Why buying a 0.2-acre property could be a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for Boise

A key piece to the city of Boise’s grand vision for a public space on South 8th Street by the Greenbelt and Boise Public Library is up for sale. And the city’s urban renewal agency is making a push to buy it.

But the site is expensive. And a key City Hall decision 11 years ago could sharply restrict the completion of the grand vision for the next half century.

The piece of land at 703 S. 8th St. is just 0.18 acres with a small parking lot and two buildings on it. One building is occupied by an artist in residence, the other by an interior design studio. But sitting on the southwest corner of South 8th Street and West River Street, it’s a prime location surrounded by other city-owned land.

That’s why the land that’s up for sale holds the key to what could someday be a large-scale public project. The parcel is also directly west of the Boise Public Library, just across 8th Street.

It’s not yet known what the land would be used for, but the possibilities are significant: Maybe a big library expansion. Maybe a cultural attraction. Or anything else that serves the public.

Immediately south of the 703 S. 8th St. property is a bigger piece of city-owned land with an old warehouse that was renovated more than a decade ago and is occupied by Biomark LLC, which makes electronic tags and monitoring devices for fish and wildlife.. South of that is the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, the Greenbelt and the Boise River.

Capital City Development Corp., Boise’s urban renewal agency, is considering buying the property for $1.9 million. At Monday’s Capital City Development Corp. board meeting, commissioners voted to buy the property, pending an appraisal that would be reviewed by the board next month.

The property is owned by the Lydia Merrill Trust. As soon as it went up for sale, Capital City Development Executive Director John Brunelle said agency staffers found it attractive. Project Manager Alexandra Monjar said the property is underused in a prime location and could help generate vibrancy in the area.

The staff began negotiating with the seller and reached a tentative agreement to buy it for $1.9 million.

“We believe the acquisition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to assemble the parcels on this block for the city,” Monjar said, “and expand on the investment that the city has made in our public spaces.”

But that could be an extremely long-term play, because Biomark’s lease won’t end for a long time. In 2011, the company signed a lease for the land and building from the city for 45 years. The lease allows three possible extensions, five years each, that allow Biomark to extend the lease to an extraordinary 60 years.

Before the 2011 lease, the site had been considered as a potential location for a library expansion. The city bought the site, previously a Shaver’s Inc. grocery warehouse, in 2002 for $1.5 million, according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting. There were plans for a $42 million main library expansion, but those were put on hold until after other branch libraries were built.

A 2011 Statesman story reported questions then being raised about the Biomark lease, notably from developer Mark Rivers, who said the city was missing an opportunity to use “the last developable site along the Greenbelt in the Downtown core. It is beachfront. Shouldn’t it be used for a grand purpose?”

Key aides to then-Mayor David Bieter — who included Brunelle, now the urban renewal agency’s director — said that helping an innovative small business was worthwhile. The business is now owned by Intervet Inc. of Madison, New Jersey, doing business as Merck Animal Health.

Eight years later, Bieter promoted a plan for a new library, which city leaders pledged would cost no more than $85 million, on the site of the longstanding main library, an old warehouse converted to a library in the 1970s. Bieter’s plan didn’t include any of the city property on the west side of 8th Street. That 60-year lease blocked its use.

Voters didn’t care for the new library’s price tag. In November 2019, they approved a proposition saying any library improvements costing more than $25 million would need a citywide vote. That sank the proposal.

Bieter took a drubbing in that election, and the next month, he lost to Lauren McLean in a runoff. There’s been little talk of a new library since.

The smaller site now being considered for purchase is catty-corner from the warehouse that long served as home to the Foothills School of Arts and Sciences. A 12-story, 160-unit apartment building was proposed on that site in 2020 but has yet to be built.

Monday’s board meeting discussion centered on the $1.9 million price tag and whether it’s prudent to spend that much for the 0.18-acre property.

Commissioner Rob Perez balked at the little parcel’s price. He said, “$244 a foot seems higher than parcels I’ve seen in the area.”

The agency’s original bid was $200 per square foot with an escalation clause, Monjar said.

The Capital City Development Corp. had not obtained an appraisal for the property. As part of the agreement, there’s a 30-day due diligence period. The agency now plans to receive an appraisal within that window.

The appeal of the parcel is how it connects with the adjacent city-owned land. If the purchase happens, the city would own the land from Capitol Boulevard on the east to South 9th Street on the west and from the Boise River on the south to West River Street on the north.

“Because of the site and the future possibilities, it scares me to think that a chain hotel or a generic building could go up there with a fast food restaurant on the first story,” Capital City Development Corp. Chairwoman Dana Zuckerman said, “and that could wreck any future plans for cultural development on South 8th Street that the city is going to need or at least want in the future.”

The parcel lies in the River-Myrtle Old Boise urban renewal district, which sunsets in 2025. Capital City Development Corp.’s plan would be to pass the land to the city of Boise. If the property is instead bought by a private company, the urban renewal agency and city would have significantly less control over what gets built there.

“We did see this opportunity as a golden one to complete the picture of public ownership of the side by side lots for the future, not today but for the future generations of Boise,” Brunelle said at Monday’s meeting. “So whether the future plan is library or otherwise on these locations, there will come a day where we look back on this and say, ‘This was an intelligent move, in our opinion, to take this opportunity to assemble and complete the picture for the citizens.”

McLean, a board commissioner, said it’s important to discuss the public purpose of the land once the appraisal is complete and the board prepares to make a decision on buying the property.

Zuckerman said she doesn’t think real estate appraisers could find properties comparable to this one to judge its value, because of the site’s unique potential. She’d prefer to buy the property now rather than looking back in the future and wishing the agency had done so when it had the chance.

“Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Zuckerman said.