Developer seeks 194 student apartments. Tenants want to save their 25 affordable ones
Residents of a small, 55-year-old apartment complex on Boise Avenue are asking city officials to deny a project that would replace their 25 affordable units with almost 200 costlier apartments intended for students.
A group of tenants of the Ridenbaugh Place Apartments gathered in the common yard between their single-story buildings Friday afternoon to rally in support of their apartments and against the proposed redevelopment. The site is at the southwest corner of West Boise Avenue and South Protest Road, just south of Boise State University and kitty-cornered from a five-story, 94-unit student apartment building that opened two years ago.
About 30 people took part, including state Reps. Sue Chew and John Gannon, both Democrats representing the 17th District, which includes those apartments.
St. Louis-based Collegiate Development Group has proposed 194 units with 537 bedrooms. The building would be four stories tall and would include more than 260 underground parking spaces for tenants. The developer anticipates that rents would average around $750 per bedroom, with studios going for about $1,000, the Statesman reported in October.
The residents say affordable housing and a sense of community are worth saving. The beige-brick Ridenbaugh Place buildings feature red-tile roofs. The grounds sport mature trees, bushes and small gardens in front of the units. Residents sometimes invite each other over for dinner.
“I want to sleep inside. I want to sleep in town,” said Jeff Bickford, who has lived at Ridenbaugh Place for two years, in an interview. “If they push this through, I can’t do both.”
Bickford said two-bedroom units in Ridenbaugh Place rent for “somewhere in the 800s,” with one-bedroom units costing a little less. He said his brother, a disabled veteran, has lived there for seven or eight years.
Some who spoke talked about how long it can take to find an apartment in the city, particularly an affordable one.
Diana Murphy, a resident of the community and a social worker, said she moved to Ridenbaugh Place after searching for more than a year.
“I work with the most vulnerable populations in the city, and now I’m becoming one of them,” Murphy said.
She estimated she makes about $20 an hour — just enough to qualify for the unit she lives in. Murphy said high rents in the city push out anyone who doesn’t have two incomes.
Rents in Boise have increased as new housing construction has fallen short of demand. Boise in January was the country’s 52nd most expensive city among the largest 100, according to apartment listing service Zumper. The company said the average rent on a two-bedroom unit with a new lease is $1,140 a month in Boise, up 4.6% over the past year.
Collegiate Development Group’s proposal would require rezoning the property from C-1D (general commercial with design review) to R-OD/DA (residential office with design review and development agreement). Gannon said he thought rezones like this one should be conditioned on preserving existing affordable housing.
“That’s something that I’m asking for through a city ordinance or through state legislation,” he said, “whichever way we need to go.”
Erik Berg, president of the Southeast Neighborhood Association, said the proposed development would go against Blueprint Boise, the city’s comprehensive plan. City planners disagree, and they recommended approval of the development with conditions.
Céline Acord, subdivision and current planning manager for the city, wrote in a report to the Planning and Zoning Commission that Blueprint Boise supports higher-density housing near city centers and that the proposed redevelopment “ensures compatibility between the BSU Campus and the adjacent uses.”
Boise’s Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the development at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 10, at Boise City Hall, 150 N. Capitol Blvd. The commission makes recommendations to the Boise City Council, which has the final say on rezones.
The Ridenbaugh Apartments were built in 1965, according to the Ada County Assessor’s Office. They are owned by the Vernon K. Brassey Family Partnership LLP. Attempts to reach someone representing the trust Friday evening were not immediately successful.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 7:41 PM.
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