Deal to sell ‘premier’ ITD property along State Street survives proposal to kill it
The $51.8 million deal to sell and redevelop the coveted 44-acre Idaho Transportation Department property along State Street in Boise narrowly survived two bills in the Idaho Legislature that would have canceled its sale.
The two budget bills, House bills 723 and 726, would have revoked the Department of Administration’s ability to sell the property and directed ITD to instead renovate the State Street campus after a 2022 flood. But after nearly two hours of debate, the Idaho Senate in a 13-16 vote rejected the bills Thursday.
With extensive damage from the flood, ITD chose to sell the property and move the majority of its operations to the former Hewlett-Packard campus at 11311 W. Chinden Blvd. Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, argued that selling the property and moving ITD to the Chinden campus would cost the state more than renovating the State Street property. Even though ITD had followed all the proper rules to sell the property, it would have deprived the state of future potential uses for the 44-acre property, Cook said.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder, R-Boise, strongly opposed the budget bills and said revoking the deal would conflict with state laws, since developers followed the proper procedure for the deal.
“This is a hill I want to die on if I have to,” Winder said on the floor. “I’m going to fight this tooth and nail because it is so far out of line.”
The Senate votes, for now, kept aloft developers’ dreams to build over 2,000 homes and around 150,000 square feet of commercial space at the site.
But the House, which voted to block the sale, and the Senate will still need to agree on next steps for the ITD budget. All state agencies’ budgets must be approved by lawmakers before they can end the legislative session. The roiling debate on the Senate floor came a day before lawmakers expected to adjourn for the year — all but ensuring that they won’t complete their business on time.
Thousands of State Street homes on the line
The Department of Administration selected the winning bid for the ITD campus from two Idaho-based developers, Hawkins Cos. and The Pacific Cos., and Utah-based FJ Management, in September to redevelop the property.
The property sale has repeatedly come under attack this legislative session, with several bills introduced to renege on a sale that developers thought was a done deal. Brian Huffaker, CEO of Hawkins Cos., previously told the Idaho Statesman that the developers were considering legal action if the state canceled the sale.
“This is about more than the state going back on its word and existing statute and is bigger than one real estate deal,” Huffaker wrote in a statement to the Statesman on Wednesday. “This is about returning 44 acres of premier property to the tax rolls to generate income for Idaho and provide much-needed housing options to a rapidly growing region of our state.”
The deal also allows the state to fully use the Chinden campus, for which the state already spent $110 million to consolidate state agencies, Huffaker said.
Jessica Flynn, CEO of public relations firm Red Sky, representing Hawkins, in a statement said the company expects the construction of the buildout to provide $150 million in salaries and wages and 3,800 local jobs, and expects the development to provide an ongoing $52 million in salaries and wages and 1,300 jobs.
Idaho lawmakers float proposals to cancel ITD sale
The two bills were not the first time this legislative session that lawmakers tried to scrap the sale.
Attempts to mothball the deal were originally spearheaded in January by House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, who introduced a bill to get rid of rules allowing the Department of Administration to manage the sale of state property.
Moyle opposed the sale and said it would deprive the state of property it may need in the future and funnel money to the city’s urban renewal agency, the Capital City Development Corp.
Urban renewal agencies collect increases in property tax revenue within their districts and use that money to fund more projects. Increases in property tax revenue from the development of the ITD campus property, which falls within CCDC’s newest State Street district, would go to CCDC through 2042 when the district expires. The House passed that bill, but senators never moved it forward for a Senate vote.
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ITD’s former HQ campus in Boise was to get new housing. Then the Legislature stepped in
New ITD headquarters further imperiled by Idaho lawmakers’ efforts to block sale
