If he doesn’t make the repairs in time, the city will take over and bill him for what it costs to make it structurally sound.

“We went and inspected it and we found lots of things to be concerned about,” Planning and Development Services Director Tim Keane told BoiseDev. “We wouldn’t take an action like this if we didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary to protect the public’s safety.”

Howell won approval from the city in 2018 to start an ambitious basement renovation that would open up an additional floor and dig out into the sidewalk on Idaho Street and in the alley behind the building for two lightwells to brighten the space. It was initially anticipated to take a year, but the project is still ongoing after five years.

An extensive BoiseDev investigation earlier this year revealed the project was on its third structural engineer as of July, and city inspectors had stopped work several times, including one occasion when large cracks appeared in the wall in office space above ground, home to the Balsam Brands Boise office.

The project first made headlines in 2019 when a pair of riders on an e-scooter flipped over a construction barrier and fell into a hole in the alley behind the project where crews were excavating the basement. Two years later, it spawned a public spat and lawsuit between a subcontractor and Parklane over allegations of unsafe over-excavating. Delays in digging and pouring the newly expanded basement then led to the closure of the sidewalk on Idaho Street to the public for more than a year.

Howell could not be immediately reached for comment about the closure.

Closure ‘independent’ of Tuesday kitchen fire

BoiseDev reported earlier Thursday Mai Thai was closed after a kitchen fire prompted a large response from the Boise Fire Department, which included a ladder truck taking firefighters up to the roof of the building.

Keane told BoiseDev that the closure of the Union Block building was not related to the fire. Instead, he said city officials have been concerned about the amount of temporary structural shoring holding up the building, which has been in place for years while the basement is excavated and a new foundation is under construction.

Keane said the city requested a new report on the temporary shoring and the structural integrity of the building from Howell’s engineer, and when it was delivered to the city on Wednesday morning it was “insufficient” and had “a lack of clarity around the stability of this building.”

Though the timing was coincidental, the report – not the fire – promoted the inspection, which then resulted in the building closure. Keane said those measures to support the building during construction that were intended to be temporary and now being a major structural support for the building for multiple years is what triggered the city’s concerns.

“We’re now five years at a construction project, looking at that temporary installation we observed led us to say ‘given that this was installed as a temporary measure and it has now become a five-year measure, we’re not comfortable that it’s still in a position to provide the stability the building needs,’” he said. “That’s the main issue, and if it’s not providing the stability the building needs, that can have other impacts on the building.”

The city’s order closing the building cited six different subsections of the city’s building code that apply to the building and why it was closed. It included a building where any portion is “likely to fail, become dislodged, or to collapse” or “wracked, warped, buckled or settled” so the building has “materially less resistance to winds or earthquakes.” The order also noted the code section about buildings where the foundation is facing “deterioration, decay or inadequacy of its foundation” due to removal, movement or instability of the ground beneath it.

How long will it be closed?

The order placed on the building said Howell has a maximum of 30 days to get the building permits to address the issue and 60 days to complete the fixes.

Keane said this is the maximum amount of time it takes, and if the project is resolved sooner and approved by the city, it can reopen. Howell’s engineer will determine what work needs to be done to make the building safe, which city building officials will approve. If Howell doesn’t meet the deadline, then the city can get it done themselves and bill him for it.

“If he doesn’t get the work done in 60 days and there’s no evidence he is even proceeding with the work and there’s no good faith effort on his part to get the work done, then we can move to have the work done such that the building is safe and charge him for that cost,” Keane said.

The building, sidewalk alongside the Union Block Building and the travel lane closest to the building from Capitol Boulevard to 8th Street will be closed while the order is in effect.

“These closures were requested by the city as a precautionary measure due to structural integrity issues with the Union Block building,” Ada County Highway District said in a tweet Thursday evening.