Moon’s Kitchen, Mai Thai reopenings depend fully on building’s owner, city says

Wondering how long it’ll be until you can return to Mai Thai for a bento box or cocktail? Or to Moon’s Kitchen for eggs Benedict?

The restaurants likely won’t reopen for at least a couple of months. It could be sooner, though the city says that’s entirely up to the owner of the 121-year-old Union Block building downtown, where both businesses have operated for years.

The two-story Union Block building, completed in 1902 at 730 W. Idaho St., is a Boise landmark. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and its sandstone facade is a quintessential part of the downtown streetscape.

The city closed off the building Thursday because of concerns about its structural safety stemming from a years-long project to construct a new basement floor that’s been plagued by delays. City officials say the owner hasn’t addressed their worries, and that they “couldn’t keep kicking this can down the road any longer.”

But the owner says he was blindsided by the city’s move to condemn it.

Regardless, dozens of restaurant workers are out of jobs.

City cordons off building, surrounding area

The city condemned the building after officials inspected the space and left with concerns regarding its structural integrity.

At the request of the city, the Ada County Highway District also closed the sidewalk, on-street parking and far-right lane of traffic next to the building on Idaho Street between Capitol Boulevard and Eighth Street.

The building has been under construction for years with temporary shoring holding it up after owner Ken Howell won approval from the city in 2018 to carve out an additional floor below ground. The basement renovation was supposed to take about a year.

“Five years later, we’re concerned about those temporary measures and the long-term effects they could have on the stability of the building,” said Tim Keane, director of the city’s Planning and Development Services department. “We really felt like we needed to close the building to protect people. We will never, under any circumstance, jeopardize public safety.”

Notices posted last week to the building’s doors at 730 W. Idaho St. said “Do not enter. Unsafe to occupy.”

The city issued an order citing several subsections of the city’s code for dangerous buildings, including when any portion of a structure is “likely to fail, or become dislodged or to collapse.” Howell, who also owns Parklane Management Co., has 30 days to get permits for the work needed to stabilize the building and 60 days to complete the fixes.

He told the Idaho Statesman that the order was a “complete surprise” with “no prior announcement.”

Howell owns two other historic buildings downtown: the Idaho Building at 8th and Bannock streets and the Idanha Hotel at 10th and Main streets, which he converted into apartments and business spaces in 2001.

Owner says building is not liable to collapse

Howell said the temporary shoring posts holding up the Union Block building are made of steel, and haven’t worn out or shifted. He said they’re designed to support massive loads, and are equivalent to, if not more supportive than, the original wood posts that held the building up for over a century.

“I’m just trying to understand what their specific concerns are and why they feel that last week the building was fine and this week it’s not,” he said Tuesday by phone. “The contention is basically that today or tomorrow the whole thing’s going to collapse, and that’s just not the case.”

He said he didn’t receive a copy of the order until Monday evening, and that he’ll work nonstop to get the building back open.

Meanwhile, the businesses inside, including Mai Thai, Moon’s Kitchen and Balsam Brands, will have to make do. The two restaurants are closed.

“Obviously, the most important thing for my tenants is to get occupancy back immediately,” Howell said.

Moon’s Kitchen blamed Howell in an Instagram post Friday that said he “did not follow through with what is necessary to keep the building open” and that “due to his negligence” the business is closed and its employees are out of work.

Mai Thai owner Billy Pothikamjorn said he has about 35 part-time and full-time employees.

“Now, they need a job,” he said. “And the economy is not good.”

The Asian-fusion restaurant, which opened in 2003, had already planned to temporarily shutter after a kitchen fire on Nov. 7 damaged its space. Pothikamjorn said he wasn’t sure when he’ll be able to complete the repairs now that the building is closed.

“We want to move forward and get the work done, but they don’t want anyone in the building. It’s a double problem,” he told the Statesman by phone. “It’s a loss of income — everything.”

Mai Thai kitchen fire unrelated to closure

Pothikamjorn said he met with city building inspector Carl Madsen on Thursday, who informed him of the closure. That was two days after the kitchen fire, but the order condemning the building was not related to the fire, according to Keane.

“It’s hugely disappointing, of course, for them as businesses, but they recognize the gravity of the situation,” Keane told reporters Monday. “I did express to them very clearly that the speed at which Mai Thai and Moon’s Kitchen can be reopened is 100% dependent on the owner (of the building). If the owner is able to bring us plans that show this building will be stabilized in a certain manner tomorrow, we will review it tomorrow.”

He said the city had asked Howell and his engineer for additional information regarding the structural stability of the building and received a report Wednesday from Howell’s engineer that Keane said failed to address the city’s concerns. The report prompted the inspection on Thursday, which led to the building’s closure.

“This is a case where we’re asking the structural engineer working for the owner to show us that this building is safe, and we’re not getting that confirmation,” Keane said. “We said, ‘That’s enough. It’s time to close it.’”

BoiseDev reported in July that the basement renovation project was on its third structural engineer and that city building inspectors ordered work to stop several times, including when large cracks appeared in the wall of the Balsam Brands office space, above ground.

Keane said his staff has expressed to Howell the importance that he pursue the fixes urgently, “and I suspect he will.” Howell has not been issued any fines, penalties or citations. A spokesperson for the city said the tenants could seek damages.

Union Block an ‘important historic building’

The Union Block building was designed by Boise architect John E. Tourellotte in 1899, according to the Idaho Architecture Project, and completed three years later.

It’s made of brick and sandstone sourced from the local Tablerock quarry, which was used in the construction of several other downtown Boise buildings, including the Capitol. The Richardsonian Romanesque-style structure has a 125-foot-long frontage with five arches and many windows.

During the 1960s the building fell in and out of occupancy, the city said, and was in danger of being demolished. A few decades later, in the 1990s, the city gave Howell a contract to restore it. It reopened five years later.

Keane said the Union Block building, and others like it downtown, are tremendously important to the city’s character. He said the city has a great interest in protecting it.

“You could argue it’s the most important historic building downtown,” he said. “If, for some reason, we lost it — that would be an incredible loss for Boise.”

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