Subcommittee member and local entrepreneur Dave Krick went out of his way last week to visit the Helms Bakery District and was given a tour of the site and businesses. According to a good friend who lives nearby, the renovation and repurposing has completely energized the surrounding neighborhoods and economy, stimulating additional investment.

Click on the photos below to see a few of the details of the Helms Bakery project (like solar panels on the roof and creating shade for parking), and imagine what we might highlight of the Boise Armory to bring modern relevance to Boise’s own historic structure. What would you emphasize? The National Guard presence, the project’s role in helping Boise transition to more prosperous times, or the fact that the building uses geothermal heat and connects multiple neighborhoods with the foothills?

What can we do to return this site and structure to a community asset? What businesses, nonprofits or community groups could use the location and space effectively? Stay tuned, and be ready with suggestions.

On 4/25/12, members of the EENA Armory Subcommittee met with Preservation Idaho’s Dan Everhart and Sheri Freemuth of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We discussed the latest developments in efforts to preserve and repurpose the historic structure. The City of Boise is currently working with a developer interested in helping stabilize and make improvements, which could allow the 40,000 square foot building and approximately 5 acres to be turned over to a foundation or nonprofit that would assume responsibility for leasing and repurposing the building.

One question put before the Armory Subcommittee involves exterior treatment of the concrete. Our meeting on the 25th brought together historic preservation experts and our resident architect Steve Trout to contemplate recent proposals from the developer. To date, there is overwhelming support from neighbors, historians, architects and community members to preserve the exterior surfaces to the extent possible and practical.

The narrative of the Armory’s construction is in this tactile concrete skin. The board form impressions and pour lines are like tree rings…they tell the story of many strong hands and backs hauling concrete hour by hour, day after day to create the building’s structural shell. As a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, it also represents national and local strategies to work our way out of the Great Depression.

Some complain that the separate pour of the upper front wings doesn’t match the original 1937 work, and they’re right. In the 50s contractors had access to plywood forms and more modern concrete mix.

Thanks to Meg Sullivan for a sample of a similar vintage concrete structure repurposed in L.A. as an architectural anchor for the Helms Bakery District.

The Armory Subcommittee is currently drafting a response to the developer’s request for information and we hope to have that delivered the first week of May. Look for more updates in mid May of this year. Thanks for your interest in this great site and structure, and stay tuned.

Adaptive Use for Former Military Buildings

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2012/jan-feb/a-salute-to-us-armories.html

“Boise’s vacant armory has its origins in the Great Depression. Boise’s 300-acre industrial park has its roots in the Brent Coles administration.The two properties have little in common, except for the fact that the current city administration has searched, in vain, for developers with an interest in either site.”

Read the full opinion here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/12/28/1931272/signs-of-life-for-two-high-profile.html#storylink=cpy

Land deal could save and restore the Boise Armory

The city is working with two Silicon Valley businessmen on swaps that also involve acreages at the city’s industrial park.

By Cynthia Sewell - cmsewell@idahostatesman.com

Copyright: © 2011 Idaho Statesman

The city is working with two Silicon Valley businessmen on swaps that also involve acreages at the city’s industrial park.

The historic but dilapidated 1930s-era Boise Armory may get a new life, and 200 acres of desert scrub may see industrial activity if two city of Boise deals come to fruition.

The city has searched years for the right people to revitalize the Boise Armory and the city’s underperforming industrial park near the airport. Now two powerhouse California developers are interested: billionaire Silicon Valley real estate mogul John Arrillaga and PowerBar co-founder Mike McCollum. They are the J (John) and M (Mike) of J&M Land LLC.

See full story here

Few developers combine an appreciation of the building’s history and Art Deco details with the resources to restore the building to a community asset. We also recognize the city could have auctioned the site off years ago, and Boise would have lost a historic reminder of our architectural and military legacy. That they have held out this long is an example of their sensitivity to neighborhood involvement and an appreciation for the strategic nature of the structure and site to Boise’s long-term vitality.

We are hopeful, and continue to hear from interested neighbors and Armory fans with great ideas for the location. The latest among these is a suggestion to create something along the lines of the Tech Shop in San Francisco. If you’ve never heard of Tech Shop, here’s a description from their web site:

TechShop is a membership-based workshop that provides members with access to tools and equipment, instruction, and a community of creative and supportive people so they can build the things they have always wanted to make.

Keep the great ideas coming!

Please stay tuned to this site for updates, put your thinking caps on and keep your fingers crossed. More soon!

The condition of the Armory structure has been a source of some speculation for decades. The City of Boise correctly recognized that a thorough engineering analysis of the building was necessary to estimate costs for preservation, stabilization and repurposing. City staffed recently commissioned a formal engineering study that speaks to seismic and hazardous materials considerations. This is not only valuable information from a city and neighborhood perspective, but puts the City of Boise in a much better position to work with a potential purchaser or entertain preservation and repurposing.

The site and structure continue to attract the interest of developers and businesses. We are hopeful that new signs of life in the economy will make it possible to see progress in the coming year. The structure continues to be the target of vandals despite the City’s vigilance, but we are hopeful the 2011 will be a good year for everyone concerned. With luck, the site will once again be a source of community pride, a center of activity and creative energy, and an engine for growth in the local economy.

Our hope is that the work of EENA and the Armory subcommittee, in partnership with the City of Boise and other interested parties, has contributed to the body of knowledge about the Armory. It must be said that throughout this process our members have consistently been impressed with the work and conduct of City staff, Mayor Bieter and Council. EENA’s goal from the start was to approach the process proactively and openly as partners. The City has responded in kind with respect and creative flexibility; most importantly, they have listened to neighbors pursuing practical solutions. This is how things are supposed to work.

Again, we are fortunate to have had the involvement and commitment of generous and talented neighbors throughout the process. Beside the Armory subcommittee, we all owe a debt of gratitude to neighbor Cheryl Flinn, whose contribution of web design and hosting make this site possible as a source of information for neighbors, City staff and potential developers and partners. This has been an invaluable gift.

It’s not over yet, but it’s moving in the right direction. More soon.

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

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.