Popular Boise pizza shop labeled ‘premier redevelopment’ spot. What next for SW downtown?
Americana Pizza, Reel Foods seafood market, Boise Cold Storage — the inconspicuous sandstone building next to Rhodes Skate Park under the Boise Connector has been a part of Boise history for over a century and housed businesses that have become ingrained in the local community.
But that property’s future at 304 S. Americana Boulevard — and the pizza shop, cold storage and vodka businesses that still run out of it — is unsteady after its owners listed it for sale as a “premier redevelopment opportunity,” according to a sales brochure from TOK Commercial Real Estate.
The 1.73-acre property is directly outside the downtown core, off the I-184 exit onto River Street and on the other side of the overpass from the under-construction Boise Fire Station #5 and the popular A’tavola marketplace and cafe.
“The property delivers unique visibility, fronting the high-traffic freeway spur, as one of the first visible buildings to traffic inbound to Boise’s downtown amenities, major employers and educational institutions,” according to the brochure.
Americana Pizza has been a popular go-to spot for legions of hungry skateboarders straight from Rhodes Skate Park since the shop opened in early 2019. But, it’s not clear yet what will happen to the popular take-out-focused pizza spot.
Max Lillie, the owner of Americana Pizza, did not return a voicemail inquiring about plans.
Americana Pizza took the former spot of the Reel Foods seafood market that moved to Capitol Boulevard in 2012 and then to Vista Avenue, according to prior Idaho Statesman reporting.
Boise Cold Storage, which takes up most of the property, has also been a long-running fixture of the community since it opened in 1903 — back when it cut ice from the Boise River and local ponds to sell to the railroads and merchants, according to its website.
The company can now make 200 tons of ice per day using a well hundreds of feet below the property, according to the Boise Cold Storage website.
A receptionist for Boise Cold Storage told the Idaho Statesman that the company was planning to move to a new facility sometime in the future but that they haven’t solidified plans yet.
The new owner would receive income from both Boise Cold Storage and Americana Pizza but would be able to end those leases at any time, according to the brochure. Boise Cold Storage, however, would sign a short-term lease that would last until its new facility is up and running.
Michael Ballantyne, TOK managing partner and broker managing the sale, did not return multiple calls requesting comment on the property. Instead of a list price, TOK put out a call for offers due by 5 p.m. Sept. 20.
The property is owned by Boise 304 S Americana LLC, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s business registry database. William Waters out of Reno, Nevada, was listed as the CEO of the business in the initial 2023 business filing and president in the June 2024 annual report. The property has an assessed value of $7,539,000 in 2024, according to the Ada County Assessor website.
Boise’s changing southwest downtown, West End
If the property were to be demolished and redeveloped, it would be the latest in a string of changes slated for Boise’s southwest downtown area and nearby West End neighborhood.
“304 Americana is ideally located just between downtown and the major wave of development happening in the West Boise submarket,” according to the brochure.
The area has seen a slew of projects over the past five years, including the 134-unit Adare Manor apartments and the St. Luke’s Health System Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine that opened in February.
But more development is coming.
Half a mile to the west, at 3600 W. Americana Terrace, Boise developer Doug Jayo and his company Jayo Holdings plan to build four six-story buildings with 200 condominiums next to Kathryn Albertson Park.
Design plans for that development show two public plazas linking into the Boise River Greenbelt that would include retail shopping and options for food, coffee, snacks and beer.
“Best-case scenario, (it will be) about two years from now when we have a finished product,” Jayo told the Statesman in March.
The College of Western Idaho and Meridian-based developer Ball Ventures Ahlquist also have big plans for the area, with the aim of breaking ground this year on a $250 million project that would redevelop the former Bob Rice Ford Dealership at 3150 W. Main Street.
That 10-acre project on the corner of Whitewater Park Boulevard and Main Street would transform the now vacant parking lot for the Bernardine Quinn Riverside Park into apartments, restaurants, stores and other businesses along with an eight-story CWI building that would centralize the college’s Boise programs.
“I think they’re going to have a legacy site here that allows them to really attract students to a downtown environment,” Tommy Ahlquist, CEO of Ball Ventures Ahlquist, said in January.
The Boise Cold Storage and Americana Pizza property is also about half a mile to the west of a ripple of construction that includes the incoming over 300-unit Broadstone Saratoga apartments, boutique hotel The Sparrow, the dual brand Marriott AC/Element hotels and the recently opened Hotel Renegade.
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