Idaho Transportation Department takes back control of flood-damaged State Street campus in Boise

This file photo of the Idaho Transportation Department’s old State Street headquarters in Boise was taken March 21, 2021, before the building flooded. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun)

The Idaho Transportation Board took back control of its flood-damaged former Boise headquarters on Thursday, setting off what could be a years-long and uncertain next chapter for the property.

During its meeting Thursday in Lewiston, the Idaho Transportation Board voted unanimously to pass a resolution that rescinded an earlier 2022 resolution that declared the State Street campus in Boise that the headquarters was previously located at as surplus property.

As part of Thursday’s resolution, the Idaho Transportation Department also took back control of the 44-acre property located at 3311 W. State St.

Taking back control of the building allows the Idaho Transportation Department to use $32.5 million in state funding the Idaho Legislature approved earlier this year to renovate the damaged and contaminated building, state officials said Thursday.

“The funding is contingent upon custody and control of the property coming back to the Idaho Transportation Board,” Idaho Transportation Department Chief AdministratIve Officer Dave Tolman said during Thursday’s meeting. “After discussions with many people, the best approach at this point in time to comply with the House bill, the legislation that did pass and become law, is to request the board to rescind the resolution that was passed in August of 2022.”

Costs to renovate State Street campus in Boise are unclear

The resolution to take control of the property also directs ITD staff to work with the Division of Public Works to develop a cost estimate to make the asbestos-contaminated building suitable for the department to use again. The Idaho Legislature set aside $32.5 million for renovations during the 2024 legislative session, based on rudimentary sight-unseen estimates provided by the Division of Public Works, according to records the Idaho Capital Sun obtained under the Idaho Public Records Act. After reaching out to the state, legislators were given two rudimentary estimates, records show:

$32.5 million for building renovations, asbestos removal and unspecified “soft costs.”
$63.2 million for asbestos removal, building demolition and construction of a new 100,000 square foot building.

Those estimates were generated in November 2023 and developed sight-unseen, the Department of Administration told the Sun. Those estimates do not take into account the extent of flood damage and HVAC repairs required, the Department of Administration said. 

Legislators went with the $32.5 million option.

At the time, Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, told the Sun it was more financially responsible to keep the building and renovate it, instead of selling it or tearing the building down and building a new building.  

Idaho Transportation Department campus timeline: Understanding the flood, sale and legal fight

There have been several twists and turns in the road for the Idaho Transportation Department administrative headquarters in Boise. Here is a closer look at what happened when. 

Jan. 2, 2022: The State Street property flooded and was contaminated by asbestos. All employees that had been working at the ITD administrative headquarters in Boise were displaced, according to court and ITD records.
March 22 to March 24, 2022: The Idaho House and Idaho Senate passed House Bill 779, which provides $37 million and includes budget intent language saying the ITD headquarters that had been located at the State Street campus will occupy space at a different state-owned campus on Chinden Boulevard.
Aug. 5, 2022: The Idaho Transportation Department Board passed a resolution declaring the State Street campus to be surplus property unsuitable for ITD use, ITD records show. Declaring the State Street campus to be surplus property set the property up to be sold publicly to the highest bidder.
Nov. 10, 2023: Department of Administration Director Steve Bailey told the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that the state sold the State Street campus in September to a group of buyers for $51.7 million, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
March 1, 2024: the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee reversed the state”s course by passing a transportation department budget that blocked the sale of the State Street campus, the Sun previously reported. Instead, the budget called for the state to keep the property and renovate it for $32.5 million. 
April 25, 2024: The would-be buyers of the property – Hawkins Companies, Pacific West Communities and FJ Management – filed a lawsuit in the Idaho Supreme Court seeking an order to conclude the sale of the State Street property to them and throw out the Idaho Legislature’s budget language blocking the sale.
Aug. 13, 2024: Idaho Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit, ruling the would-be buyers did not have a legally enforceable right to buy the property.
Sept. 19, 2024: Idaho Transportation Board took back control of the State Street campus and requested a cost estimate to make the property usable again.