Northeast Boise's Landmark

The Boise Armory project was recently featured in Next American City magazine as an example of how neighborhood groups can work with local government and developers on a common goal.

To read the entire article, click on the title below:

No Signs of Conflict at Boise’s Historic Reserve Street Armory

And folks are already commenting on the piece:

It is so refreshing to hear about a project that is actually suceeding in many ways; the options are an array of progressive, sustainable, local-grown, but also profitable possibilities that come from cooperation and collaboration.  This is a great model for other cities to use for similar situations. —Julia Dowling, New Jersey

Great news! Committee Chair Laura Shealy learned recently that the City of Boise has moved the proposed late 2008 Armory auction into the spring of 2009. Several factors influenced their decision, and we are grateful to have additional breathing room to explore the site’s future. There has been increased interest in the Amory from several sources in the past weeks and months, and we hope to make good use of the extra time to pursue some promising leads and potential collaboration.

A City of Boise spokesperson alluded to another interesting development:

The city of Boise is currently considering transferring the property to Capital City Development Corporation, the city’s urban renewal agency. According to city spokesman Adam Park, the CCDC would create a comprehensive redevelopment plan for the site before putting the property up for sale.

“The redevelopment plan would have heavy neighborhood involvement,” Park says, who was encouraged by the efforts of the East End Neighbors Association. “We’ve gotten good feedback from the neighborhood already. It’s been a positive process.”

The city has particular interest in the Armory’s potential to diversify the economic base of downtown Boise, where market-rate and luxury development has limited housing options for the workforce.

While we are excited to have new alternatives and options, we are aware of the enormous challenges ahead. This is a first step; our hope is that an open and inclusive process will result in a diverse coalition of community stakeholders who can move the project forward. Thanks to everyone involved so far: EENA, CCDC, NENA, DBA, the City Council and the Mayor’s office. We look forward to new partnerships with the Idaho Nation Guard and those interested in preservation and sustainable development that creates a net gain for Boise.

Some of the suggested uses for the Armory reflect the concept of creative live-work space as an economic engine and neighborhood asset. The following is an excerpt from www.knowledgeplex.org:

Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) is a ten-year national initiative to improve conditions for artists in all disciplines which will enable them in their creative work and contribute to community life. With leadership support from the Ford Foundation, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Surdna Foundation, LINC focuses on three strategic goals:

• Expanding financial supports for artists’ work;
• Improving artists’ access to essential material supports such as live/work space, insurance, equipment and professional development; and
• Bolstering knowledge, networks and public policies that enhance artists’ work and their contributions to communities.

Link to the final report: Artist Space Development: Financing

As the Idaho Green Expo concludes, it’s fitting to explore how preserving historic structures such as the Armory represents sustainable development and energy savings. Preservation supports environmental, economic and social sustainability in several ways. Here are some excerpts from a white paper on the topic prepared for the National Trust for Historic Preservation:

1. Embodied Energy
Conserving buildings preserves embodied energy (energy expended to create the materials and construct the building), and reduces the need for new materials.

2. Life Cycle Assessment
Life cycle assessment (LCA) reveals that retaining and rehabilitating buildings is more environmentally friendly than new construction. The Canada-based Athena Institute has developed a life cycle assessment tool that helps illustrate the numerous environmental merits of building conservation.

3. Waste generation
Preserving buildings reduces waste in landfills. Demolition of housing produces an average of 115 lbs of waste per square foot, while demolition of commercial buildings generates approximately 155 lbs of waste per square foot. For the Armory, this means we could potentially avoid sending 6.2 million pounds, or 3,100 tons of waste to the Ada County landfill.

4. Sprawl reduction
Preservation reduces sprawl, by encouraging the continued use and revitalization of our existing community. Preservation reduces pressure for development on the urban fringe, and thereby reduces accompanying environmental impacts of sprawl, such as loss of natural habitat, increased reliance on automobiles, and development of environmentally and economically costly infrastructure. This is particularly true of the Armory site and structure, situated at the crossroads of the North End, East End, Downtown and Foothills neighborhoods and within walking/biking distance of major employers in Boise’s core.

5. General operating efficiency
It is often alleged that historic building are energy hogs, and therefore should be demolished rather than rehabilitated. In fact, some historic buildings are more energy efficient than more recently constructed buildings. While some historic buildings may indeed perform poorly, data suggests that many outperform modern buildings. Numerous green rehabilitations of historic buildings also prove that where building energy performance is lacking, it can be improved in a way that is sensitive to historic fabric.

Keep in mind that the Armory is currently on Boise’s geothermal system, meaning a 30% reduction in heating costs relative to 2007 prices, and increasing savings as energy costs continue to spiral upwards.

6. Windows
There is a common perception that windows are a major source of heat loss and gain. Yet retaining historic windows is often more environmentally friendly than replacement with new thermally resistant windows. Government data suggests that windows are responsible for only 10% of air infiltration in the average home. Furthermore, a 1996 study finds that the performance of updated historic windows is in fact comparable to new windows. Window retention also preserves embodied energy, and reduces demand for environmentally costly new windows, typically constructed of vinyl or aluminum.

7. Economic development
Historic Preservation spurs economic development. Numerous studies indicate that preservation serves as a catalyst for additional investment in communities.

8. Job creation
Dollar for dollar, preservation creates more jobs than new construction. Several studies and an economic input-output model developed by Carnegie Mellon University demonstrate that preservation activities create more jobs than new construction.

9. Economic competitiveness
Historic resources can increase economic competitiveness by helping create a dynamic environment that draws highly skilled workers. Quality of place is a draw for an increasingly mobile, talented, and sought after class of workers. Historic buildings contribute to the richness and diversity of the built environment, and help to create dynamic places that attract talent.

10. Small-business friendly
Historic buildings are friendly to small-businesses. Older buildings often offer more affordable rents, and are a good match for the space needs of small businesses.

11. Service-based economic growth
Preservation promotes service-based economic development. As noted in argument 8, preservation is more labor intensive than new construction. Dollar for dollar, preservation creates more growth than new construction, while using fewer natural resources.

12. Affordable housing
Preservation is a powerful generator of affordable housing. Equity is a core tenet of sustainable development, and affordable housing is key to achieving equity. Historic buildings have served as a valuable source of affordable housing.

13. Enhanced building efficiency
Improving the energy efficiency of historic buildings makes them more economically sustainable to operate. An increasing number of case studies demonstrate that the energy performance of historic buildings can be improved in a way that is sensitive to historic fabric.

14. Higher-wage job creation
Generator of High Quality Employment. Preservation requires more specialized skills, generating higher-wage employment.

Read the attached white paper for more details about these 14 points.

Historic Preservation as Sustainable Development

The plaque recognizing the Armory as a historic WPA project was pried off and stolen recently. The plaque was located to the lower right-hand side of the main entrance at 801 Reserve. If you have information regarding this crime, please contact the Boise Police Department.

See photo

Click the link below to download the latest update and summary of the Armory Subcommitte’s work. Thanks to all who have been participating on the subcommittee, posting comments to the web site, and participating in the public process.

Armory subcommittee update letter

Read this first. The comments and concepts presented on this web site are just that. Neighbors are in the creative/brainstorming phase at this point; not all suggestions will be realistic in terms of zoning, economics, or broader community needs.

We want to give everyone a voice, find areas of common interest and concern, then create a set of realistic priorities and recommendations that take into account issues like financing, traffic, market conditions, and most importantly local priorities and values.

A note about traffic. With the Armory sitting vacant for the past several years, any new activity will change traffic patterns in the vicinity. As fellow neighbors, we are committed to evaluating these impacts, some positive and some negative; to better understand the net traffic effects of different scenarios.

Our aim is to propose pedestrian-friendly uses that tend to reduce existing car trips where possible to balance out increases elsewhere, and to explore the type, speed and timing of traffic generated at this site.

The Urban Research and Design Center presented several conceptual drawings to a hardy group of residents who braved a snowstorm the evening of Thursday, January 24 at Roosevelt Elementary School. The visuals represented neighbor-recommended adaptive reuses for the Armory structure, as well as showing a variety of potential new construction ideas adjacent to the Armory. We enjoyed a vigorous discussion among the approximately 50 participants in attendance, who had a chance to discuss the various concepts with the students who created them.

The concepts include a mix of affordable, workforce and market-rate residential construction to complement mixed use of the historic Armory structure. Concepts derived from our initial public discussion on December 1 (scroll down to see minutes). You can visit the links below to view the conceptual drawings.

Meeting Invitation

Scheme A1 / Scheme A3 / Scheme A4
Scheme B
Scheme C
Scheme DScheme E
Scheme F
Scheme G
Scheme H
Scheme I
Scheme J
Scheme K

Preliminary Conceptual Plans Underway
Based on the discussions at the December 1 meeting, the Urban Research and Design Center is currently creating basic visual representations of the following basic schemes with variations:

1. Armory as Public Market w/associated collaborative offices, classrooms, 2 acres of food production gardens, and housing.
2. Armory as Charter School w/shared facilities (multipurpose areas); daycare; housing
3. Mostly housing w/bit of mixed use

The designs will be conceptual site plans and site sections showing building heights and massing – not building designs or architectural details. The basic idea is to help visualize overall site buildout and scale relative to neighboring structures and landforms. Check back the week of 12/24 to view the preliminary sketches.

Thanks to Advisory Committee member Diane Ronayne for providing detailed minutes of our initial public meeting. Diane made use of her court-reporting and journalistic skills to recreate much of the discussion verbatim, or at least do some faithful paraphrasing. Download the .pdf file to experience the conversation for yourself.

12-1-2007 armory meeting minutes

Not a day goes by without Committee members running into someone with an interest in the Armory site or a suggestion for creative uses for the space. Some even suggest actual tenants. We like the excitement generated by this project, and hope you do, too. Below are some sample ideas generated to date. Keep checking back to see the list grow and evolve.

Read this first. The comments and concepts presented on this web site are just that. Neighbors are in the creative/brainstorming phase at this point; not all suggestions will be realistic in terms of zoning, economics, or broader community needs.

We want to give everyone a voice, find areas of common interest and concern, then create a set of realistic priorities and recommendations that take into account issues like financing, traffic, market conditions, and most importantly local priorities and values.

A note about traffic. With the Armory sitting vacant for the past several years, any new activity will change traffic patterns in the vicinity. As fellow neighbors, we are committed to evaluating these impacts, some positive and some negative; to better understand the net traffic effects of different scenarios.

Our aim is to propose pedestrian-friendly uses that tend to reduce existing car trips where possible to balance out increases elsewhere, and to explore the type, speed and timing of traffic generated at this site.

Mixed-income / workforce housing. Boise’s downtown core has seen tremendous housing development in the past decade…virtually all of it high-end luxury condos and town homes starting at $250,000. There is currently a lack of housing affordable to key professionals (nurses, teachers, police officers, firefighters, etc.) that make our community safe and strong. The land around the Armory presents an opportunity to develop well-designed, owner-occupied housing that would serve as a recruitment and retention tool (read ‘wage subsidy’) for local public and private employers.

A perfect illustration of the need for workforce housing is available in the Workforce Housing Task Force Report for Downtown Boise, Idaho. Thanks to Katina Dutton and CCDC for sharing their final full report and a succint Powerpoint version here. This is an important read for employers, economic developers and anyone who cares about Boise’s ongoing vitality.

Workforce Housing Task Force (full) Report Workforce Housing Presentation

Sustainable design facility. The Armory site is already on Boise’s geothermal system, which presents interesting opportunities for limiting the carbon footprint of any development or tenants in the space. One suggestion would take this to another level, creating a center for education, research and applied technology in sustainable architecture, wastewater treatment, permaculture, etc. This could be a resource for policy makers, homeowners and those in the construction industry seeking products and processes to help “future proof” the built environment (i.e., protect against ever-increasing energy, health and maintenance costs through appropriate materials and technology).

Education. Several ideas have been recommended for locating a charter or other type of school in the space. One visitor proposed a Community Literacy Center and children’s museum. Another suggestion involves creating a first-rate arts and crafts school, with apprenticeships and studio space for those interested in a professional career move or simply developing a skill. Many in Boise’s arts community feel a need for additional studio and work space, from fine woodworking, metal, glass, ceramics or textiles to printmaking and painting.

Community center. Recent suggestions this week indicate a desire for a community events space with a commercial kitchen and performance and meeting facilities to accommodate various groups during evenings or weekends.

Recreational facilities. Some have suggested a need for a neighborhood-scale workout facility in part of the space, with room for yoga, dance or other fitness classes. We see the potential for this to become part of a distributed network of local health/recreational facilities that encourage neighbors to walk or bike rather than getting in a car and driving somewhere to get excercise.

Local grower’s cooperative. The Treasure Valley has seen a significant increase in the number and diversity of locally grown produce and other agricultural products. The Downtown Farmer’s Market is one outlet for these businesses; a year-round facility would cultivate support for Idaho products and the local economy.

Business incubator. several communities are investing in business incubators…affordable spaces with shared resources where local entrepreneurs can get a start in a supportive environment. These could be artists or craftspeople, web developers, or the next Micron or HP startup.

Retail and commercial. Restaraunts, coffee shops, books stores or other retail and entertainment services that appeal to residents and workers in the surrounding neighborhoods. Office space for administrative or professional services is another possibility.