More on Jack's place from the Statesman...
Something big, new and different is welcome relief for those pushing for a creative and vibrant future for Downtown Boise.
The Simplot family's plans to create the $100 million Jack's Urban Meeting Place in a nearly vacant four-block area between Front and Myrtle streets and 9th and 11th streets is especially good news for Downtown, because the proposed convention center one block over at 11th and 13th streets on land owned by the Greater Boise Auditorium District is indefinitely delayed.
Pat Rice, the auditorium district's general manager, said Friday Missouri hotelier John Q. Hammons has left the project for good, leaving the district and partner Oppenheimer Development in the lurch.
Meanwhile, construction on what the Simplot family calls "Boise's living room" will begin next spring and wrap up by 2012. The JUMP project will create 1,000 construction jobs and infuse millions of dollars into the city's economy while it forever changes the face of Downtown.
Tom Allen, a Downtown businessowner, architect and an outspoken critic of bland Downtown buildings, said he's excited about the Simplot family's plans.
"Anything that helps Boise grow from a large town to a small city is good as long as it's done with taste and foresight. ... The decisions we make in the urban core, those buildings will outlast us and our kids and maybe even our grandkids," said Allen, who owns the construction camera firm iBEAM.
In the past, Allen has railed against what he calls Boise's proliferation of "brown boxes" Downtown.
Even though JUMP will compete on some level with the Boise Centre on The Grove and the now-stalled convention center, it's still a boon for the city, Rice said.
For years, local business leaders have pushed for a larger convention center on a chunk of Downtown land between Front and Myrtle streets to attract larger events and regional conferences.
The site has remained empty as bond measures and private development deals have fallen apart.
"I wish we could have been first," Rice said. "I'm excited to see something of this magnitude in Downtown Boise. For too many years we've been sitting on six blocks of blight."
Ultimately, one good thing will generate more good things for Downtown Boise, Rice said.
City officials agree, saying Jack's Urban Meeting Place will help move forward plans for a Downtown walking corridor and trolley car system, and entice more businesses.
Capital City Development Corp.'s plans for the Pioneer Walkway - a pedestrian corridor linking the Boise River with the Downtown commercial district - is incorporated into JUMP, Simplot family spokesman David Cuoio said. And the project has four levels of dedicated public parking, he said.
"Although the project still must go through the city's design and permitting review, the wholesale redevelopment of more than 7 acres in the middle of Downtown should serve as a tremendous draw of people and activity that will help support the Boise streetcar, other future amenities, existing business and the city as a whole," Mayor Dave Bieter said.
An official application has not been filed with the city of Boise, although city officials say the Simplot Family Foundation has asked for the project management program to help expedite design review and other application approvals.
The project is wholly funded by the Simplot Foundation. When it's done, the Simplot family envisions Jack's Urban Meeting Place as an artsy hangout where visitors can find the unexpected around every corner.
But the project's acronym, JUMP, defines what the site will embody - jumping into something new, Cuoio said.
"We see it as being part of a community and something that will bring people together more often," Cuoio said.
"We hope it will draw people to it, and then what happens after that is up to them."
ABOUT THE 'JUMP' PROJECT
The Simplot Family Foundation plans to spend millions on an amphitheater for live events, a 4-acre park, a variety of meeting and event spaces, a sculpture garden with J.R. Simplot's antique tractors, artists' studios, retail and office spaces, and possibly the Simplot corporate headquarters. The project is an homage to potato magnate J.R. Simplot, best known to longtime residents for his mansion on the hill and his cowboy hat. He died a little more than a year ago at 99.
About the 'Jump' program
According to Simplot family spokesman David Cuoio, a typical day at Jack's Urban Meeting Place would look like:
® Arrive in the morning with plans to just hang out.
® You see an antique tractor that grabs your attention and you look at it for a few minutes.
® You get a cup of coffee and wander through some of the studios.
® You pass a sculptor working on a statue and you watch the artist for a bit then follow your nose to a cooking class in another studio.
® You grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria.
® You get sleepy, so you go stretch out on the grass in the amphitheater and take a nap.
® You are awakened a short time later by a band tuning up to play an afternoon concert.
® You stroll to one of the parking levels where you find a group listening to a lecture on physics.
® After the lecture ends, you meet some friends on the main level, get an ice cream sundae and go to the band concert.
Source:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsup...ry/787078.html
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