This Abandoned Boise Neighborhood No Longer Exists, Only These Videos Do

Residents of what was once a promising foothills neighborhood first started to feel uneasy about the ground beneath their homes in March 2016. No one could’ve predicted that the beautiful luxury homes would look like they belonged in a disaster film just a few short months later. 

That’s when crews from utility companies like Suez Water Company and Intermountain Gas started keeping a close eye on the areas they served on Alto Via Court. They weren’t sure what was causing the land in the neighborhood to shift and slide, but it moved enough to damage a water main.

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By that summer, the ground had shifted at least three feet. The family that owned the home at 289 N Alto Via court had to leave after the City of Boise condemned their once beautiful home. The homeowners first notice a crack in a wall here or a creaky sound there.

By June those cracks were large, pieces of the ceiling started to fall down and doors were hanging from their hinges.  There was foundation damage. The grass had been torn apart so dramatically that you could see just how much the hillside had slipped in such a short time. It was barely recognizable from when it appeared in this Parade of Homes video from 2013. 

As you can imagine, the extreme amount of snowfall and wet weather during the Snowpocalypse 2016/2017 just accelerated the landslide. The sight of the crumbling houses was so bizarre that people couldn’t resist trespassing on the street, which had been closed to the public for months.

It prompted the city to install permanent “No Trespassing” signs on the street. According to an old press release from the Boise Police Department, they had arrested or cited multiple people for trespassing or vandalizing the private homes. They adopted a zero-tolerance policy in the neighborhood. 

So What Happened to the Homes After the Landslide?

We’re not sure the cause of the landslide was ever publicly disclosed and there isn’t a ton of information regarding the settlement the City of Boise made with the homeowners. We know that the city paid five of the homeowners and also covered the costs of demolishing most of the homes. Originally, they had ordered the homeowners to cover demolition costs themselves and to do it quickly because they were a public safety risk.

If you look at the satellite image of the street on Google Maps dated 2023, there’s only one home of the five homes behind the road closure still standing. Ada County tried to auction off some of the lots in the area affected by the landslide in 2019, but the city made it pretty clear that they wouldn’t issue permits to build anything on them. At the time, the city told CBS2 that they had no intention of re-opening the road to the public. You can still see the road closure in place on the Google Maps satellite image. 

The first two homes were torn down in August 2017. Based on an archived BoiseDev article from 2018, it looks like the other three were torn down the following year. 

So, now all that remains of the abandoned neighborhood is a single house you can’t access and a ton of chilling photos/drone videos of the homes as they were crumbling! 

DISCLAIMER: The remaining house is on PRIVATE PROPERTY. The road is closed to the public. Under no circumstances should you enter the property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing.