JUMP/Simplot World Headquarters

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

Not with the Royal, no--it was just the Royal and the Hitchcock at one point.

I'm not sure if there were buildings of significance on the rest of the block, though--I assume the southern half bordering Main Street had something on it, but I don't ever recall seeing anything there.

Here's one of my favorite old Main Street photos. Just look at all the beautiful buildings on the left that became victims of the Mall Wars...

Cool old picture of a two way Main Street!

[Boiseguy]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

Well, are you and everyone else here familiar about the "Mall Wars" that occurred in the Treasure Valley in the 70s and early 80s? If not, I can definitely tell the story.

I'm well aware, and the fact that it never actually happened is a blessing...
imagine if our city center looked like and followed the same cultural patterns as Towne Square mall???


Large Scale Shopping centers are great for adding to the cohesiveness of the city center, but until it has critical mass of urban residents to support it... it's not going to help the urbanity of your city...which is why it is better to have smaller shopping district like bodo that can be expanded upon as the city center resident population increases to support it...

[BOI-IDA]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

My oh my how times have changed. Just think what it would be like if those buildings on the left were still standing. We wouldn't have the US Bank Tower, the Wells Fargo Building, or One Capital Center.

Also, wouldn't it be nice if the Eastman Building were still standing? We never would have had the whole Boise Tower/Place debacle. Nor would we have a whole in the ground either!

[City Of Trees]

Originally Posted by Boiseguy

I'm well aware, and the fact that it never actually happened is a blessing...
imagine if our city center looked like and followed the same cultural patterns as Towne Square mall???


Large Scale Shopping centers are great for adding to the cohesiveness of the city center, but until it has critical mass of urban residents to support it... it's not going to help the urbanity of your city...which is why it is better to have smaller shopping district like bodo that can be expanded upon as the city center resident population increases to support it...

Completely agree. Though I must say, when the time is right, it would be cool to see something like the Pioneer mall in downtown Portland over here someday. That is an urban mall done right.

[City Of Trees]

Originally Posted by BOI-IDA

My oh my how times have changed. Just think what it would be like if those buildings on the left were still standing. We wouldn't have the US Bank Tower, the Wells Fargo Building, or One Capital Center.

Hopefully we would have had those buildings elsewhere...say, surrounding the Boise Cascade building.

Originally Posted by BOI-IDA

Also, wouldn't it be nice if the Eastman Building were still standing? We never would have had the whole Boise Tower/Place debacle. Nor would we have a whole in the ground either!

Here's what truly pisses me off about the Eastman Building:

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/...d=oid%3A155895

By 1987, the downtown mall dream had been replaced by Boise Towne Square fever, and talks finally resumed of renovating the Eastman, which was by then a frequent haunt of squatters and vandals. On January 22 of that year, local developer Larry Leasure announced plans to incorporate the building, as well as the neighboring Simplot Building, into a pedestrian-oriented retail and arts complex. Two days later, those plans became moot when the Eastman caught fire and was completely destroyed within a matter of hours. Police cited arson as the cause of the blaze, and a pair of 19-year-olds who were seen at the scene were questioned and later released.

I was just looking through some family pictures and found a couple of the Eastman going down in flames. I should share them here someday if I can get to a scanner.

[Boiseguy]

the eastman building looks like it was quite the gem, could have easily been a centerpiece for an urban developement similar to bodo... atleast on that block...

[CaliforniaKid]

Originally Posted by Cottonwood

Good explanation. It is also evident that simply having a light rail in a particular downtown does not necessarily add to vibrancy either, sure it looks and seems more "big city like" but if the downtown is still a sleeper then nothing has been accomplished to create vibrancy but to offer a quicker way to shuss people out of the city center into suburbia. I think Boise will only continue to add to the vibrancy we have in downtown because new projects such as BoDo and the Simplot project even though it is huge are more to a human scale and not so huge that they take away from other areas of downtown. Instead BoDo and what this project will do is fill up parking lots with buildings and pedestrians.

Looks like no one likes my tall buildings.. However, if a taller building went up (like the Boise Place) to house people instead of malls, that would certainly bring more people downtown. Just a thought...

Now this is a skyline..

[Visualize]

Needs more Aspen. ....

[CaliforniaKid]

Originally Posted by Visualize

Needs more Aspen. ....

Tuff crowd here...

Hey the backside of the Aspen isn't so great anyways..

[BOI-IDA]

Originally Posted by CaliforniaKid

Now this is a skyline..

Sadly...that is one view we will likely never see.

[BoiseAirport]

Just out of curiousity, were there any renderings or drawings of the proposed 70's-80's mall or any details on what it'd look like architecturally?

Just askin'

[Evo5Boise]

Originally Posted by City Of Trees

Not with the Royal, no--it was just the Royal and the Hitchcock at one point.

I'm not sure if there were buildings of significance on the rest of the block, though--I assume the southern half bordering Main Street had something on it, but I don't ever recall seeing anything there.

Here's one of my favorite old Main Street photos. Just look at all the beautiful buildings on the left that became victims of the Mall Wars...

That is kick ass! I love old photos of Boise. My, have things changed.

[leftopolis]

Originally Posted by Boiseguy

... Large Scale Shopping centers are great for adding to the cohesiveness of the city center, but until it has critical mass of urban residents to support it... it's not going to help the urbanity of your city...which is why it is better to have smaller shopping district like bodo that can be expanded upon as the city center resident population increases to support it...

I'm inclined to agree...but I wouldn't discount the drawing of suburbanites into the DT. I'm not saying it should be considered a main reason to build a DT mall, but out-of-towners are drawn in to the mall and greater downtown San Francisco, in the case of:
Westfield San Francisco Centre (wikipedia)

It is anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and includes a Century Theatres multiplex, a Bristol Farms gourmet grocery store and a branch of San Francisco State University. It connects directly to the Powell Street transit station via an underground entrance.

I understand a 9 story, urban mall, may be a bit much for a city the size of Boise--and San Francisco certainly has the nearby housing density that you speak of. It's just an example of a well done downtown mall that only takes up one block.

http://images.yelp.com/bphoto/e0TyzRoKbcpEmN-p9U43uA/l


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/25...ee088eca1f.jpg

[Sawtooth]

The large historic 3 level warehouse at 8th Street Marketplace is kind of like a mini downtown mall in some respects. All of the retail and office spaces in the building have been renovated and if they eventually fill up with more tenants to add on to the existing tenant base then the building could be somewhat similar and be a small and tiny version of the Pioneer in Portland.

I searched online for a site for the building and it looks like the new official name is 8th Street Marketplace at BoDo.
http://www.8thstreetmarketplace.com/

[boi2socal]

Does BoDo still not have a website? Sort of annoying...lol.

[leftopolis]

Originally Posted by Sawtooth

The large historic 3 level warehouse at 8th Street Marketplace is kind of like a mini downtown mall in some respects. All of the retail and office spaces in the building have been renovated and if they eventually fill up with more tenants to add on to the existing tenant base then the building could be somewhat similar and be a small and tiny version of the Pioneer in Portland.

I searched online for a site for the building and it looks like the new official name is 8th Street Marketplace at BoDo.
http://www.8thstreetmarketplace.com/

That sounds like an interesting place, with retail, live music, eateries, artist in residence program...
Here's a pic I found of it: http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles30467.jpg

[Boysee Boi]

That building is part of the 8th Street Marketplace complex, containing restaurants and retail, but the 8th Street Marketplace building (housing the pseudo-mall) is actually the one on the far left of that photo. It has a lot of potential.

[leftopolis]

^
Ah, thank-you!
I suppose it won't be that much longer before I learn all the right names for Boise buildings!

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by Boysee Boi

That building is part of the 8th Street Marketplace complex, containing restaurants and retail, but the 8th Street Marketplace building (housing the pseudo-mall) is actually the one on the far left of that photo. It has a lot of potential.

The official name of that building is the Mercantile Building. There is a great new art gallery/coffee shop inside on the main level.

[Sawtooth]

Just some pictures I took from the parking lot where Jack's Place is going to be built on. There is some decent foilage going on in that lot.