This building by the Capitol is set for a six-story makeover. What we know
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Developer files plan for six-story mixed-use building at 8th and State in downtown Boise.
- Proposal replaces vacant mid-century bank with retail, offices and condos.
- Project must clear neighborhood meetings and city design review before construction.
Change may be coming for the corner of 8th and State streets, 100 yards from the northwest corner of the Idaho State Capitol.
Shawn Swanby, head of the Post Falls-based Swanby Investment Group, last week submitted preliminary paperwork for a six-story building at the site. If approved, the mixed-use structure would take the place of the former Home Federal Bank building at 800 W. State St. While distinctive in design, the mid-century modern building hasn’t been used in years, according to previous reporting by the Idaho Statesman.
The preliminary concept calls for between 10 and 12 condos atop about 6,000 square feet of retail or restaurant space on the ground floor and nearly 10,000 square feet of office space on the second floor. The top floor would have a penthouse and roof deck, and cars would park in the basement.
Swanby’s filing picks up a project that dates back to at least 2022, when he applied to have the lot rezoned to accommodate a wider range of uses. The Boise City Council approved that request in 2023. As of Monday, it wasn’t clear how Swanby’s newest filing fit with the old project. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The design intent of the project is to construct a high-quality, contemporary development befitting this prominent corner in downtown Boise,” Rob Beusan, a principal at Boise-based Hummel Architects, wrote in a letter to city staff.
Beusan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Swanby’s personal firm, Swanby Investments, already owns most of the downtown block. That includes the Carnegie Public Library building on the Washington Street side between 8th and 9th, which it bought in 2019, the Statesman reported. The 120-year-old neoclassical building was designed by famed Boise architects John E. Tourtellotte and Charles F. Hummel. Their firm is now simply called Hummel Architects — the same company tasked with designing the new building on the other side of the block.
Swanby is the CEO of Ednetics, an education IT company with six Western offices, including one in downtown Boise.
Swanby is still figuring out how many condos the building would house and what shape they could take, Beusan wrote. His letter to the city emphasizes Hummel’s long history of work downtown — one that includes designing the state Capitol. Like past projects, this newest building should be “of its era,” rather than replicating the angular facade and white-ribbed stone of the 1960s bank building slated to make way for the new construction, he wrote.
“We believe the design of our 8th and State project is of its era, clearly delineates its uses and is logically crafted to fit amongst the neighboring buildings and urban surroundings,” he wrote.
The 800 W. State Street development must still go through neighborhood meetings and city design review. Swanby has until the application expires on June 16, 2026, to schedule the meetings.