Simplot family plans to build Boise ‘meeting place’

BOISE – The family of J.R. Simplot plans to start construction next spring on a $100 million “urban meeting place” in downtown Boise.

Project spokesman David Cuoio said the development will be called Jack’s Urban Meeting Place in honor of the potato baron, who died last year and left a fortune estimated at $3.6 billion.

The plan calls for the development to occupy a mostly vacant four-block area between Front and Myrtle streets. Cuoio said it will be paid for by the Simplot Family Foundation and will take up to three years to complete.

The project first must go through the city’s normal permitting and design review.

Cuoio said the family already owns most of the land, and that warehouses on Ninth Street will be demolished, as will the Emerald Club, one of Idaho’s oldest gay clubs. The development will have a 4-acre park at its center, with the building around. The development will also have venues for gatherings and space for artists.