Boise Centre’s buying spree continues with third downtown property. What’s next?

The Greater Boise Auditorium District agreed to buy its third parcel of the year on Tuesday, growing its downtown footprint as it mulls expansion toward the Boise River.

The district’s board took over a $3.6 million purchase and sale agreement to acquire 615 S. 9th Street, home to the defunct Mardi Gras Ballroom. The half-acre addition gives the Auditorium District control of 6.46 contiguous acres about three blocks from Boise Centre, its current convention hub. All in, the district will pay roughly $40 million for the properties, though full cost isn’t due for five years, according to Executive Director Cody Lund.

“It’s a fun opportunity for this district to buy some parcels that might drive transformational growth for our community,” Lund told the Idaho Statesman in an interview.

The district is funded mostly by a 5% tax on hotel stays.

Boise Centre hosted 278 events and more than 170,812 people in 2025, according to a January report. That was a new record for conventions — and one it may not be able to break at its existing home downtown.

The third lot gives the district roughly 280,000 square feet of space near River Street, more than three times what it has in the existing Boise Centre. Last year, a study from C.H. Johnson Consulting recommended adding 160,000 square feet of space to Boise Centre, finding that its pinched capacity cost the district some 400 events during the 2024 fiscal year “due to space, date, and hotel limitations” at and near The Grove.

“Without expansion, Boise risks losing high-value events to regional and national competitors,” the report stated.

Boise Auditorium District scoops up land

The district now owns about three-quarters of the two-block grid along River Street.

In late March, its board took steps toward buying an aging warehouse and parking lot on 11th and River, resolving to pay $23.25 million for the 4.13 acre property. It added another 1.84 acres on 9th and River a month later, buying the site of Idaho Records Management’s storage facility for $12.5 million.

The idea to buy the latest plot didn’t occur until afterward, Lund said. The Auditorium District secured the agreement from DPRE, a Boise-based LLC managed by local developer J. Dean Pape, which had previously eyed several lots in the area for a residential project, according to Lund.

For now, the district does not have plans to buy the building behind the Mardi Gras Ballroom, which Boise Centre’s new holdings horseshoe around. The owner “didn’t seem very interested in selling,” Lund told the Statesman, but the board would be “open to any opportunity” should that change.

Still, the additional property allows for more flexibility to “tie the site together,” Lund said.

“As we look to the future of the district and the needs it can serve in the next 10 years and beyond, this collection of properties expands the opportunities to build something that serves the Boise community across multiple facets and invests in the future of downtown Boise,” board chair Kristin Munchow said in a press release.

What’s next for Boise Centre?

Expect things to slow down from here. The Auditorium District doesn’t have a timeline for developing the area, and or really know what ideas will work best with the layout.

Lund has permission to seek “site test fit” drafts with options, as well as to request quotes on the district’s financial capacity to fund construction. While GBAD can pay for the land with cash and reserves, Lund expects the build-out to cost more than $100 million, which will likely require a bond. The district should get those responses back in the late fall or early winter, Lund said.

After that, staff will meet with community members and hoteliers to figure out which layout — and functions — best fit Boise’s needs. Consultants recently highlighted three priorities: a local events center, a large exhibition hall, and a multipurpose sports tourism area. Lund doesn’t expect the new land to be developed into an area for a professional sports team tenant.

He does, however, think there’s a chance to add performing arts to that priority list, if support is out there — and enough people fill hotel beds.

“If we build things that don’t fill hotel beds, we’ll go broke doing it,” he said.

On Friday, Lund had a better idea of what won’t be there than what will. The existing structures are “really not reusable,” he said. “More likely than not” they’ll be demolished to make way for new buildings.

That could be years away.

“This is not an overnight process,” Lund told the Statesman. “I’m a big believer in doing it right, not right now.”