VOLUME 6, NO. 2 IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW APRIL 2020 Bringing Vitality Back to Downtowns A QUARTERY SUPPLEMENT OF THE IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW 2 | SQUARE FEET quarterly IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW publication | April 2020 | idahobusinessreview.com Editor’s note Volume 6 No. 2 April 2020 By Kim Burgess 4696 W. Overland Rd., Suite 180 A few years ago, I walked down 8th Street in downtown Boise for the first Boise, ID 83705 time. It was a perfect June evening, warm and sunny, with crowds filling the patios of trendy restaurants and people strolling on the sidewalk. Cyclists EDITOR passed by regularly, and I even spotted the now-familiar sight of the pedal- Kim Burgess — 208-639-3518 powered “Busycle,” with its cheering passengers. [email protected] I had traveled to Boise from Albuquerque to visit some friends with no real concept of what it would be like and left thinking, “I could live there MANAGING EDITOR s om e d ay.” Sharon Fisher — 208-639-3524 [email protected] And here I am, a happy Idahoan with no plans to ever leave. That first experience of a bustling, walkable downtown was what drew me in. I still WEB EDITOR regularly enjoy strolls down 8th Street to some of my favorite hang-outs Liz Patterson Harbauer — 208-639-3510 (Fork and Red Feather are go-to spots for out-of-town guests.) [email protected] In this edition of Square Feet, we celebrate vibrant downtowns around the state. From Twin Falls to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho’s downtowns are growing and WRITER revitalizing. You’ll find stories about a mural project in the small Eastern Catie Clark — 208-639-3515 [email protected] Idaho community of Blackfoot that is popular with visitors and locals alike, a new park that is coming to downtown Boise and an interview with Matthew PUBLISHER Mazzotta, the “social practice artist” who designed the Buscycle. Cindy Suffa — 208-639-3517 We also spotlight Caldwell’s success with the Indian Creek Plaza development, which hosted 315 events and activities in [email protected] 2019, everything from concerts, farmers markets, holiday celebrations, fitness classes and brew fests. On the practical side of the equation, Boise’s new alternative transporation organization City Go is tackling downtown MULTIMEDIA SALES EXECUTIVE Jeanette Trompczynski — 208-639-3526 traffic gridlock head-on by encouraging cycling, walking, van pools and ride-share. And in Nampa, city leaders have [email protected] refinanced bonds for development, adding up to $5 million in savings. Statewide, accessibility experts are finding ways to improve access to downtowns for people with disabililties. MULTIMEDIA SALES EXECUTIVE These varied efforts all add up to better downtowns for everyone. Autumn Kersey — 208-639-3519 [email protected] Kim Burgess ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/PUBLIC NOTICE/REPRINTS Idaho Business Review Editor Laura Clements — 208-639-3528 [email protected] GROUP PUBLISHER Lisa Blossman — 504-834-9292 [email protected] Idaho Business Out Loud interview: ADVERTISING [email protected] Kaite Justice, program director at City Go 3 PUBLIC NOTICES [email protected] For TopList questions, email [email protected] Downtown Boise may challenge alternative transportation users, but City Go panelists assert that they are undeterred To place orders, make changes to your account 4 and for other subscription inquiries: Phone: (877) 615-9536 Email: [email protected] Online: Go to www.idahobusinessreview.com and click Buried treasure found in “subscribe” to place an order or manage your account. Follow the subscribe instructions to place an order or in the “Manage Your Account” box, enter your username and password for immediate Caldwell’s Indian Creek 6 account access. To register for online access and obtain a username and password: Go to www.idahobusinessreview.com and click “subscribe.” Follow Idaho cities work to make their the link at the top of the page under “Already a subscriber?” and follow the instructions to register. Please have your account number downtowns more accessible 8 and the zip code on your account handy. For technical support: If you need help with our website our your login and password, please call (877) 615-9536 or email Blackfoot murals a draw [email protected] for locals, visitors To submit subscription or renewal payments: 9 Phone: (877) 615-9536 Mail: Idaho Business Review, Subscription Services SDS-12-2632, P.O. Box 86, Minneapolis, MN 55486-2636 Boise adding parks to To order back issues: Selected issues are available. Call (877) 615-9536 or email downtown, other areas 11 [email protected]. The IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW [ISSN 8750-4022] is a newspaper of general circulation published weekly. Subscription is $149 annually. (Includes Idaho sales tax for Idaho residents.) The IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW is an Idaho Corporation doing business at 4696 W. Overland A word with Matthew Mazzotta, Rd., Suite 180, Boise, ID 83705. Periodical postage paid at Boise, ID. Send address changes to IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW, P.O. Box 8866, Westside Urban Park artist Boise, ID 83707. 13 Entire contents copyrighted 2020 by IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW. All rights reserved. Material published in the IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW may not be republished, resold, recorded or used in any manner, in whole or in part, without the publisher’s express written consent. Reprints available at [email protected]. Nampa Development Corporation’s bond refinancing Opinions expressed by the columnists are not necessarily the opinions or the policy of the IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW. helps it to save almost $5 million 15 The IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW is an affiliate of BridgeTower Media. ON THE COVER: Guests enjoy the 2018 Sunnyslope Wine Festival at Indian Creek Plaza in Caldwell. Photo courtesy of Destination Caldwell. April 2020 | idahobusinessreview.com| SQUARE FEET quarterly IDAHO BUSINESS REVIEW publication | 3 Idaho Business Out Loud interview: Kaite Justice, program director at City Go BY LIZ PATTERSON HARBAUER from your bus stop. Now you can find all of that in one place. So Right now, maybe the problem doesn’t seem all that big. If you Idaho Business Review that’s really exciting. commute in from Canyon County, your commute may be 60 to Beyond that, there’s a lot of other interesting parts of being a 70 minutes. It’s not great, but it’s not so terrible that you don’t do Downtown Boise is known for being pleasant and walkable, member. You will receive expert trip reduction planning and it. We just gripe about it a little bit. Same with parking. You may but like any urban core, parking and traffic are continual help meet the needs or maybe the problems for your unique set have to drive around a little bit, but usually you can find parking. challenges. Now an innovative new program is aiming to offer of issues as a business. So that may mean mobility packages, but So we’re starting to see strain, but it’s not to its breaking point some remedies. that may mean creating a parking cash-out program where you can yet. However, we all know Boise’s growing very rapidly. We see it City Go is an all-inclusive incentivize people not to park because your parking resources are every day. We see it in our housing market, our transportation membership association strained or a daily parking program. And so there’s a lot of different system, our workforce, etc. It’s very evident that it’s going to have that deals with mobility things that we can do to help businesses with their commuting pretty serious impacts. So it’s estimated in 20 years from now, by needs, transportation and needs and help provide benefits for their employees further. 2040, we will have an additional 20,000 workers in downtown parking. Kaite Justice, the Everyone can be involved and help guide the direction of Boise. And the population growth will equate to about 200,000 organization’s program sustainable strategies and growth management when it comes to more vehicle trips every day on our roadways. That’s a lot of cars. director, recently sat down our transportation sector. City Go will be very much guided by That’s a lot of trips. That’s a lot more congestion. with the Idaho Business Out the voices of our members, so it’s not just public agencies deciding So it’s not bad now, but it’s going to get worse. And if we don’t Loud podcast to discuss her on that. It’s really a collaborative effort to figure out what’s going do anything to mitigate that, we’re going to see really terrible mission to reduce single- to be the best options for our unique needs in downtown Boise. congestion, really bad parking strains, greater wear and tear, occupancy vehicle use in higher maintenance costs, etc. downtown Boise. How far out from downtown Boise does this extend? When you talk about the drive-alone rate in the city of Boise, This transcript has been based on the last census, the drive alone rate is 80.6%, with the rest That’s a tricky question because technically we cover the edited for length and clarity. of the modes being around 20% and that includes telecommuting downtown Boise planning area, so we go Boise State around to work as well as all of the other shared mobility options. But Ann Morrison, Whitewater, State and Broadway roughly. But KAITE JUSTICE recently we partnered with the Idaho Policy Institute and we did Can you start us off transportation is fluid, right? You have people coming from actual mode counts downtown. We were on the side of the road by telling us about the Caldwell and from Star and from Kuna and from Meridian into counting single-occupancy vehicles in the last month, and what downtown Boise or you have residents of downtown who may City Go program and the options it provides to we found was that the drive-alone rate coming into downtown be commuting out.