Before: the Smoky Davis meat shop. After: affordable housing. You can have a say in it
On the heels of an affordable housing project moving forward at Orchard and Franklin streets, the city of Boise is in the beginning stages of a second apartment complex on State Street near Veterans Memorial Parkway.
The city is seeking input from neighbors and other city residents using an online survey for the State and Arthur project at the site of the former Smoky Davis smoked-meats shop at 3912 W. State St.
“We’re trying to use all the tools that we can to create more affordable housing for people in Boise,” Seth Ogilvie, spokesperson for Mayor Lauren McLean, said by phone.
The projects are underway as the median price for homes sold in Ada County set yet another record in January: $454,000, which was $19,100 above December’s mark, also a record, according to the Intermountain Multiple Listing Service. In the past five years, the median price in Idaho’s largest county has nearly doubled.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Ada County was $850 a month at the end of 2021, according to the Southwest Idaho chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers. A two-bedroom apartment rented for $1,105 a month.
Last year, the city bought the State and Arthur street property, just under an acre, from the Ada County Highway District for $765,000. The highway district had obtained the land, using eminent domain, to widen State Street to install a “thrU turn” to reduce congestion at Veterans Memorial Parkway.
The owners of Smoky Davis, Gary and Dee Davis, objected to having their shop taken. The shop was demolished in 2017, after 53 years in business. The highway district eventually agreed to pay the Davis family $1.8 million in an out-of-court settlement.
The site is now part of the city’s Housing Land Trust, whose purpose is to ensure housing remains affordable into the future. While the apartment building that will be built will be owned by the developer, the land itself will remain under trust ownership.
The Orchard and Franklin project, located next to Franklin Park, was established the same way. Construction there is expected to begin this fall for a 210-unit complex that will include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and townhouses. It will also include ground-floor retail shops and a restaurant or coffee shop.
Rents for those units have not been announced, but Jake Wood, a partner in Utah-based J. Fisher Cos., said last year at a meeting rents would be at least 25% below market rents.
The online survey for the State and Arthur project asks a series of questions. There’s one about possible exterior building materials, such as masonry, wood or stucco. Another asks about outside additions such as a patio, seating or a business walk-up window. A third asks about sustainable elements, such as pollinator-friendly or water-wise landscaping, plant walls, street pavers and a charging station for electric cars.
The survey will be available through Sunday, March 21. A summary of the responses will be published Monday, March 29, with a request for proposals issued April 12. Submitted proposals will be reviewed in May and June, with the selected developer announced June 18.
The State and Arthur and Orchard and Franklin developments are among six government-supported affordable housing projects under consideration or in the early stages of development. If built, they would provide 600 housing units.
A third of those units would come from a project on Idaho Street just west of 17th Street in the West Downtown neighborhood and at the site of a demolished Fred Meyer store in the Hillcrest Shopping Center.
Two other projects downtown are at 421 N. 10th St., at the former Idaho Sporting Goods, and at 1010 W. Jefferson St., where a two-story office building is located.
NeighborWorks, a Boise nonprofit, plans to build 39 single-family homes this year at the southwest corner of the old Cole Elementary School property at Cole and Fairview roads.
