Idaho’s top state officials, meeting as the state Land Board, have voted unanimously to auction off the state office building that now houses the Idaho Public Utilities Commission’s offices, along with two other tenants. The office building, called Central Washington Place, is at 602 N. 5th St. in Boise, right across the street from a state high-rise office tower and in what’s called the “capitol mall” area near the state capitol. But a “comprehensive financial analysis” of state endowment-owned buildings in the capitol mall area concluded that this one isn’t a good one for short- and long-term earnings to the state endowment fund. “It was determined that it would be in the best interest of the beneficiaries to auction the Central Washington Place commercial property,” according to a staff report presented to the Land Board.

The minimum bid was set at $3.3 million, and the auction will take place in February of 2009. The 1973 building, which has a parking garage below, is 30,087 square feet on 0.84 acres; it’s fully occupied and would have to be sold subject to the existing leases with tenants. According to law, proceeds from the sale would go into a fund for purchasing other property that could generate gains for the endowment.

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