The Greater Boise Auditorium District board wanted a fresh set of eyes to consider where to build a new convention center in Downtown Boise.

Of the four sites the Midwestern consultants reviewed, two had not been considered by the auditorium district: the southeast corner of Capitol Boulevard and Front Street, and a “hybrid” using some of the Simplot family’s new JUMP project.

And the consultants liked the Capitol Boulevard site best.

GBAD has searched for years for a way to expand on the 21-year-old Boise Centre, which the board believes is too small and limited to attract big conventions to Boise.

But GBAD board members, who will discuss the report at their meeting Monday, were reluctant to discuss the report in advance.

The caution expressed by newly elected board member and chairman Hy Kloc was typical. He supports “creating a convention center expansion team that includes all the groups involved and affected. A project of this magnitude needs the expertise and input from all stakeholders,” he said.

But GBAD officials apparently are open to looking at the alternatives the consultants identified.

“While this study is considered a cursory review, it revealed that the Capitol Boulevard site has a number of very positive attributes,” according to the report prepared by CSL/Populous.

Those attributes put the site ahead of expanding the existing convention center on the Grove Plaza or building on the vacant 5-acre parcel the auditorium district owns west of the Boise Centre near the ramps of the I-184 Connector.

The Capitol site floated to the top because it is adjacent to the Grove and Hampton Inn hotels and restaurants and entertainment venues, and it has good pedestrian and vehicle access, according to the report.

Currently, a large gravel parking lot, Ada County’s FACES facility and Dunkley Music occupy the site.

Rafanelli & Nahas, a development company, owns the 1.7-acre gravel lot. The land is not for sale, according to Rafanelli & Nahas project manager Scott Schoenherr. “If the auditorium district is interested in this site, we will certainly listen to their ideas,” he said.

Ada County’s Family Advocacy Center & Education Services program is housed in a building the county owns at the southwest corner of 6th and Broad streets. FACES provides services to victims of domestic violence or sexual assault and their children. The building also serves as records storage for county offices and departments.

Building a convention center there would require purchasing the land, demolishing the FACES and Dunkley buildings and eliminating Broad Street between 6th and Capitol.

According to county assessor records, Rafanelli’s parking lot and the Dunkley site are assessed at $1.8 million and $1.2 million, respectively. Assessments are not available for the FACES building or the 5 vacant acres the auditorium district owns because they are public property. Vacant land adjacent to the auditorium district’s parcel is assessed at about $800,000 an acre.

NO INTEREST FROM SIMPLOTS

The second new concept identified by the consultants appears to be a non-starter.

That option involves building on the land the auditorium district owns and meshing that facility with the adjacent JUMP project, a $60 million tribute to pioneering Idaho businessman J.R. Simplot being built by the family’s foundation.

In addition to a park and underground parking garage, the 7.5-acre JUMP project has a 12,000-square-foot ballroom, a 2,400-square-foot dance/class studio, and a small conference room.

“The project is well into work on construction drawings, and we are much too far along to reconfigure JUMP at this point,” Simplot spokesman David Cuoio said.

The family is not interested in exploring the suggestion of creating a hybrid site with a new convention center next door.

“We want to be a good neighbor and accommodate requests from the convention center if they need overflow space,” Cuoio said. “However, the primary intent of JUMP is to be used as a community center, a teaching and learning environment and a project that various nonprofits in our area can use.”

The JUMP project, which is now securing building permits, is planned to begin in early 2012 and take about two years to complete.

LONG SEARCH FOR A CONVENTION CENTER

Built in 1990, the Boise Centre has about 45,000 square feet of ballroom and meeting space — ideal for meetings and social gatherings. It’s the home of the annual Festival of Trees and many gala dinners. But it has no connected exhibition space with the high ceilings or concrete floors often required for large equipment and displays.

Last year, a study by CSL determined Boise needs an additional 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, with an adjacent hotel to stay competitive with comparable markets.

According to that study, the Boise Centre can compete for just 20 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. convention and event market. If additional exhibition space were added, it could compete for up to 70 percent of the market.

The district has about $11 million reserved — to which it can add about $2 million a year from a Boise-area hotel room tax — to build a new or expanded convention center.

That project has been stalled for years. Two elections failed to win voter approval for a bond sale that would finance construction of the center. Several public/private partnerships fizzled, including one with renowned hotelier John Q. Hammons that collapsed after the economy tanked.

Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428