Goodbye parking. Hello sidewalk dining. How 2 downtown Boise blocks may come to life
Imagine: Restaurants, pedestrians, bicyclists and attractive businesses just a few blocks from the center of Boise’s downtown.
Instead, for now, there are parking lots and cracked sidewalks along West Fulton Street.
But potential upgrades to the sidewalks and appearance could trigger redevelopment that differentiates West Fulton Street from others to the south and west and transform it into more of a destination with a lively vibe than a street that’s often overlooked.
“When an area becomes better-utilized and more active, that in itself is an attractor to businesses or developers,” Capital City Development Corp. project manager Zach Piepmeyer said by phone, “which you see throughout the rest of downtown.”
The development corporation, Boise’s urban renewal agency, is evaluating options to bring an exciting ambiance to West Fulton Street. The two blocks between South 9th Street and South Capitol Boulevard would likely get new sidewalks, new trees and new parking types.
The redevelopment agency’s staff is conducting public outreach. The agency aims to select a preferred design in the next two months and begin construction in spring 2023.
“We’re happy to find that most property owners see this street as part of the urban fabric of downtown,” Piepmeyer said during a Dec. 13 board meeting, “and that this means the street needs to do more than just move and park vehicles. A street like Fulton could and should be a place where business and life happens.”
The Boise Contemporary Theater, a photography studio, a brewery and multiple surface parking lots sit on West Fulton Street. There’s also the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy just north of the theater on South 9th Street, and Trailhead Boise office space a block north on South 8th Street.
And one block south, along South 8th Street, are The Afton condo buildings, which were enabled by the urban renewal agency. A 12-story senior apartment building is proposed along South 8th Street between River and Fulton streets, across River from the Boise Public Library.
With busier, car-oriented streets like River Street, 9th Street, Myrtle Street and Capitol Boulevard nearby, planners believe Fulton is fit for an overhaul.
“We’re really aiming for a great space for people to enjoy patio dining or sidewalk retail,” Piepmeyer said by phone, “(and) Fulton is really one of the last opportunities for these folks to get that space.”
Based on Piepmeyer’s analysis, the street’s challenges include surface parking, a lack of pedestrian infrastructure and areas in need of additional lighting and street trees. He said the street doesn’t have standard curbs, gutters and sidewalks, meaning the improvements are “long overdue.”
“It’s missing even the most basic elements of sidewalks,” Piepmeyer said. “It’s not in the center of the core of downtown, but we’re really only three blocks from The Grove, so it’s fairly close.”
Piepmeyer used Broad Street as an example of how Capital City Development Corp. investment helped attract businesses. The improvements on Broad included wider sidewalks with pavers, new trees and bike racks.
“It’s a win-win situation when you are able to allow the public to better use a street; you do have benefits for the adjacent businesses,” Piepmeyer said. “By providing that infrastructure, it sometimes incentivizes adjacent property owners to redevelop or add uses that are currently not there or consider larger scale improvements to their property, which benefits the downtown, which creates a cyclical process of improvement.”
The surface lots will likely change to another use, said Christopher Hawkins, a landscape architect for The Land Group and the Capital City Development Corp.’s design consultant, during a virtual public open house Thursday, Feb. 10.
At the Dec. 13 meeting, Piepmeyer said he anticipated high-density development on West Fulton Street between South 8th Street and South Capitol Boulevard. He added that parking garages in the neighborhood are likely.
The first design being considered features 23.5-foot sidewalks, including space to accommodate both outdoor dining and people walking by, on each side of the street. It also proposes 30 on-street parking spots across the two blocks. That’s fewer than what’s there now to make room for the proposed upgrades.
The second design, called an “urban canopy,” has 27-foot sidewalks on each side, each with two rows of trees, allowing pedestrians to walk between the rows. This design has 16 on-street parking spots.
Both designs are meant to create a safer, more accessible and more enjoyable street. The main difference is how much space is dedicated for sidewalks compared with on-street parking.
“I’m very, very curious what the landowners want as far as the tradeoff between off-street parking and those extended sidewalks,” Capital City Development Corp. board Chair Dana Zuckerman said Dec. 13. “I think this is going to be interesting. It’s sort of a new paradigm.”
