‘We’re betting big on Boise’: Check out downtown’s newest — and biggest — hotel

One-hundred-twenty years ago, the Mitchell Hotel opened along 10th Street, serving passengers riding the Oregon Short Line Railroad through downtown Boise. On Tuesday, the block welcomes guests once again, this time to Boise’s newest — and largest — hotel.

Eagle’s Pennbridge Hospitality opens its 296-room Marriott property at 1005 W. Grove St. after nearly 30 months of construction and seven years of planning and development.

The 15-story property, which sits along Grove Street between 10th and 11th, is split between two upscale Marriott brands: Element, an extended-stay, wellness-focused brand; and AC, a modern, European-inflected option. The rooms sit below a rooftop restaurant and bar, the Boise Post, which is open to the public.

“It’s one address, but it’s two hotels,” said Jared Smith, co-founder of Pennbridge. “The benefit here is variety — we can bring in guests looking for different types of experiences.”

The two brands share nearly everything inside the hotel, with one front desk, common amenities and a joint bank of elevators. The feel of each is different, though. That’s clear from the lobby’s bifurcated color scheme to the rooms themselves. The Element halls are lighter and brighter, and the rooms are generally larger, with a kitchenette in each. It also gives the option of booking a block of rooms around the “Commons,” a 700-square-foot kitchen and living room designed to give groups a shared space, similar to an AirBnB. The AC rooms draw from the Spanish brand’s aesthetic, with sleeker layouts and luxe finishes. Those rooms make up the taller tower of the complex, showcasing floor-to-ceiling views of the Treasure Valley.

Smith said that Pennbridge considered making two hotels before settling on the joint concept. The brands, which he called two of Marriott’s most “cutting edge” concepts, were a logical pairing. Last year, a joint AC/Element hotel opened in Las Vegas.

One-hundred-twenty-one Element rooms make up floors 5-7, with 175 AC rooms above that. (Out of superstition, the hotel skips the 13th floor.) The property also includes a ground-floor Starbucks, a 260-space garage, 12 event spaces and a 3,100-square-foot ballroom on top.

The combination adds up to the biggest hotel in Boise proper, with 46 more rooms than the nearby Grove. (The 300-room Riverside in Garden City will remain the largest in the Greater Boise Auditorium District)

“Boise has reached a point where demand supports a project of this scale and sophistication,” AC/Element General Manager Doug Russo said in a statement. “This hotel brings together two distinct brands in a way that reflects how people travel today — seamless, flexible and steps from all the city has to offer.”

Neither Smith nor co-owner Thomas Lewis would share the construction costs.

“We’re betting big on Boise — but we think it’s a good bet,” Smith said.

‘People love’ downtown Boise

For Pennbridge, they’re doubling down on downtown.

In 2017, the company opened the 185-room Residence Inn — another extended-stay hotel — on South Capitol Boulevard. At the time, the owners were worried how it would do.

Since, they’ve seen the city center boom.

“What we learned very quickly,” Smith said, “is that people love the Boise downtown.”

The company’s Grove Street project will make up almost 16% of Boise’s roughly 1,900 hotel rooms. But, it’s not alone on the west side of downtown. The new Marriott tower joins a growing portfolio of new hospitality options in the neighborhood. The Renegade Hotel, the Sparrow Hotel and the Avery Hotel have all opened nearby since 2023.

Like those projects, the Pennbridge emphasizes that the new Marriott has space for the public, not just guests. That includes the Boise Post, a third-party restaurant on the top floor.

“This is a restaurant in a hotel, not a hotel restaurant,” Lewis said.

“We hope everyone comes,” Smith added.

The 120-seat restaurant, which is also owned by Pennbridge but not affiliated with Marriott, gives the owners a chance to explore their Idaho bona fides. The menu is “globally inspired but locally sourced,” according to Executive Chef Hunter Durgan. “We tried to look at what the natural bounty of the Pacific Northwest provides.” Think Snake River Farms beef dashed with huckleberry, steelhead larb, basque tortillas and churros lightened with potato flour — but expect the sharable menu to change regularly.

The Idaho ties are personal for Smith, who grew up in Boise.

“This is his roots,” Pennbridge President Mike Webster said. “This is where Jared was born and raised. He loves being part of the growth of downtown Boise. That’s the real reason we’re here.

“That — and because downtown Boise’s awesome.”