This busy Boise street was a pandemic hot spot. More changes could be coming
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Urbal Architecture submitted plans for a 6-story apartment near downtown Boise.
- The site, vacant for 15+ years, is still for sale and owned by Saint Alphonsus.
- Plans include 170–180 units, retail space, parking and coworking facilities.
After a lull of a few years, the development of downtown Boise’s Myrtle Street could soon resume.
Seattle-based Urbal Architecture submitted an early permit to the city of Boise to build a six-story apartment building at 350 E. Myrtle St. in a vacant lot hemmed between Whole Foods Market and a Walgreens, near WinCo Foods and across from Julia Davis Park.
Urbal’s plans are the latest puzzle piece for downtown Boise’s development. The building would include about 170 to 180 units, a retail shop, amenities on the first and second floors, an exterior courtyard and garage parking, according to the application.
Site plans show a retail store on the northeastern corner of the building, adjacent to Whole Foods, and a lobby and gym along Myrtle. A coworking space would face the shared parking lot with Walgreens.
“This project’s courtyard maximizes sweeping views of the nearby Shafer Butte and faces East, creating an inviting, human-scale main entry to the building,” according to the application. “An active ground-floor facade along Myrtle (Street) supports the city of Boise’s goals of creating a welcoming ‘front door’ to downtown.”
The site is on the eastern edge of downtown Boise, with the East End neighborhood starting to the west of Broadway Avenue, according to the city’s neighborhood associations map. But it’s not clear how the courtyard entryway could offer views of Shafer Butte as it is north of the building, not east, and there are other six- and seven-story buildings between that could block views from the ground floor.
Brad Austin, an associate at Urbal who submitted the application, did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment or more information.
The plans are still in the early stages and are likely to change during the development process. The development team met with the city’s planning team in early July to see if the project would be possible and to receive feedback on their vision. Their next step would be to host a neighborhood meeting with nearby residents.
The building would be the latest in a string of apartments that have gone up along the street over the last decade. The seven-story Fowler apartments opened in 2018, followed by the eight-story Jules on 3rd in 2021, and the eight-story Hearth on Broad and the seven-story Local Boise in 2022.
The metamorphosis ground to a halt in 2023, when ballooning construction costs and interest rates, plus an ongoing labor shortage, pushed developers to pull back on their pandemic-era dreams to transform the city.
Some developers, like Urbal, have since plunged back into the market, with new plans for town houses, offices and apartment towers.
Developers target empty lots in downtown Boise
The site has sat vacant for well over 15 years, and Boiseans were already wondering what could fill that spot when Whole Foods opened in 2012, according to prior Statesman reporting. One developer thought about building a hotel there.
Then, in 2017, Saint Alphonsus Health System made the news when it proposed a two-story “neighborhood hospital” on the site. The hospital was planned to include eight exam treatment rooms, an imaging department with X-Ray and CT services, along with eight inpatient beds.
But those plans faded too. Now Alphonsus has put the 1.7 acre property up for sale with an asking price of nearly $7.8 million.
”Saint Alphonsus has listed the property for sale and cannot comment on its future use,” said Lindsay Woychick, a spokesperson for the hospital system, by email.
“This property… offers incredible potential for a diverse range of developments, including multifamily, office or retail,” according to the property listing. “With captivating views of Julia Davis Park and prime visibility from Myrtle and Broadway, the buildable lot provides a canvas with unmatched potential.”
The site is also within walking distance of Boise State University across Julia Davis Park. According to the listing, the Myrtle and Broadway intersection sees over 45,000 vehicle trips per day.
