Just proposed: Boise-area stadium with housing, offices, hotel, more. Cost: $400 million
For several years, the Boise Hawks minor-league baseball team has talked about leaving Expo Idaho and moving into a new stadium.
Two potential sites — one in downtown Boise, the other in the West End — have not worked out. Now the Northwest League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies is proposing to stay at the fairgrounds — but in a new stadium.
Ball Ventures Ahlquist, one of the Boise area’s leading commercial developers, has joined with Agon Sports & Entertainment, the Hawks’ owner, and Agon’s sister business, the Greenstone Properties development firm in Atlanta, to propose an extensive redevelopment of the 240-acre fairgrounds property.
In addition to the stadium — which would offer professional soccer as well as baseball — the project would would include multifamily and single-family homes, a hotel, office buildings, restaurants, stores and a parking deck.
The estimated cost: $400 million.
The fairgrounds would be largely left intact, so the Western Idaho Fair could stay put. The Les Bois horse racing track, which closed in 2016 and occupies 63 acres, would be torn down for redevelopment.
“This could be a phenomenal site, and we’re just saying we’d love to help,” Tommy Ahlquist, CEO of Ball Ventures Ahlquist, said by phone.
And it would bypass the ordinance Boise voters passed last November that requires a citywide election on any stadium proposal costing more than $5 million. That’s because the Expo Idaho grounds is outside Boise, on Ada County-owned land bordered by Garden City.
The development would cost an estimated $260 million in the first phase and $400 million in all, Jeff Eiseman, president of Agon Sports, said by phone. The stadium portion would cost about $45 million.
The stadium would be built off Expo Idaho’s West Chinden Boulevard entrance, south of the Expo Idaho buildings.
The project is in the early stages of planning. Eiseman and Tom Peterson, a BVA executive met Friday in a virtual meeting with the co-chairs of the Expo Idaho Citizens Advisory Committee. They explained the Hawks’ need for a new stadium but were not allowed to present information on the wider proposal.
The developers have not yet met with Ada County commissioners, who appointed the committee to evaluate the property’s future.
The developers also met with the Greater Boise Auditorium District in an executive session this week. The auditorium district could provide a portion of the funding, along with operational support.
The development would also include six soccer fields that would accommodate youth league practices, games and camps. A 2019 U.S. Youth Soccer Association regional tournament brought 244 teams from 14 states to Boise and led to $33 million in spending. Having a premier facility would increase the likelihood of attracting similar tournaments, the developers said in their presentation to the advisory board.
The addition of new stadiums in seven minor-league cities between 2006 and 2019 brought attendance increases of between 43% and 186%, according to a PowerPoint presentation made to the board and shared with the Idaho Statesman. Augusta, Georgia, where Agon Sports owns the Greenjackets, saw baseball attendance rise from 178,629 to 255,125 in 2018, the first season of a new Agon stadium.
The Glenwood Street side of the fairgrounds would have single-family and multifamily housing developments. The single-family housing on the north side would replace the current recreational vehicle park. Playing fields would be located on the eastern portion, next to the Boise River. Additional single-family and multifamily housing would be located on the southeast side of the property, near the stadium and offices.
Eiseman said the development around the stadium would enhance the fairgrounds and improve baseball game attendance.
“Stadiums are community gathering places, and they tend to create a lot of mass,” he said. “It would be an anchor like Nordstrom’s is in a shopping mall. It’s the anchor that brings the other pieces to life and creates an environment where people want to be.”
Agon shares ownership with Greenstone Properties, the developer. Greenstone is led by Chris Schoen, who has developed stadiums with adjoining commercial development in other cities and was behind the two previous stadium proposals that he ultimately abandoned.
Schoen and Eiseman bought the Hawks in 2015 through Agon. At first they aimed to replacing Memorial Stadium at Expo Idaho, but before long they began seeking a site closer to downtown Boise.
Schoen’s first proposal was a stadium development on the grounds of an old Kmart store that still stands on Americana Boulevard just north of the Boise River. His second was on mostly empty land between Main Street and Fairview Avenue just east of Whitewater Park Boulevard.
Schoen wanted to bring pro soccer to Boise, too. In January 2019, Agon acquired a professional soccer franchise whose team members could play at the stadium. Concerts and other events could be held there, too.
Former Mayor David Bieter championed the stadium. But Boise voters last Nov. 5 enacted an ordinance requiring a citywide election on any sports stadium that would cost more than $5 million in public and/or private money. (They also enacted a similar ordinance requiring an election for the proposed new main library.) And they ousted Bieter, replacing him with Lauren McLean. The two election defeats sent Schoen and Eiseman back to the Expo Idaho drawing board.
The latest stadium proposal was first reported by BoiseDev.com.
Business Editor David Staats contributed.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
