Sept. 19—Hotel developers are sniffing around Downtown Boise the way they did in the early 2000s, right before the city’s last building spurt, Greater Boise Auditorium District executive director Pat Rice said.
So far, it’s all smoke and no fire, Rice said. No one has broken ground. Gardner Co., which finished the Eighth & Main building early this year, put together a plan for a hotel between 8th, 9th, River and Fulton streets. Capital City Development Corporation, Boise’s urban renewal agency and the owner of the lot, picked a condominium project instead.
But after many quiet years, Rice said, interest in Downtown hotels is growing. He’s guessing that a developer—maybe several—will get serious in the next two years.
“They’ve put their toe in the water, but they’re not willing to dive in yet,” Rice said.
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
Hotel numbers are crucial for Rice and the auditorium district that operates Boise’s convention center. Most of the district’s money comes from a 5 percent tax on hotel room bookings inside its boundaries, which surround Boise. As hotel rates and occupancy rates go, so goes the district’s paycheck.
Those paychecks have a new significance. The district is planning a $37 million expansion of the Boise Centre convention venue. Besides a renovation of the existing building, the project would include a ballroom, meeting space and a commercial kitchen in City Center Plaza, under construction at the southwest corner of Main Street and Capitol Boulevard.
July brought more than $490,000 in hotel tax money to the district—more than any single month in its 55-year history. The second-ranked month? August, which brought in $482,000.
The trend is longer than the past few months. Last year was a record year for hotel tax revenue, beating 2007’s total by about $80,000. Even Rice, a conservative budgeter, predicts that this year’s total will eclipse last year’s. Numbers for hotel stays across the district weren’t available.
WHY THE BUMP?
There are two reasons for Boise’s surge: occupancy and rates. More people are staying in hotels, tightening availability, so customers are willing to pay more for a room. Rice said the average daily rate hit $90 in June for the first time in the history of the district. In July, the average rate was $90.28.
There’s no doubt business is better than last year, said Lisa Vincent, general manager of SpringHill Suites on ParkCenter Boulevard. Vincent said hotels in the core of Downtown usually fill up first, and then demand starts pushing outward to hotels like hers.
This summer, she said, SpringHill Suites welcomed a lot of leisure travelers. With fall and winter coming, tourist stays have decreased, but demand from business travelers has stayed strong.
That fits what Rice is seeing. Hotels around Boise don’t have much trouble filling their rooms between Sunday and Thursday nights. The weekends see lower occupancy, he said, unless there’s a big sports tournament or other event going on in town.
Vincent said she expects hotels in Boise to keep reaping the profits as long as the local and broader economies stay strong.
Sven Berg: 377-6275