Could this Boise neighborhood be the next Hyde Park? What developers plan
Could the next Hyde Park be on its way?
One Boise developer hopes his upcoming project on the Boise Bench could be the catalyst for just that, while another is hoping to build a condo complex with 11 swimming pools across the street.
The first development from Boise’s EMWerks would transform the site of an aging parking lot and dilapidated office building into a four-story, 41-unit apartment building with space on the ground floor for a retail store or for a cafe. The second, a much larger but earlier-stage proposal, could bring 288 condos or apartments for rent in a complex featuring rooftop swimming pools.
The first development’s site is at 10 S. Latah St. across from the popular Boise Bench hotspot of Push & Pour, Wyld Child and The STIL (an acronym for the Sweetest Things In Life). It is north of Jefferson Elementary School and catty-corner from the Morris Hill Cemetery.
“We’ve seen how much excitement there is in this area,” Ryan Erstad, a co-founder of EMWerks, said previously by email. “There is a strong demand for housing options that are convenient to downtown but with the community identity of an established neighborhood.”
The development is the brainchild of Erstad and Seattle’s James Marria, the E and the M in the company’s name. They grew up together in Boise, parted ways in junior high and joined forces again after separately chasing careers in development and architecture. The apartments on Latah are the duo’s first stab at developing together.
Erstad is an architect and son of Andy Erstad, a founding partner of their namesake architecture firm, while Marria is a development manager at Seattle’s Touchstone LLC, which builds offices and hotels. The development team also includes Boise-based Prusik Construction, Meridian’s DC Engineering and San Diego’s Nasland civil engineering, which has a Boise office.
Erstad also co-chairs the city’s Design Review Commission, though he said he would recuse himself Wednesday when the project is scheduled for a public hearing. He was previously on the board of the Capital City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, but vacated his seat to avoid conflicts of interest as he planned to focus on developing more.
According to design plans, the ground floor would include car and bicycle parking, a fitness center, leasing office, rentable storage space, a lobby and a dog washing station. It would also include about 2,000 square feet of commercial space that could be used for a retail shop or a cafe on its northwest corner.
The top floor would include several units with patio decks, more rentable storage and a nearly 1,700 square feet lounge and amenity area facing northeast, according to the plans.
“The proposed project will provide an urban-style development,” according to a letter from Erstad Architects. “Landscape and streetscape design is proposed to create an integrated, walkable feel.”
Erstad said that the Boise apartments would be offered at market-rate rents, though did not disclose what that may be. He said the closest comparables would likely be the Riverline Apartments near Payette Brewing Co., the Mill at Logger’s Creek Apartments near Parkcenter Boulevard, or 27th Street Crossing near Alchemist Coffee and State Street.
Available floor plans cost about $1,800 to $2,400 at the Riverline, $1,600 to $2,150 at the Mill at Logger’s Creek and $1,400 to $2,500 at 27th Street Crossing, according to their listing websites.
The city’s Design Review Board is scheduled to hear the development Wednesday. Erstad said that depending on how quickly the company gets through the permitting process, he hopes that EMWerks could start construction by the end of the year and open for business by the 2027 spring rental rush.
The Boise Bench’s Hyde Park?
According to Erstad, the company held a neighborhood meeting with nearby residents and had some good interactions with them. However, they expressed concerns about parking and street safety on Latah and Alpine streets, which he said the company is trying to address.
“People are always concerned with how changes could impact them, and rightfully so,” Erstad said.
Wyld Child, The STIL and Push & Pour use the parking lot for its customers, and Erstad said he didn’t want to stop people from going to those businesses by redeveloping the parking lot. But some cues could be taken from Hyde Park, which has few parking lots.
“Without those establishments, (this development) doesn’t really make any sense,” he said. “We’re hoping this can become more analogous to a Hyde Park area.”
Crossing Latah to the popular eateries can also be unsafe, with drivers often failing to yield to pedestrians and driving faster than posted, Erstad said.
“It’s a hazardous corner right now, but that’s not the fault of the businesses there — that’s on the roadway design,” he said. “We’re going to do our best to make the geometry of the road seem less like a drag strip and more of a neighborhood street.”
Erstad said he and Marria designed the development’s landscaping with Boise’s Rodney Evans + Partners to create a buffer between cars and pedestrians, including low seating walls and short-term bike parking alcoves.
Erstad said they don’t want to be in the business of “build, fill and flip.”
“We want to be good neighbors,” Erstad said. “We want this to be a neighborhood that continues to get better and more vibrant and safer”
Condos, with 11 swimming pools, on Latah?
Southwest of Erstad’s project, directly across from Jefferson Elementary School, an even bigger development is also taking steps forward — though its developer cautioned that it’s still in the very early stages.
“We haven’t really put in our formal application yet,” said Bart Griffin, a founder of Emmett developer B&G Properties. “It’s a lot of theory at this point.”
The development at 123 S. Latah St. would see the construction of 288 units spread across five buildings with underground parking and a bevy of amenities. These include several rooftop swimming pools, a community kitchen, pickle ball courts, a gym and community gardens, Griffin said by phone. He said the ultimate goal was to sell the units as condos, but some could be reserved as rental apartments.
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Griffin and his partners are native Boiseans and have watched the tremendous growth of the city and region, he said, including a demographic change that brought more young professionals to work at places like Micron and Meta.
The project is “to fill the niche on the demand for young professionals,” he said. “It’s going to fill a big void.”
The development had a neighborhood meeting with nearby residents. Handwritten comments submitted to the city were mostly in support, though there were several shared concerns, including over a crosswalk to Jefferson Elementary, not enough parking spaces and more traffic.
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“My concern is parking,” said one nearby resident. “If developer Bart Griffin were allowed to do his proposed underground parking to provide parking for all units plus guests, this project would be awesome.”
Griffin said it was too early in the process for ballpark estimates of purchase price and the timeline for the project, and was working with the city of Boise to figure out what they want to see there. The next step for it would be to go in front of the Design Review Board, though he said he didn’t expect to need any variances under the city’s new zoning code.
“We’re really trying to work with the city,” he said. “We want a viable project that is good for everyone.”
