Perennial Townhomes approved for Hill Road

Developer David Hale’s condo and townhome project on the former Hillside Nursery site was approved by the Boise Design Review Committee this month.

The 37-unit Perennial Townhomes project consists of four townhome buildings, three condo buildings and a clubhouse. The condo buildings and clubhouse were originally proposed as a single structure, but were broken apart in response to the Planning and Zoning Commission and Boise City Council’s concerns that the building would be too massive. The four buildings would be positioned near each other and share a single underground parking garage.
The Design Review Committee recommended that the infill project contain more common playground space and make some adjustments to a retaining wall on Hill Road to make it more aesthetically pleasing, said Ed Daniels, principal architect of Hummel Architects.
The goal with the project was to build all 37 residential units on the site without disturbing the hillside to make room for the buildings, Daniels said.
“It’s a complicated site – long and narrow,” he said. “It’s difficult to get all of the allowed density on that site without leveling the hillside.”
Another developer’s earlier plans to redevelop the site would have built just 24 homes and would have carved away much more of the hillside. Hale preferred to work with the contours of the site and to build to a higher density since more homes close to the center of town could preclude the need for urban sprawl.
Hale wanted minimal pavement on the site to encourage bikers and pedestrian traffic, Daniels said. He wanted the project to maintain the existing landscape of the former nursery site wherever possible and bring architectural diversity to Boise through the palette of materials and how the materials were used in the project, Daniels said. The project also had to be sensitive to neighbors’ views and address concerns about the mass of the condo building.
Hale has said he plans to sell the homes for $200,000 to $650,000.
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