Another transportation agency will be joining the Idaho Transportation Department in trying to jump ship on its headquarters: the Ada County Highway District.

But only one of those may actually go through.

ITD’s attempt to sell its 44-acre property along State Street and move to the former Hewlett-Packard campus on Chinden Boulevard was scrapped after lawmakers took issue with the sale and canceled it.

The developers who were to buy that State Street property have since sued the state and allege that lawmakers violated the Idaho constitution and case law by unfairly canceling the sale.

Meanwhile, ACHD’s attempt to leave its aging headquarters in Garden City is well on its way after the agency’s board of commissioners unanimously voted Wednesday to buy a former DirecTV call center building at 5800 N. Meeker Ave. in Boise for $16.4 million.

The building is within the Boise Research Center, roughly a mile away from the former Hewlett-Packard campus where ITD was hoping to relocate.

The former DirecTV call center was originally listed for $20 million, and the agency negotiated the price down to $16.4 million after receiving the inspection report, said Steve Price, general counsel for ACHD, during the meeting. The difference would be spent to make repairs on the new property, Price said.

ACHD would move its operations, which are spread among four buildings, under one roof. Employees are expected to start moving into the new building in phases over the next 18 months, according to a news release. The agency should be fully moved out of its headquarters on Adams Street in Garden City by 2027.

The 150,000-square foot, two-story headquarters was built in 1996 and sits on 12 acres and includes private offices, open work areas, a fitness room, conference rooms, a theater, break room and a cafe, according to LoopNet. It also includes over 750 parking spaces and an interior courtyard with a fountain and palm trees.

ACHD facing growing pains

The search for a new headquarters came after a long-running dispute with Garden City over where the agency stockpiles its salt and sand at the Adams Maintenance Yard — where it sits in the Boise River floodplain.

Residents were concerned about the location of the shed and in 2020 the Garden City Council chose to deny an extension of the agency’s permit for the shed, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting. ACHD and the city agreed to a deal that would phase out the shed and required them to get a floodplain permit from Garden City every year.

Price said that the agreement — and having employees at several different buildings — spurred the agency to look for a new place to call home.

“The goal has always been to reunite all of our employees into one facility,” Price said.

Price said ACHD looked at several other options before choosing to buy the property, including leasing a Department of Environmental Quality building or rebuilding the Adams Street site.

Leasing the DEQ building would have cost over $40 million over about 15 years and would have left ACHD owning nothing after the lease expired, Price said. Rebuilding the Adams Street property would cost at least $60 million, he said.

“(The Meeker property) represents an enormous value compared to what we would have to do if we went through a lease or if we were going to have to rebuild,” Price said. “And this, by far, is a significant savings for the taxpayers.”

The new building would also give ACHD room to expand as the region continues to grow, Price said.

“It allows ACHD to be able to have a home, a permanent home for many years in the future,” Price said.

The five-person board of commissioners agreed with Price’s assessment and gave glowing reviews to the decision to move.

“From a purely logical standpoint, this is the kind of deal that comes along … once in a lifetime,” Commissioner Dave McKinney said during the meeting. “All around, it was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned.”

McKinney said ACHD could then sell the Adams Street property likely for two or three times what it cost to move into the new, bigger building.

“I think this is one of the most fiscally prudent decisions in my 12 years here,” Commissioner Jim Hansen said.

Meeting received little public notice

The agency publishes the commissioner’s weekly agenda the Friday before every meeting. The vote had still not been placed on the agenda as of Monday. It was added on short notice before the Wednesday meeting.

Hansen hinted at one reason: The agency wanted to keep the purchase under wraps.

“The challenge of a public agency when the private sector knows you’re out there looking for something is the price doubles, because you’re stuck with whatever the price is that they’re willing to sell at,” Hansen said.

Opening up 11 acres for a growing, changing Garden City

The move from the old building would also free 11 acres of property for development near the Boise River Greenbelt in a part of Garden City that has seen dramatic growth and change over the past few years.

The Boardwalk apartments, which are under construction, are a half mile to the north, while the ever popular Push & Pour coffee shop, Wepa Cafe, the summer-only bar Yardarm and the Boise Whitewater Park are a similar distance to the south.

“It paves the way — no pun intended — for some truly transformational investment and redevelopment on this 11-acre property that we currently hold,” said Board President Alexis Pickering during Wednesday’s meeting.

Pickering said she hoped the sale would lead to the removal of the barbed-wire fence along the ACHD property’s border with the Boise River Greenbelt.

“If anyone is really interested in developing this property, we do have people that accept checks as the time goes on,” said Commissioner Kent Goldthorpe.

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