Northwest Real Estate Capital Corp. will time construction so it can open the apartments in spring, when units will be easier to fill, said David Wali, head of investment services for real estate firm Colliers International in Boise.

Whether that opening comes in 2013 or later isn’t certain.

Wali is also the broker for the building’s first floor, which Northwest hopes to rent as commercial, educational or office space, he said.

One of the premier properties in Downtown Boise for 85 years, the C.C. Anderson Building has stood empty since Macy’s closed its Downtown store — Macy’s still has stores at Boise Towne Square and in Nampa — in 2010. The property has been eyed or mentioned for everything from retail to an indoor Saturday market.

Its new life as an apartment building is the kind of application the city has emphasized in recent years, said Hal Simmons, Boise’s planning director. The apartments’ proposed price range of $600 to $1,000 per month is particularly desirable because affordable housing for Downtown service workers has been hard to come by, Simmons said.

“Nothing we hate worse than an empty building and when we can fill it with housing, we’re just thrilled,” he said.

Northwest has satisfied the Building Division’s requirements and is cleared to obtain permits and begin work, Simmons said.

Still, the project’s completion is more than a year away. After reviewing plans for the apartments and building, the city of Boise building division requested a series of changes.

Most of them were minor, Wali said, such as the placement of light switches and temperature-control equipment, as well as compliance with regulations for access by disabled residents and visitors.

Negotiations between Northwest and the city have gone smoothly, Wali said.

“They’ve been helpful adapting the building codes to the fact that it’s an old building,” he said.

The company has yet to set a date for construction.

“The minute that the design meets the financial underwriting criteria will be the day we break ground,” Wali said.

Sven Berg: 377-6275