Amidst dangling wires, buzzing saws (and sawdust), and while stepping over snakelike coils of electrical cords (watch your step!) and other implements of the hundred or so onsite construction workers, the Renegade team led a group of reporters and TV crews through the hotel from top to bottom.

The inside scoops

The eight-story boutique-style hotel will feature 122 guest rooms — most available in the $199 - $250 range. There will also be 22 higher-end, larger suites and one luxury penthouse. A huge decadent copper bathtub, that put this reporter in mind of a gigantic coal bucket, is also a luxury feature in the 22 suites and penthouse. And, because the tubs are made of copper, the hotel will have specially-made "bath teas" for guests.

The Pend Orielle Penthouse (yes, it's named for the Idaho lake) clocks in at exactly 1,313 square feet, a number that may furrow your brow until you find out why. "Thirteen is Taylor Swift's favorite number," said General Manager Jussi Santa to our tour group. "So when she comes to Boise, we have a place just for her."

Cassie Quick, director of sales and the leader on our tour, said the penthouse was named for the deepest lake in Idaho on purpose because "if you look a little deeper, that's where the treasure is." The penthouse will be at a higher room rate, around $3,000 a night(!). 

History and luxury

There are a number of other nods to locale and history. For example, the Overland Ballroom, which will accommodate about 180 people, was named for the Overland Hotel, Boise's first hotel, said Quick. And a stunning backdrop in the lobby is a beveled wall of tortoise glass, underlaid with a map of the Boise River.

The hotel has not cut corners on any of its materials, Santa said. From the copper tubs to real marble and white oak hardwood floors, the quality is paramount. "You can feel it down to your soul," he said.

Two restaurants, three bars, one coffee shop, meeting spaces galore and more

In addition to The Highlander rooftop bar, which has views of the Boise Front and, more prominently, the Owyhees, the hotel's main restaurant will be the Baraboo Supper Club, named after Baraboo, Wisconsin. The restaurant is based on supper clubs in Wisconsin and throughout the midwest, said Shawn McKenzie, general manager of Baraboo Supper Club. He said the "supper club" dates back to prohibition days and directly thereafter when people would gather at a club for meals and mix their own drinks at their tables. These days, the clubs take care of all that but the community ambiance is still there. The restaurant will feature prime rib — "always" — plus relish trays and "boozy ice cream drinks," like Grasshoppers and Brandy Alexanders.

The bar is "a show bar," said McKenzie, a centerpiece in the restaurant with no bar stools around it so guests will be able to watch their craft cocktails being created by the bartenders "on stage." The drink of the house will be the Wisconsin Old-Fashioned, made with brandy and topped off with Sprite or 7-Up. Standard, more booze-forward Old Fashioneds will also be available, McKenzie said.

Lining the lobby, will be another copper-topped bar — this one you can belly up to, said Quick. Also, just off of the lobby will be a coffee shop, the Blue Collar Coffee Co., featuring Ruby Coffee Roasters coffee from Wisconsin and Spirit Tea from Chicago. There will be baked goods and breakfast items — and a "Pay It Forward" wall, where people can sign up to pay for other guests' coffee drinks.

There will also be meeting rooms and retail space, with as yet undeclared tenants, said Quick.

Parting thoughts

As we all shuffled back to return our hardhats, vests and glasses, down unfinished halls and through rooms piled with construction debris, boxes both empty and unopened, and then walked outside the hotel's doors into the sunlight, this reporter took one last glance at the building's as yet … way unfinished facade.

Renegade, eh. … This rebel better get real busy — May is just around the corner.