The continuous upgrades at the Riverside Hotel in Garden City continue with a new spa on the horizon, as the hotel’s owners outline a vision for the future.A local group purchased the former DoubleTree Riverside Hotel in 2011. The aging property dates to 1969, when it opened as the Rodeway Inn. Ov er the decades, the hotel expanded and was known as the Red Lion Riverside for much of the 1980s and 1990s. Today, the hotel is the third largest in the State of Idaho in terms of rooms, behind only the Sun Valley Resort and Coeur d’Alene Resort.Riverside Hospitality purchased the hotel property and began a large series of upgrades. Co-owner David Johnson said the new spa will add an additional amenity to the property.New spa“We are converting a small boardroom into an interior small spa, which moves us along toward our long-term goal of converting The Riverside Hotel into The Riverside Resort,” he said.Riverside Hospitality applied to the City of Garden City to remodel about 1,000 square feet of the hotel to build a small spa, with massage rooms, nail stations, and a relaxation room.“We are working with some wonderful local entrepreneurs with existing spa locations in the Treasure Valley to design and manage the spa.  The entrepreneurs are licensed estheticians and massage therapists,” he said. “They are skincare experts. The spa will accept appointments from locals as well as hotel guests.”The group applied to convert its current boardroom meeting space on the second floor of the hotel’s east side into the spa. Plans call for a set of three massage rooms of about 100 square feet each and a relaxation room. A small lobby area would also feature two nail stations.Johnson said if the concept works, there could be more on the horizon.“If all goes well with this spa idea for our guests and for our entrepreneurs, perhaps we will work with them someday to build a larger spa on the resort property,” he said.Latest improvementsLing and Louie’s on the eastern edge of the Riverside Hotel property in Garden City. Photo: Don Day/BoiseDevJohnson said since buying the property, they’ve worked to update and deploy capital to improve the site, which has a prime location along the Boise River Greenbelt.“Since we purchased The Riverside Hotel, 15 years ago this month, that has been our goal: create more reasons for people to want to stay with us, by updating every inch of the property and by adding more amenities, all within budget constraints,” he said. “We want our guests to have so many fun things to do that they do not want to leave the property.”He listed a litany of completed projects. The Telaya Wine Co. building and riverfront patio were once a parking lot, but later were sold to the Telaya ownership group. Barednay Distilling Co. opened in place of the former Knapp Auto repair business on the property’s west side. The Sandbar outdoor bar and restaurant converted a former exercise room and vacant outdoor space into a hub for live music during the warmer months. The former Joe’s Crab Shack (and one-time Charthouse Restaurant) was remodeled for Ling and Louie’s.The property has also added a new indoor pool and fitness building, made exterior changes, updated rooms, and reworked outdoor areas for events. As BoiseDev reported, Riverside Hospitality is also working with the City of Boise to build a new footbridge that will link the area near the under-development College of Western Idaho campus and Bernadine Quinn Park to the Riverside property.“We are not done yet but have made progress,” Johnson said..kb-google-maps-container1396128_361123-23{height:450px;} ...read more read less