JUMP/Simplot World Headquarters

[Boisekid]

I hate the design as much as the next guy, but honestly, if this brings approx 700-900 construction jobs the valley desperately needs AND gets rid of some of the most embarrassing undeveloped land Boise has to offer...lets support it. Maybe this could be the start of another boom downtown??? (i can be optimistic) and if the #@$&ing convention center/hotel ever gets built, JUMP won't stand out nearly as much. Just imagine in 10 years or so of having BODO next to JUMP next to a brand new convention center!

[Evo5Boise]

Wow. I really don't know what to say about it. I see both sides of the story being contended here.

[GrandTeton]

This building is certainly...different.

Although, there are a few things to be happy about:
It isn't brown.
It'll bring jobs downtown.
It might start a downtown boom.

It could be...worse?

[skyguy414]

It's about time Boise got a new water park.

What's that? Come again? It's a what? Oh, sorry....


Here's the backup plan if that one doesn't get approved:
Photo credits to ARIDCAD,wiki commons


Just having some fun, no offense to anyone. I am all for something different and non-mainstream, but that thing will be a huge eye sore and I think there will be regrets once it is built. If you are going to build something, build something that you can lease to people not scare them away with. Some large cities can get away with building things like that because there is so much more traditional buildings and buildings of varying architecture that something like that wouldn't really stick out so much. But to have every major building in your city be entirely conservative and then have just one behemoth of a bad LSD trip smack dab in the middle of it is just not smart planning.

Just my .02

[Boisekid]

JUMP Shot Down by Boise Design Review


In a stunning decision Wednesday night, Boise's Design Review Committee tripped up JUMP- or Jack's Urban Meeting Place, the Simplot family's grand design to bring a multipurpose project to downtown.



The committee voted 4-3 to reject construction of the $70 million, eight-story two-block development. Committe members Rodney Evans, Bruce Taylor, Greg Ugrin and Elizabeth Wolf voted against the project. Rob Anderson, Brian Garrett and James Marsh voted to keep the project alive. A last-minute appeal by Anderson to support JUMP with additional work sessions failed on a 4-3 vote.


"I have to tell you, this is not what I expected when I joined this committee. I thought I could help stop the brown-box syndrome. But this project is colorful and useful," said Anderson.
But Committee member Wolf pulled no punches in her criticism of the plans.

"This decision is not about personal taste. It's about civic responsibility," said Wolf. "This is a parking garage embellished with theme park elements."

Members of the Simplot family, including Scott Simplot and his wife Maggie were in attendance.

"This was quite an emotional evening," Simplot spokesman David Cuoio told Citydesk. "We'll circle the wagons and in a few days the family will decide what to do next."

The office of Mayor Dave Bieter was also disappointed. Mayor's office spokesman Adam Park told Citydesk, "The Simplots now have the option to appeal this decision. Tonight's decision doesn't end the conversation."

JUMP, a tribute to the late J.R. Simplot was unveiled over a year and a half ago with a $100 million dollar pricetag. After several work sessions, the project was revised and scaled to approximately $70 million.

"We believed that JUMP met all the regulatory conditions but still offered great creativity and ingenuity," said Cuoio.

[Boisekid]

So in the last 24 hours, the city of Boise has shot down a whole foods AND a $70 million dollar GIFT to the city, JUMP...I wasn't the biggest fan of the design but this would have brought MUCH needed jobs to the valley! I don't care what it is, a project that would have brought approx 700 construction jobs for JUMP and approx 100 full-time jobs for Whole Foods, and the stuck up D&R and Planning and Zoning committee couldn't see that.

And with the whole foods, the reason for shooting it down is because it didn't agree with the city's master "high-density" plan??? Are you kidding me??? A dirt lot is better???? There are TWO phases to this project! I don't care if the second phase starts till 2020, you approve the dam thing! We could have had hundreds of new jobs to the valley and two of the most hideous vacant lots in the metro area developed...and the city shoots them down.

I hope both appeal to the city council and get approved. I don't care if they're hideous and don't mesh with the city's long term plan, nearly any other city would have LOVED to have a $70 million dollar project AND whole foods brought to their city, especially when the fill two extremely visible eyesores. This is a sad day for the citizens of Boise. Not all is lost, but not a good day nonetheless.

Sorry for the rant, but i'm a little @#($%&!

[Visualize]

Originally Posted by Boisekid

In a stunning decision Wednesday night, Boise's Design Review Committee tripped up JUMP- or Jack's Urban Meeting Place, the Simplot family's grand design to bring a multipurpose project to downtown.


The committee voted 4-3 to reject construction of the $70 million, eight-story two-block development. Committe members Rodney Evans, Bruce Taylor, Greg Ugrin and Elizabeth Wolf voted against the project. Rob Anderson, Brian Garrett and James Marsh voted to keep the project alive. A last-minute appeal by Anderson to support JUMP with additional work sessions failed on a 4-3 vote.

Committee member Wolf pulled no punches in her criticism of the plans.

"This decision is not about personal taste. It's about civic responsibility," said Wolf. "This is a parking garage embellished with theme park elements."

Spot on. Thank god the majority of the committee is thinking about downtown as a whole, and not just the price-tag associated with this project.


And in regards to Whole Foods....If that was a Target and a Money Tree rather than Whole Foods, would anyone be disappointed in it being denied? It's a big-box chain just the same, with no pedestrian elements, and no promise phase 2 will ever happen. It has parking in a huge setback along Front, which is just ridiculous, and they should have known better to begin with. It's not Boise's fault that the people presenting these projects are retarded. There are some pretty basic design elements that are just being blatantly ignored.

[ianjt]

I heard somewhere that the Simplots will be scrapping plans all together if they didn't get it approved this time. I don't know about the legitimacy of that statement, but it has seemed to be a big hassle.

Hopefully something bigger and better comes of this

[boisecynic]

Originally Posted by Boisekid

So in the last 24 hours, the city of Boise has shot down a whole foods AND a $70 million dollar GIFT to the city, JUMP...I wasn't the biggest fan of the design but this would have brought MUCH needed jobs to the valley! I don't care what it is, a project that would have brought approx 700 construction jobs for JUMP and approx 100 full-time jobs for Whole Foods, and the stuck up D&R and Planning and Zoning committee couldn't see that.

And with the whole foods, the reason for shooting it down is because it didn't agree with the city's master "high-density" plan??? Are you kidding me??? A dirt lot is better???? There are TWO phases to this project! I don't care if the second phase starts till 2020, you approve the dam thing! We could have had hundreds of new jobs to the valley and two of the most hideous vacant lots in the metro area developed...and the city shoots them down.

I hope both appeal to the city council and get approved. I don't care if they're hideous and don't mesh with the city's long term plan, nearly any other city would have LOVED to have a $70 million dollar project AND whole foods brought to their city, especially when the fill two extremely visible eyesores. This is a sad day for the citizens of Boise. Not all is lost, but not a good day nonetheless.

Did you catch the Boise Weekly article about Whole foods? It's not as simple as it sounds. Whole Foods wanted a whole lot. A rezone, a CUP and a variance. I'd like to make my single family home into a triplex that's for sure and become a wealthy slum lord. But I damn well don't want all my deadbeat landlord rental neighbors building triplexes next to my home. I would love to have seen WF go in but the city has to stick to its guns or they set a precedent. Before you know it, Front and Myrtle are back to being a warehouse district. The same crap BRA tore down in the 60s.

A lot of people are talking jobs. The construction jobs would only be temporary. What creates jobs anyway? People do. What we need are more people living downtown. Not more shoppers commuting in from the Mesa or Harris Ranch. And the clerks and baggers of WF would have been commuting in from elsewhere as well. Other than State and County gov't jobs downtown, the number one draw is the greenbelt and the parks. These are 2 things the city has control over and should continue to invest in to lure residential development downtown. If the Simplots have so much money burning holes in their pockets then why don't they cough up the money to finish the White Water Park including the Americana diversion dam and the Esther Simplot Park?

This will cap off the string of jewels parks and surely impress the kind of people who have the money to afford to live downtown.


BW on Whole Foods, just the facts: http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/who...nt?oid=1821058

Visualize makes a good point. If that site proposal had been a Wal-Mart or Costco there probably would have been pitch forks and torches against it.

[boisecynic]

Regarding the JUMP project

Last night PBS ran Ken Burns American Stories Frank Lloyd Wright Part II. The part I watched was the Guggenheim story. Wright was highly, to put it mildly, criticized for the Guggenheim. Everyone, fellow architects and even artists whose works would be displayed were aghast at the design.

Now we know the Guggenheim is beloved by New Yorkers.

I can't find a link to the show, but if any of you get the chance it's a must see. I don't like the JUMP project very much, but watching the story of Wright and the Guggenheim changed my mind. Allow JUMP providing pedestrian access to Broad St, 10th Street and the Pioneer Path is well thought out.

[Cottonwood]

Originally Posted by ianjt

I heard somewhere that the Simplots will be scrapping plans all together if they didn't get it approved this time. I don't know about the legitimacy of that statement, but it has seemed to be a big hassle.

Hopefully something bigger and better comes of this

Haven't the Simplots proposed a few other large projects for that lot over the years that always become smoke? Weren't they supposed to revamp the 8th Street Marketplace (which never happened) before it became BoDo?
Remember how long it took one of the Simplots to remodel that historic house/hotel in Hyde Park? That went on for years in the remodel stage and it is just a home.





Does anyone know how the Design Review people get chosen, what qualifications they have?




p.s.---The Whole Foods decision is good for now and hopefully the development company revamps the plans. Who wants a grocer with a large lot adjacent to an existing grocer with another huge lot?
I agree with the cities decision regarding the WF but am still questioning the decision over JUMP.


another p.s.....at least the buildings on the West of 9th have not been torn down yet. Can you imagine if they had been demolished? I shudder at the thought.

[boisecynic]

Good point, cottonwood, about the Hyde Park house. IIRC there was a lot of wrangling over P&Z restrictions regarding that place too. Regardless, the Simplots are not known for their urban development prowess. Feed lots and processing plants, yes, but the city projects are a different kind of potato.

How Design Review members get their jobs:

http://www.cityofboise.org/Departmen...iew/index.aspx

If I'm not mistaken, it's a volunteer job.

[Visualize]

All photo's taken from: http://pdsonline.cityofboise.org/pds...00178&type=doc

There is a lot more information at that link if anyone is interested.

[BoiseAirport]

Wow, well okay, if they had released those beforehand, then I would've been in support of it... To me, the biggest problem with this project was that at no point was it clear to me what exactly this project would look like. It looked like a giant, permanent three-ring circus by the renderings given; but in the photos posted by Visualize, I like those A LOT more.

Especially all the greenery... that is direly needed downtown, I think. Sure the river and Ann Morrison are close by, but when you're arriving from the connector it looks like nothing but brown, brown, brown.

I really wish they had released those photos (or if they did, I wish someone had posted them) earlier. I like that way better than any of the other renderings I've seen.

[Visualize]

^^^ It definitely does have some interesting elements, they're just being overshadowed by some of the negatives. Hopefully something can be worked out because regardless if I'm in love with it or not, I still want to see it built. Just not red, please not red.

[el conquistador]

I don't like those spires at all, but really the rest of the building is cool and funky and the landscaping plans are fantastic IMO. I agree, where were pics of the mock-ups before? Those make it look much better than the digital images.

[Boisebro]

so let me get this straight...

the dipshets killed this entire $70 million project that would've enhanced downtown and provided a gift to the entire city because of... the COLOR??

WTF?

couldn't they just approve it on the contingency they tone down the color a bit? hell, this would be great if it was all white.

smells fishy to me. after all these rounds, they use the color as the reason to kill this project.

[Cottonwood]

I wonder how many calls or emails the Manager of Design Review has received.

Where is the mayor?


www.cityofboise.org
Sarah Schafer, Design Review & Historic Preservation Manager

Phone: (208) 395-7840
Fax: (208) 384-3753
Email: sschafer@cityofboise.org
TTY: (800) 377-3529

[202_Cyclist]

Boisebro:

so let me get this straight...

the dipshets killed this entire $70 million project that would've enhanced downtown and provided a gift to the entire city because of... the COLOR??

WTF?

couldn't they just approve it on the contingency they tone down the color a bit? hell, this would be great if it was all white.

smells fishy to me. after all these rounds, they use the color as the reason to kill this project.

Admittedly, I don't live in Boise and I am not familiar with the immediate surroundings but I think the reason the Design Review Committee nixed this project is that it is terrible urban planning. The post above that said this looks like a glorified parking garage is right on. This is way back from the street, makes no effort to be integrated with surrounding buildings and has numerous curb-cuts. Additionally, it looks like an amusement park.

[Boiseguy]

Originally Posted by ianjt

I heard somewhere that the Simplots will be scrapping plans all together if they didn't get it approved this time. I don't know about the legitimacy of that statement, but it has seemed to be a big hassle.

Hopefully something bigger and better comes of this

well seeing as how they're billionaires you'd think they could muster up a decent architect to come up with something that doesn't look like six flags theme park in the middle of downtown...
I'd rather it be done right if it's going to be done.