Payroll firm picks Meridian over Boise as home base for 500 Idaho employees

Paylocity, a payroll and human resources company based in Illinois, has changed its expansion plans, choosing Meridian over Boise as its Idaho home.

The company plans to join Brighton Corp. and AmeriBen at TM Crossing, a business campus under construction northeast of the Ten Mile Road interchange with I-84.

Meridian Mayor Tammy de Weerd said Paylocity would boost the city’s economy.

“We had a real focus on bringing jobs closer to where people live,” she told the Idaho Statesman. “We think this is exciting in terms of bringing family-wage jobs to the community.”

The site developer, Gardner Co., submitted plans to Meridian to build a five-story, 127,000 square-foot building on the campus. Paylocity will occupy 62,000 square feet with the right to take on more space.

Originally, Brighton, a residential and commercial building company, planned to build its own headquarters with nearly 64,000 square feet in the campus. Now the company plans to share the Paylocity building, Gardner Executive Vice President David Wali told the Statesman.

Gardner is also building a 76,000-square-foot headquarters building for AmeriBen, a human-resources and benefits-administration services company.

“As it stands now, Brighton will move into the second building until a further date when we get some more activity out there,” Wali said.

Gardner expects to secure more tenants to fill the remaining space in the coming months, he said.

In 2015, the Idaho Department of Commerce awarded Paylocity a tax break worth $5.9 million for pledging to create as many as 500 jobs paying an average of $46,200 per year.

At that time, Paylocity planned to make Boise its Idaho base. The company leased some office space in the C.W. Moore Plaza at 250 S. 5th St. in Downtown Boise.

The company did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment on why it chose to build in Meridian instead.

De Weerd said the Paylocity jobs would be a boon to the Treasure Valley in either city.

“It’s a win for the entire valley,” she said. “We should never think we are competing with each other.”

The change in location was first reported by BoiseDev.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Payroll firm picks Meridian over Boise as home base for 500 Idaho employees."