BOISE -- A new law school coming to the heart of downtown Boise had its official ground breaking Tuesday.
Concordia University will be the first law school in the City of Trees.
Right now, a building located at the intersection of Front Street and Broad sits empty. But soon, that will be turned into the law library and classrooms. And what is now a parking lot will be transformed into a 33,000 square foot, three story building for more classrooms.
Some people say the law school is long overdue.
The new dean of the law school, Cathy Silak says after surveying more than 40 sites, the Portland-based Lutheran univerity decided to open their first campus in downtown Boise.
"It's a great next step for Concordia University School of Law to provide a really great facility for our future students, faculty and staff and for the Boise community overall." says Cathy Silak. "Within a very short walking distance our students, faculty and staff can be of service and learn from all of these wonderful organizations right here in downtown."
And Boise Mayor Dave Bieter agrees, the school couldn't have found a better place for the school, "Ada county courthouse is right here, obviously the supreme court is not too far away, Boise state just across the river. I really don't think they could've done a better job at locating it here."
Mayor Bieter says this addition to downtown will not only be advantageous to potential law students, but to the community as a whole. In fact Mayor Bieter says Boise is one of the largest urban areas without a law school.
"It just bolsters everything around it. its added jobs, more economic activity and its a presence thats important to the future of our city." says Bieter.
After accreditation is awarded by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, Concordia expects to open the facility in the fall 2011.
They expect their first batch of law students to be around 75 to 95 people.
Concordia isn't the only university with its sights set on Boise.
The University of Idaho is also working on bringing part of it's law school to the Treasure Valley.
University of Idaho administrators hope to start the third year program this fall -- using money from donations and from a student fee increase.
The university had hoped to open a full three-year law school branch in Boise, but the Board of Education rejected that proposal.
