated a keen interest in having a Boise team.

Chris Schoen
Chris Schoen

Schoen hopes to start stadium construction in a little over a year, with the stadium opening in 2020. Boston-based International Stadia Design is designing the Boise Sports Park to be configured for both baseball and soccer.

Schoen also is co-owner of the Boise Hawks, but he and Hawks co-owner Jeff Eiseman are even more bullish about soccer. Atlanta-based Agon Sports & Entertainment is the ownership entity for the Hawks and Augusta Greenjackets minor league baseball team in Georgia.

“We really think that’s the best (soccer) league we can bring to the market,” Schoen said. ”Soccer is growing up nationally. Boise has seen some of that.”

Schoen cited the three high-profile Treasure Valley soccer matches in the past two years: The Basque Friendly that filled Albertsons Stadium with Idaho’s first international soccer match in 2015; The Portland Timbers T2 minor league soccer match that filled to overflowing the Rocky Mountain High School  stadium in Meridian in 2016; and the indoor soccer match featuring the U.S. national arena soccer team that sold out CenturyLink Arena in August even with the game announced just days before kickoff.

“I think soccer is going to be more successful than baseball,” Schoen said. “Soccer fans can be rabid. We can image a procession marching from downtown to the stadium.”

Schoen’s initial concept proposes a stadium with variable seating from 5,000 to 6,500 seats.

“It’s really built for soccer and it’s also built for baseball,” Schoen said.

He initially plans a four-story structure at the left field wall with retail facing the stadium and the street and 60 apartments above. In the soccer configuration, this building would be behind a goal.

In right field, Schoen plans a 150,000-square-foot office building.

The stadium would be built on the site of a former Kmart that is now home to the St. Luke’s Business Center at Shoreline Drive and Americana Boulevard. Schoen is under contract to purchase 11 acres from St. Luke’s Health System including properties on both sides of Shoreline, Americana and Spa Street.

Between Americana and the Boise River, Schoen expects to build 40,000 square feet of retail and 240 apartments.

Schoen made presentations of the initial conceptual plan to the Boise City Council, Greater Boise Auditorium District and Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce during the last week of September.

“These plans will change,” Schoen stresses, reminding audiences these are early conceptual idea. “We are still in the planning stages.”

The city of Boise brought on Jay Lenhardt, principal at Dallas-based Conventions, Sports & Leisure International (CSL), to do an independent study on the Boise Sports Park. CSL did a stadium study for Boise in 2011 but no project was on the table at that time. CSL previously did studies for the Boise Centre East expansion and the Stueckle Sky Center at Albertsons Stadium.

“We strongly suggest this is a project worth pursuing,” Lenhardt told community leaders. “The facility will help ensure long-term viability of the Boise Hawks. It will also help secure a professional sports franchise.”

Greenstone has experience mixing stadiums with retail, office, residential

Agon Sports and Entertainment bought the Boise Hawks baseball team in 2014 with the firm acknowledgment that a new stadium would have to be built.

Boise Sports Park developer Chris Schoen envisions a large plaza outside the stadium. Image courtesy of city of Boise.
Boise Sports Park developer Chris Schoen envisions a large plaza outside the stadium. Image courtesy of the city of Boise.

Agon partners Chris Schoen and Jeff Eiseman – through Schoen’s Greenstone Properties – are now building a similar mixed-use stadium, office, retail complex in North Augusta, Georgia, for the other minor league baseball team they own, the Augusta Greenjackets.

Schoen in a prior partnership built a baseball stadium in a mixed-use setting in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Prior to joining Greenstone Properties, Schoen was CEO at Barry Real Estate Companies in Atlanta from 1996 to 2010 and Hardball Capital from 2005 to 2011. The latter company owned the baseball teams in Fort Wayne, Salem, Virginia; and Savanna, Georgia.

While at Barry, Schoen developed the 29-story Pinnacle at Symphony Place in downtown Nashville in 2010; the 28-story W Hotel in Alan Plaza in Atlanta with 237 hotel rooms and 76 residence that opened in 2008; and the 11-story One Federal Place office building in Birmingham, Alabama in 2002. In Fort Wayne in 2009, Schoen developed the 6,500-seat Parkview Field that is part of the Harrison Square mixed-use development. The project includes a 249-room hotel and a four-story residential-and-office building overlooking left field in the stadium. Boise Mayor David Bieter, city economic development director Nic Miller, Capital City Development Corp. Commissioner Dana Zuckerman and Derick O’Neill, director of Boise Planning & Development Services, visited Fort Wayne in early September.

In North Augusta, construction recently started on the 4,300-seat SRP Park set to open in April. The stadium is part of the $195 million Project Jackson, a Greenstone development that includes a 180-room Crown Plaza hotel, 280 apartments and 24 additional units overlooking the stadium’s left field, a 125-unit senior living building, 72,000 square feet office, and 50,000 square feet retail, restaurant and a 1,558- space garage.

Boise Sports Park is set to share many of these features, including the apartments in left field. There is no hotel in this preliminary Boise proposal. But Schoen is trying to acquire neighboring property beyond the 11 acres of St. Luke’s property that he has under contract. “We’ve got to acquire a little more land (to do a hotel),” said Schoen, adding he’s had conversations with hotel operators. “It’s a really high quality hotel that has visited Boise a couple times in the past.”

 

Who holds the bag?

If Agon Sports and Entertainment falters in the years after a stadium opens and walks away from the Boise Sports Park, does the stadium sit empty with nobody paying back the bond?

That’s not likely to happen, said Chris Schoen, managing member of Agon Sports and co-owner of the Boise Hawks.

The Boise Hawks are affiliated with the Major League Baseball Colorado Rockies franchise, and the Rockies have part ownership in the Hawks. This is the first time the Major League team has had a vested interest in the Hawks, noted Bill Connors, CEO of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Schoen will have to win a number of local government approvals before stadium construction starts. But Schoen added he will also need Class A Northwest League to sign off on the plan, as well as Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball.

“If something were to happen (to Agon), the league would take over operations of our team,” Schoen said.  “(One of them) would operate the team.”

There is precedent for this. The faltering Montreal Expos were owned by Major League Baseball before the team moved to Washington, D.C., in the 2000s.

Connors at the Boise Chamber has championed a downtown baseball stadium for the past eight years as a member of Better Boise Coalition. The coalition had an artistic rendition drawn up for a stadium but never gained momentum.

“I think there is a lot more there than we’ve seen in the past,” Connors said about Schoen’s proposal. “We’ve never seen the parent organization (the Major League team) have a vested interested. We haven’t had a development group this experienced.”

The stadium appears headed toward financing from a bond acquired by the Capital City Development Corp. Early talks between the city, CCDC and Schoen detailed a $1 million a year lease with Agon Sports to operate the stadium.

Boise City Council member Scot Ludwig said debt service on the bond likely would be $2 million a year. Agon’s $1 million lease would pay half and $1 million in estimated taxes generated by the Boise Sports Park property could pay the other half.

“In a beautiful world, they pay all the debt service,” Ludwig said about the Greenstone development.