New plan for Downtown convention center unveiled

by Joe Estrella @ Idaho Stateman
October 18, 2006

The Greater Boise Auditorium District entered into an agreement today that could bring the city a new 130,000 square feet Downtown convention center and an 11-story, 286-room Embassy Suites Hotel by 2009.
The auditorium district board voted unanimously today to enter into exclusive negotiations on the estimated $80 million project with Hammons/Oppenheimer Associates, a joint venture between Oppenheimer Development Corp. of Boise and hotelier John Q. Hammons Hotel Management LLC.

Hammons, founder of some of the nation’s premier hotel chains, said the joint venture would raise the money to build the convention center and then lease it back to the auditorium district on a year-to -year basis. Pending a final agreement with the auditorium district, Hammons said construction could begin within 12 months, with an expected completion date 18 months later.

Auditorium District Chairman Stephenson Youngerman said he thought it would not take six months to negotiate a final agreement.

“The auditorium district will not be a drag on these negotiations,” he said. “We go along as rapidly as other people want to go.”

Hammons said the joint venture is talking to Capital City Development Corp. on a deal under which the city’s urban renewal agency would assist with financing on the convention center’s underground parking area.