Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Goodbye, curse? We can only hope…

Another interesting opinion from The Idaho Statesman.

Goodbye, curse? We can only hope… - Idaho Statesman
Published: 09/21/11


We’ve been here before — standing at the precipice of Boise’s most famous pit, hoping for a void-filler of some kind and lamenting the setbacks of the past.


With words like this. “The Boise Tower project has been frustrating for all parties.”
We wrote that in an Aug. 18, 2003, editorial. Frustrating? We must have been going through our masters-of-understatement phase. Then again, it would have been hard to imagine that, more than eight years later, the hole at 8th and Main streets would remain unfilled.


On Monday, the next best hope emerged.


Zions Bank announced plans for a $60 million, 15-story building that would include retail, parking, a top-level “Founder’s Room” for receptions and public meetings, and office space for the bank’s Idaho headquarters.


The news came with all the requisite political hoopla. Mayor Dave Bieter exhorted developers to tear down the wall blocking off the pit from the rest of Downtown, and urged them to make the building a reality. (It is, after all, seven weeks until city elections.)


But more importantly, it has been 24 years since the historic Eastman Building was destroyed in a suspicious fire, after it had stood vacant for nearly a decade. So it has been more than 30 years — a generation, believe it or not — that this prime piece of Downtown real estate has gone unused. For as long as many Boiseans can remember, the corner has been stalled in stasis, with rebar and the start of a foundation the lingering legacy of the ill-fated Boise Tower project.


With a losing streak like that, is this a “cursed” site? Or merely a cursed-at site?


The Zions Bank project may not be an economic game-changer. The bank, which has office space just a block from the 8th and Main site, expects to employ 60 to 100 people in its new headquarters. Construction will create an unspecified number of jobs.


The project’s most powerful effect may indeed be psychological. And don’t dismiss that. For far too long, 8th and Main has been left behind as much of Downtown has come back to life. Let’s check this corner off the to-do list — or is it a bucket list? Then, let’s see if it creates some momentum.


For now, there finally appears to be an owner with a vision for this site. For two years, California-based Capps Holdings LLC held the land, acquired at a foreclosure auction, content to wait to flip this pit.


Now, it’s time to fill this pit.


“After all these years, it’s easy to become accustomed to this empty site as is. We can’t stop expecting more.”


We said that in a July 23, 2010, editorial. The sentiment still stands. Let’s just hope we’ve said it for the last time.


“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, e-mail editorial@idahostatesman.com.

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