Hotel Will Make Way for Business College: BSU Buys University Inn for $3.2 Million As Eventual Site for New Academic Building
Posted on: Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 09:00 CDT
By Melissa McGrath, The Idaho Statesman, Boise
Jun. 28--The University Inn near Boise State University will be torn down in two to three years and replaced with a new College of Business and Economics building, BSU said Tuesday.
BSU said it paid $3.2 million for the University Inn, the hotel located at the northeast corner of Capitol Boulevard and University Drive.
It was the last piece of property bordering BSU's campus along Capitol Boulevard that the university didn't own, said Stacy Pearson, vice president of finance and administration.
The University Inn, built in 1957, will remain in business through Oct. 31. After that, the university plans to temporarily convert some or all of the inn into faculty office space, something BSU needs right now, Pearson said. In the next two or three years, the university will tear down the inn and build a new academic building in its place.
"It's one of those instances where you aren't looking forward to this happening," said Phil Murelaga, a Boise hotelier who owns the University Inn. "We have a great staff. We've had great customers."
But Murelaga said he has had a great working relationship with BSU and thinks the 1.86-acre property will make a nice addition to the campus.
"The real sadness is that the staff has to make different plans after Oct. 31," he said. University Inn employs about 30 people, he said.
Murelaga also owns the Safari Inn in Downtown Boise and formerly owned part of the Statehouse Inn in Boise before it was sold to an investors' group in a transaction announced last week.
BSU wants to build a new five-story, 100,000-square-foot building. That likely won't happen until the university can raise enough money or secure more state funds, Pearson said.
"It's one of the buildings on our list of future facilities and currently in the fund-raising phase," Pearson said. "Also, the property is facing Capitol Boulevard, and we wanted to put a facility there that would interact with the community."
The proposed building, which is estimated to cost between $20 million and $30 million, will include:
-- An atrium and commons lounge.
-- A food court.
-- A financial trading room.
-- A 200-person auditorium.
-- A graduate student research center.
-- High-tech classrooms.
The university also plans to use signs to make the corner of the Capitol Boulevard and University Drive a gateway to the campus, Pearson said.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise
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