Boise lines up $1.75M State Street purchase for affordable housing

Boise is doubling down on its approach to affordable housing, agreeing Tuesday to a deal that would buy the city its second property for workforce apartments in the last two months.

A unanimous City Council this week entered into a purchase and sale agreement for a 1-acre lot at 3515 W. State St., which for now holds a defunct bar and grill right next to Veterans Memorial Park.

The $1.75 million deal now allows the city to start its due diligence on the property.

“From there, the city will begin doing the various environmental tests, appraisals and other evaluations to ensure this is a good site to add to the city’s land trust,” Boise spokesperson Maria Ortega told the Idaho Statesman in an email.

If that goes well, the city would likely close on the property in mid-October, Ortega said. The money would come from the city’s Housing and Community Development budget, according to the resolution the council unanimously approved on its consent agenda Tuesday night.

This week’s agreement is the city’s second since June. Last month, Boise struck a similar, $1.5 million deal to buy 1.6 acres by the Boise Town Square Mall. That, too, is earmarked for affordable housing.

The property isn’t new to city staff. In 2023, current owner State Spokane, LLC, pitched a 39-apartment development on the site, city records show. That plan earned all the necessary approvals from Boise, and in February 2025 State Spokane was granted a demolition permit to clear the lot for construction. The project stalled, though, and as of January those permits have expired.

The property also has been rezoned since that application passed. A recent code rewrite designated the property “Mixed-Use: Active,” which allows for “office, commercial, institutional, and residential uses” with a maximum building height of 70 feet — typically seven stories.

Against that prologue, the city entered into negotiations with the Washington-based ownership firm in May. Originally listed for nearly $2 million, Boise staff offered $1.6 million before settling at $1.75 million. Ada County’s most recent assessment valued the property at $1.24 million.

Boise officials have regularly targeted State Street for dense, multifamily projects, in part thanks to its place along Valley Regional Transportation’s Route 9 bus line, which the city classifies as “best-in-class.” The hope is that building by the bus will open opportunities for large-scale development without sacrificing space (and spending money) for extensive parking, while also reducing dependence on individual cars.

“This is a great opportunity because of the location along State Street, a key transit corridor, next to a great park and near other services and amenities,” Ortega said. “We will work through our existing land trust model with the intention of ground leasing the site in the future for development of affordable housing.”

If Boise officials finalize the sale, 3515 W. State St. would join the city’s Housing Land Trust portfolio, a clutch of publicly owned land that the city leases at below-market rates to private developers who agree to build and manage affordable rentals on the site. To date, that model has delivered Wilson Station, The Franklin, and The Adare — 413 deed-restricted rental apartments in all. Dorado Station, another land trust project, is on pace to wrap in the fall of 2027; encompassing 212 apartments, it would be the largest city-backed affordable complex to date. Three other housing trust projects are also in various stages of developement using the same development rubric, Ortega said.

A 2024 city-backed study of Boise’s housing needs determined that Boise needs to build or significantly renovate 2,019 homes each year for 10 years in order to keep pace with demand. Almost half of those units need to be affordable to residents earning 80% of Boise’s area median income, which means $62,000 for an individual or $88,550 for a family of four that translates to around $1,500 and $2,200 per month in housing costs, respectively, per city guidelines.

“The city is working to ensure that there is a home for everyone who wants to live in Boise, at a budget they can afford,” Ortega said. “This is another step forward in working to ensure that there is enough affordable housing to meet the community’s needs.”