Room for everybody

Filling Boise’s Hole

By Shea Andersen, 3-28-06

Hallelujah, said headline writers: Boise's Hole will soon become Idaho's tallest building.

News today from the Downtown development sector tells us a new contractor will take over a long-stalled project to build an office-condo tower smack in the middle of River City. The old construction hole had become its own landmark, generating Web sites calling for its recovery (complete with groovy merchandise), and requiring waitstaff at restaurants in the area to come up with new answers to visitors' questions about "that hole." It also inspired some local artists to take over the construction fence, creating a whimsical anomaly to the Downtown business landscape.

The hole's redemption comes at a time when Idaho leads the nation in construction jobs, but also at a time when Boise may not exactly be pining for more hotel rooms. Most of the above news is from The Idaho Statesman, but the news on the hole's redemption came first from KTVB Channel 7.

Mayors love to see cranes over their cities; it smells like progress and everybody (including outside investors) loves a winner. But the Boise Guardian remains unconvinced as to the consistency of Boise growth-boosters' claims.

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