These 5 projects would add 700-plus apartments to downtown Boise. Here’s an update
The 114-year-old BizPrint building at 6th and Front streets has been knocked down, and a New York company is readying the site for an eight-story apartment building.
The Vanguard, developed by Visum Deveopment Group of Ithaca, will have 75 one- and two-bedroom apartments, along with 2,600 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The building also will have a rooftop terrace, a bicycle storage area and a pet spa, according to developers.
It’s one of five downtown housing projects in the works that would add 712 apartments along Myrtle and Front streets. That’s in addition to 300 apartments, townhouses and condominiums that have opened downtown in the past two years.
The Vanguard lobby will double as a “hip hangout,” Laura Mattos, the company’s chief operating officer, told the Statesman in an email. The building is designed to attract Boise State University students, along with up-and-coming professionals, she said.
The building is also aimed at tenants without cars. No parking is provided at the building itself. Forty spaces will be available for lease at a parking garage across 6th Street.
The garage is adjacent to a Home2Suites by Hilton, with both under construction. The hotel and parking garage are expected to open before the end of the year.
Prices have not been set, Mattos said, but they will be competitive with other nearby complexes, such as The Fowler and The Gibson. Those buildings offer studios starting in the low $1,300s per month and one-bedroom apartments for about $1,410.
Construction is expected to take 16 months, with tenants to move in beginning in summer 2021.
The building was designed by Holst Architecture, a Portland firm that also designed The Fowler and The Cartee, a 160-unit apartment building under construction at 323 W. Broad St. McAlvain Construction of Boise is the general contractor.
Here’s a look at the other projects:
Cartee apartments at 4th and Broad
The Cartee broke ground in October and construction for the eight-story building, with one side on Myrtle, is expected to take two years.
California developer Roundhouse is behind the project, which will be similar to The Fowler, a seven-story building with 159 apartments that opened in 2018.
Apartments will have one, two or three bedrooms. Prices will range from around $1,100 per month for a studio up to around $2,100 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit.
The ground floor will include an entrance lobby, parking, a bike storage area and 5,000 square feet of commercial space for a restaurant on the Broad Street side.
The building will have a large rooftop deck and a spa, a community room, a fitness center, a business center and a co-working space, he said. Three of the eight floors will be dedicated to a 170-space parking garage. Vehicles will access the building through an alley in the back.
Third & Myrtle apartments
A block east of The Cartee, the eight-story Third & Myrtle project is also taking shape.
River Caddis Development Corp. of East Lansing, Michigan, is building 173 market-rate apartments with studios and one- and two-bedroom units.
The building, formerly known as Boise Caddis, will have 3,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, along with a cafe with outdoor seating.
Three floors of the building will be dedicated to parking for 400 vehicles. There will also be space for 192 bicycles.
The building will include a fitness center, fifth-floor swimming pool and courtyard with mountain views.
The building is set for completion in July 2021.
Boise Myrtle apartments
Collegiate Development Group of St. Louis plans to build 243 apartments across from the downtown WinCo Foods store on East Myrtle Street.
The seven-story building will have 249 apartments, from studios to four-bedroom units. They’re geared toward young professionals. Tenants will be charged $1,000 to $2,900 per month.
The property is owned by WinCo.
In December, the Capital City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal district, approved nearly $1 million in reimbursements for infrastructure improvements. The money can be used for sidewalks, street lights and landscaping along Myrtle Street and Avenue A.
The project is expected to cost $52 million. Construction is scheduled to begin this spring and be completed in 2022.
The complex will include ground-floor commercial space, as well as an outdoor courtyard, swimming pool, gym and lobby.
It will also include a parking garage with 353 spaces. WinCo employees, who now park at the empty lot where the building will go in, will have access to 30 spaces.
6th and Grove apartments
Clay Carley is looking to build a mostly affordable-housing proect at 116 S. 6th St.
Carley and his partners — Chance Hobbs in McCall, Dean Pape of deChase Miksis in Boise, and Bill Truax of Boise’s Galena Opportunity Fund — were awarded $1 million in tax credits each year for the next 10 years to include 45 low-income units in the seven-story apartment building.
Rents for the subsidized apartments will go for $343 to $730 for a studio, $507 to $783 for a one-bedroom, and $606 to $937 for a two-bedroom.
The apartments will be rented to people making from 30% to 60% of Ada County’s median income. The federal Housing and Urban Development Department says the median income is $73,600 for a family of four, so families earning less than $44,160 would qualify for the units.
Carley previously told the Statesman that his project will help provide housing to those who work in Downtown Boise but don’t make enough to live nearby.
Carley submitted an application to the city of Boise in January. It’s under review.
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 1:03 PM.
