UPDATED 5/30, 1:54 p.m.: Wording changed to reflect that West Ada has not purchased the respective property yet. UPDATED 6/2, 9:00 a.m.: Added information about the construction and owner of the warehouse at 335 S Locust Grove.
The West Ada School District Board of Trustees unanimously voted Tuesday to purchase a warehouse the district plans to convert into a career and technical education (CTE) facility. West Ada has not closed on the property yet.
The 70,000-square-foot warehouse, which costs approximately $12.9 million, will alleviate the strain on current CTE programs, where students are stuck on waitlists because of capacity constraints.
The money to acquire the building comes courtesy of Idaho House Bill 521, a bill passed in 2024 that issued public school districts funds to modernize their facilities.
Four of West Ada’s 25 CTE programs are in critical need of space, according to a presentation West Ada Chief Operations Officer David Reinhart delivered to the board on Tuesday: welding, auto mechanics, residential construction and early childhood education.
The warehouse contains roughly a dozen office spaces, a conference room and vast amounts of open space. Reinhard said CTE students will assist in outfitting the building for use as a CTE facility before occupying the building with students in 2026.
“We’ve already told the contractor that we want to use student labor [or] student talent as much as possible in designing those spaces, so that it is not just a contractor coming in and building everything for us, but that our students would have a chance to participate in the construction,” Reinhart told trustees.
“I’m super pleased to hear that our students are going to help with the work there, not only for any budget we’re going to save but for the experience they’re going to learn,” said Board Vice-Chair Rene Ozuna.
The district also intends to launch three new CTE programs: power sports, cosmetology and dental assisting.
The $12.9 million acquisition of the warehouse (at 335 S Locust Grove Road in Meridian) was presented in contrast with a previous proposal from 2023, where the West Ada district proposed spending $100 million to construct a new CTE building from the ground up.
Alternatively, the district considered spending an estimated $15 million to expand Meridian High School’s agriculture building to add four classrooms and a lab.
“This is such a tremendous opportunity,” said Trustee David Binetti. “This, to me, is an absolute gift,” Binetti said about the offer to purchase the building at a discounted price from its listed price of about $14 million. After his statement, the board motioned to vote and unanimously voted in favor of the acquisition.
Information about the property’s seller is redacted from the bill of sale in the agenda for Tuesday’s special meeting. But the warehouse was built and is owned by Utah-based Intermountain Wood Products, who built the warehouse with the intent to expand their operations in the Treasure Valley. The wood company ultimately decided to sell the building.
Stephen Isaacson, the building’s architect, issued a permit request to construct the warehouse in 2022. The all-steel building was completed in 2024. On a call with EdNews, Isaacson said Intermountain built the warehouse to expand their operations in the Boise area. Almost a third of the 70,000 square foot warehouse is office space.
The new CTE building is anticipated to open in fall 2026.
