The former Rite Aid building on State Street in Boise, temporarily occupied by Spirit Halloween at the time of the report, is up for a facade makeover, and city officials say the proposal is significant enough to send to a public hearing rather than approve administratively. The application calls for modernizing the storefront with gray stucco, horizontal siding and black storefronts, aiming to split the long-shuttered pharmacy into space for multiple tenants.
According to Idaho News 6, the City of Boise is reviewing the proposed exterior changes to the building at 1515 W. State St., with plans submitted by ALC Architecture. The application states its goal as modernizing the facade and making room for multiple tenants, and the proposed look includes three shades of gray stucco alongside horizontal siding and black storefronts.
The building has a layered retail history. It operated continuously as a grocery and drug store for decades, though accounts differ on exactly when it opened — BoiseDev reports it opened as a Safeway store in 1962, while a separate BoiseDev report on the property's lease dispute put the opening in 1963. The station's report adds that the building went from Safeway to Skaggs, then Osco, then PayLess Drugs, then Rite Aid, before standing temporarily as a Spirit Halloween.
A Mid-Century Design With Deep Local Roots
Per Idaho News 6, the building dates to the 1960s according to the Idaho Architecture Project, which catalogs it as featuring a curved roofline along with glass, wood and river rock in its mid-century design. The Idaho Architecture Project describes the structure in more technical detail, noting the broad arched roof is supported by laminated tilt-up wooden beams, while its exterior walls combine wide glass bays with panels of exposed river rock veneer. The catalog says the building's form, material and construction method show how national retail design arrived in Boise and how local builders shaped it to fit Idaho.
That design took root as State Street itself was transforming. By the early 1960s, State Street had become one of the city's busiest auto routes and was widened to support new commercial strips extending west from the North End, according to the Idaho Architecture Project. The old Rite Aid was part of that commercial expansion, and its unusual roofline has made it a recognizable landmark along the corridor ever since.
Why The City Flagged It For A Public Hearing
City officials found that the surveyed building contributes to a potential historic district, per the City of Boise, though no such district currently exists there. Because the proposed changes could alter the building's historic character, the city elevated the application to a public hearing, giving the neighborhood a chance to weigh in rather than letting the changes move forward administratively.
Idaho law lays out part of what it would take to formally designate a historic district in the first place. Under Idaho Code Section 67-4607, a local historic preservation commission appointed by a city or county governing body must investigate the historical, architectural, archaeological and cultural significance of the buildings, structures, features, sites or surroundings included in any proposed district. That requirement does not mean the former Rite Aid sits inside a designated district today — only that the statute spells out one of the steps such a designation would require.
Preservation Idaho identifies the Safeway property as a preservation priority and describes its modernist design, according to Preservation Idaho.
Neighbors Weigh In On What Should Stay
Patrick Cusick, a lifelong Boisean, told Idaho News 6 he hopes any changes preserve what makes the building distinctive. Michael Wilson, another resident quoted in the station's reporting, said buildings like this hold memories as well as businesses, adding that he believes the building can be updated while protecting its history.
The developer behind the project is currently revising its plans and has asked, according to the city, to push the design review hearing to December 9. Neighbors may still testify before the Design Review Commission at a meeting scheduled for November 18 at Boise City Hall, 150 N. Capitol Blvd., third floor, with the session set to start at 6 p.m.
What A New Tenant Mix Could Look Like
The building's path toward new tenants has already drawn attention beyond the design review. Summit Commercial is offering the building for lease, and BoiseDev reported the owners are willing to split up the 25,000-square-foot store or lease it as a single box, with the space potentially going to retail or restaurant users. A leasing flyer from Summit lists the building at 24,390 square feet and offers between 7,000 and 24,390 square feet for lease, a figure that differs slightly from BoiseDev's reporting without an explanation in available records for the discrepancy.
That same flyer lists the property as zoned City of Boise-MX-3 and notes roughly 87 parking stalls on site, according to the document published by Summit Commercial. It also states the building was built in 1962 and remodeled in 2021, including its facade and parking lot.
The property's ownership history adds another layer to the current proposal. State Street Partners signed a long-term lease with Rite Aid in 2000, with payments of about $361,000 per year in its current term, BoiseDev reported. That same ownership group filed an objection in Federal Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey to a proposed transfer of the lease from Rite Aid to CVS, a dispute that ultimately meant the State Street location did not convert to a CVS.
Idaho News 6 said it has reached out to ALC Architecture for more project details and was awaiting a response. For now, the building's future rests on the outcome of the design review process, with residents like Cusick and Wilson watching to see whether its mid-century character survives the modernization.
