Suspended West End housing project is back; would add 65 apartments, shops, restaurants
A Colorado developer moving his business to Boise is taking on a stalled housing project on North 27th Street.
Michael Prestiss, owner of Prentiss Properties, has taken over development of the Chaussee-Swan project at 901 N. 27th St. The three-story building would have 65 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
“It’s a great location near downtown and near Whitewater Park,” Prentiss said by phone. “There’s a need for housing and for retail, restaurants or a coffee shop.”
The property is across Stewart Street from the former Jerry’s Market, where the Corner at Whitewater Townhouses are under construction. Trig Point Capital is building 25 townhouses, three condominiums and ground-floor businesses.
Rex Nielsen, former owner of the 1.8-acre property with six homes, had planned to develop the Chaussee-Swan project himself. He had owned the property and served as landlord for the past quarter-century.
The housing development is named for the Chaussee-Swan Gravel Co., which operated from at least 1946 to 1960 and was headquartered at 28th and Main streets. Quinn’s Pond belonged to the company and was a popular spot for children when Nielsen was a boy.
After receiving a zoning change and a conditional use permit in 2019, Nielsen decided he wanted to retire after 50 years of developing properties in Boise. He told the Statesman last year that he was looking for a buyer to take over the project.
Prestiss Properties, with holdings in Colorado and Oregon, is moving to Boise from Denver. The company already owned an office building and an apartment building in Boise’s North End and was looking for another project.
A Prentiss division, Chaussee-Swan LLC, closed on the triangular 27th Street parcel last month.
An application filed with the city on Jan. 4 seeks approval of a planned unit development for 43 one-bedroom, one-bathroom units and 22 two-bedroom, two-bathroom units, plus 6,300 square feet of commercial space. Nielsen’s original plans called for the same number of apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space.
“We feel this proposed residential project in this neighborhood, with mixed commercial activities, including the proposed development across the street, will be the start of enlivening this street and neighborhood,” architect Steve Trout of Trout Architects wrote in the application.
The city has scheduled a hearing before the Boise Design Review Committee at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10 at City Hall. The hearing can also be viewed online.
A second hearing, before the Planning & Zoning Commission on a planned unit development application, has not been scheduled.
Boisedev.com first reported the project was moving forward again.
The three-story building would also include a 12-space parking garage on the ground floor, along with covered car and bike parking, a public plaza and a fitness gym. Additional surface parking would also be available.
It’s too early, Prentiss said, to know what rents will be. He said he hopes the apartments will be ready for tenants to move in during spring 2022.
“It’s going to serve people that want to be close to downtown but maybe not in the core downtown, yet we’re close enough to walk into downtown and walk to the Greenbelt,” he said.
