Northeast Boise's Landmark

Just a quick update to let folks know the Reserve Street Armory team is still active and tracking progress. Last fall, CCDC engaged a professional consulting firm to conduct preliminary studies of the Armory site and its relationship to other publicly owned parcels nearby. As we await the results of this early work, the advisory team is considering next steps from a neighborhood perspective. Stay tuned for announcements in the next few weeks and months. Thanks to all who have commented and offered your help!

During the past several months, many suggestions have focused on the potential to develop the Armory into a center for local businesses to cultivate a cooperative of complementary activities with shared infrastructure and strategic use of energy and materials. The best analogy would be a functioning ecosystem, in which each niche is filled by a species (business) that makes efficient use of the energy within the system. “Waste” from one species or process becomes raw material or energy for others. This concept is well described in the book “Biomimicry” by Janine Benyus. This use would complement new construction of on-site workforce housing, which a recent study identified as a pressing need near Boise’s downtown.

Boise has seen rapid expansion of local ‘green’ businesses in the past 5-10 years. Many of these creative entrepreneurs are finding ways to share information and resources; they are in effect cultivating a subset of the local economy that generates good jobs and income, provides quality goods and services…all while using a sustainable business model that maximizes input and minimizes waste and negative environmental or social impacts. To get a sense of the scale of this growing community, visit www.idahogreenexpo.com.

Given the Armory’s size (40,000 sq ft), central location, and geothermal service, many feel there is enormous potential to repurpose the structure into a thriving economic engine and neighborhood/community resource with a negligible carbon footprint. The structure and site could become home to a small business incubator/cooperative with the common theme of sustainability; it could also become a research and development laboratory for students of sustainable business or economic theory. With support and direction, the site could attract additional ‘clean and green’ investment to the Boise economy.

This strategic outcome would require several things:

• an owner and developer with capacity and vision
• a strategic business plan
• funding for acquisition and rehab
• neighborhood, city and community support
• a community of businesses and tenants
• a market for the goods and services produced

From a strategic land-use perspective, the Armory site has value as a perpetual community asset. Once the site is out of the community’s control, however, it would be difficult or impossible to reclaim; the only way to ensure community access is for the community to step forward—in one way or another—to invest in the structure’s preservation and renovation.

Submit comments on this posting if you have suggestions or questions. If you are or know of a community minded Angel investor interested in an outstanding legacy opportunity, let us know that, too.

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

First Public Meeting a Success
Thanks to everyone who attended our December 1 public visioning meeting at the UI Integrated Design Lab. The meeting was facilitated by the Urban Research and Design Center and EENA representatives, and involved a brief discussion of the Armory site, the City’s budget needs and the current plans to auction the site next year. Local architect Charles Hummel (above) provided a unique glimpse into the Armory’s history and construction. Approximately two dozen participants explored the following questions from the Architecture students:

1. Do you consider the Armory a neighborhood asset or a community asset? (if so, why?)
2. Should the armory building be saved in whole or in part?
3. What uses would you like to see on the site?
4. What would actually work on the site? What’s viable there?

The next public meeting will take place in January of 2008, and will feature conceptual drawings illustrating various types of development and repurposing. Minutes of the meeting should be available soon, and will be posted at this location.