This two-towered building would be the tallest in Boise’s eastern downtown
If a proposal from developer Tommy Ahlquist goes through, Boise could get its tallest building in years.
The former gubernatorial candidate’s development firm, Ball Ventures Ahlquist, and the Idaho Central Credit Union, are planning a 16-story building on the east side of downtown that would include a mix of medical space, offices, a credit union branch, a 460-car parking lot, condos and apartments.
“It meets a lot of needs,” Ahlquist said in a phone interview. “I’m really excited about the partnership with ICCU.”
The two-towered building would go in at 200 N. 4th St., where ICCU owns a three-story branch built in the 1970s and a surface parking lot.
The first floor of the project would include the bank branch, a 5,600-square-foot urgent care clinic and a bank drive-through. The second through sixth floors of the first building would include the parking lot.
The southern tower, oriented toward Idaho Street, would include 39 apartments on the seventh through ninth floors — with 33 one-bedroom units, three two-bed units, and three studios.
The northern tower, reaching 16 stories, would have eight floors of office space — with some space dedicated to ICCU and Saltzer Medical Group, among others. The top two floors would include between four and eight residential condos.
The structure would be the tallest in the east part of downtown. Only the 12-story Imperial Plaza Condominiums, built in 1964 at 200 N. 3rd St., compare. Nearby buildings that survived getting paved over for parking lots are mostly short: an assortment of brick offices and houses in colonial, Tudor and Mission Revival architectural styles.
The ICCU tower would contrast with much of the neighborhood, in scale and material. The tower would be designed like much of the suburban-style office parks in Meridian that BVA is known for, with its concrete and metal paneling.
Ahlquist said he’s proud of the building’s design: “The way the patios are all around the top of this building, the screening elements on the parking garage, and the way the two towers interact with each other is thoughtful.”
The project will require the city to approve a rezone and a conditional use permit for the bank drive-through.
Ahlquist said he expects pushback.
“It’s always hard when you don’t want things to change, and you live in the middle of a downtown urban center that will change,” he added. “The reality is there are better uses for surface parking in downtown cores.”
The project would not be Ahlquist’s first downtown. His firm, BVA, built the 5-acre Pioneer Crossing, which includes the Hilton Garden Inn, a five-story office building, an 826-stall parking garage, and the one-story drive-through Panera Bread that marks the entrance to downtown off Interstate 184.
When he was part of the Salt Lake City-based Gardner Co., he developed the Eighth & Main building — which at 323 feet is Idaho’s tallest building — as well as the City Center Plaza, which includes the Clearwater Building, an expansion of the Boise Centre downtown convention venue and a federally funded underground bus station.
Ahlquist left Gardner Co. to become an equal partner in BVA with Ball Ventures, an Idaho Falls-based company that owns nearly 3 million square feet of hotel, grocery and commercial real estate around the country.
While Ahlquist has previously told the Statesman that he is slowing down some projects in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, he has decided to charge forward with this one. By the time the city gives him the OK, he’s hopeful COVID-19 will be in the rearview mirror.
“By the time we get everything through and ready to go, we think this will be far and clear of the COVID mess we’re in,” he said.
“COVID will go away. There will be some things that change,” he added. “But the fundamentals of Boise are there.”
BoiseDev first reported on Ahlquist’s plans for the tower.
Full building details:
First floor
- 5,000-square-foot bank branch
- 5,600-square-foot urgent care
- 3,000-square-foot lobby for medical office building
- New drive-thru replacing existing drive-thru within structure
- Retail parking accessible from Idaho Street
Second through sixth floors
- Parking structure with 460 parking stalls
- Bicycle and storage areas
- Service areas
Seventh through ninth floors, southern tower
- Multifamily development consisting of 39 units:
- 33 one-bedroom units
- Three two-bedroom units
- Three studio units
Seventh through 14th floors, northern tower
- Eight floors of office space
- Floors are 20,400 gross square feet each
- 161,000 gross square feet in building
- 138,000 usable square feet
15th and 16th Floors, northern tower
- Residential condominiums
- Four to eight units depending upon final design
- Mechanical penthouse
This story was originally published May 22, 2020 at 12:35 PM.
