State to pay foundation $3.5 million

BOISE – The Idaho State Building Authority is giving the University of Idaho Foundation $3.5 million to help pay down its debt from the failed University Place project in Boise.

The money comes from an estimated $4.6 million saved during construction of the Idaho Water Center – the only surviving building of what was once envisioned as a University of Idaho satellite campus. The building authority gave the foundation another $1 million last year.

The foundation is $25 million in debt over the bungled development. The project fell apart last year over problems with financing and cost former University of Idaho President Robert Hoover his job.

Foundation officials will get the $3.5 million in a few days, said Wayne Meuleman, the executive director of the building authority.

“It certainly takes off a lot of pressure,” said Michael Wilson, foundation interim executive director. Foundation officials will meet in the next two weeks and decide which debts will be paid down with money.

Building authority members voted unanimously to give the foundation the money, but specified it could only be reimbursed for actual costs it incurred while developing the Idaho Water Center. The foundation submitted expenses totaling $4.9 million.

The foundation is also trying to repay its debt through a claim filed with the state’s risk management office. The claim seeks to recover losses estimated at more than $12 million incurred while developing the University Place project.

The University of Idaho Foundation is also selling 26 acres of land in Idaho Falls, valued at $5 million, to Idaho State University, as well as property in downtown Boise.

The Boise property was earmarked for an Idaho State University health professions building, but the school backed out of the project in May, saying it could not afford the building.