Family behind Boise car dealerships seeks to build townhouses on Fairview Avenue
A real estate company composed of members of the late auto dealer Larry H. Miller’s family is seeking to build 38 townhouses next to a Miller dealership on Fairview Avenue.
The mostly empty lot at 11304 W. Fairview is west of Larry H. Miller Subaru and just west of Five Mile Road. Plans from Miller Family Real Estate call for seven buildings on 3.4 acres with three to six units per building. Some of the buildings would be two stories and others three.
“The intent of the site is to create quality new housing that can provide a transition between the existing low-density residential area to the north and northwest and the commercial areas to the south and southeast,” project manager Eric Malmberg of Anderson Wahlen & Associates of Salt Lake City wrote in an application to the city of Boise.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2020, with completion slated for a year later, Malmberg wrote.
The buildings would be set back from Fairview Avenue. A future phase would consist of commercial development along the Fairview frontage.
The housing development would include an outdoor pavilion and a playground separated from the streets by fencing.
The project, dubbed Boise Towns, would include 95 parking spaces, 15 more than required. Nineteen would be for guests.
Access would be from driveways on North Shamrock Avenue on the west side of the property and North Steelwood Avenue on the east.
The owners of Miller Family Real Estate include Gail Miller, the widow of Larry H. Miller, who died in 2009. Forbes magazine estimates Miller’s net worth at $1.6 billion, making her the richest woman in Utah. Her holdings include more than 55 car dealerships, 17 movie theaters and the NBA’s Utah Jazz, Forbes reported.
Other owners of the company include the Millers’ children, Karen, Gregory, Stephen, Bryan and Roger Miller, and Miller Family Real estate executive Brad Holmes, according to filings with the Idaho Secretary of State’s office.
Larry H. Miller Subaru opened at its current location at 11196 W. Fairview Ave. in 2017. The property formerly housed an ice skating rink built in the 1970s and nine softball fields at Shamrock Park.
The Miller family operates three new car dealerships in Boise, along with a used car lot.
The Boise Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a hearing on the company’s application for a conditional use permit at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at City Hall, 150 N. Capital Blvd.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 1:28 PM.
