Massive commercial development breaks ground near I-84 in Meridian. What’s coming
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- The District at Ten Mile, a commercial area spanning over 220 acres, broke ground Tuesday.
- Phase one includes two industrial buildings and a 100,000+ sq ft Life Time fitness center.
- May 2026 opening is eyed for a 148,000 sq ft Target as part of the development’s Phase 2.
A white tent, food trucks and a stage lined a vast field off the freeway Tuesday. People milled about in suits and sunglasses, as parking attendants guided car after car into a dusty lot. The occasion: neither wedding nor music festival.
This was the groundbreaking ceremony for The District at Ten Mile, the giant commercial center that will soon rise over 220 acres of land northwest of the Ten Mile Interchange.
Headed by Treasure Valley developer Tommy Ahlquist, The District is set to include the likes of Target and In-N-Out, in one of the last major bursts of development around the interchange since it opened over a decade ago.
Construction is already underway on the development’s first phase, Ahlquist told the Idaho Statesman. That includes two industrial buildings taking shape along Interstate 84, a law enforcement-focused daycare, plus a more than 100,000-square-foot Life Time fitness center and two hotels still coming.
And dirt is moving on the site of a future 148,000-square-foot Target, where developers and city and county officials lifted their shovels Tuesday. The Target — Meridian’s first — would anchor The District at Ten Mile’s second phase of development, which the ceremony officially kicked off, Ahlquist said.
“Now, the vertical starts,” he said.
Vertical construction is expected to begin on the Target in June, Ahlquist said, with opening eyed for May 2027. It would be joined by a slate of other retail and office space, totaling more than 650,000 square feet, according to social media posts from Ahlquist’s development firm of the same name.
Those are expected to include Panera Bread, Zao Asian Grill, Taco Bell, Mo’ Bettahs, Handel’s Ice Cream, Tide Cleaners and Chase Bank, said Mark Cleary, a chief leasing officer at Ahlquist development. Cleary told the crowd that another list of tenants would be announced over the next few weeks.
Developers had previously announced that In-N-Out would join the lineup.
“This is the opposite of sprawl,” Ahlquist said in a video presented at the groundbreaking. “It’s infill. It’s exactly what we should be doing as thoughtful development in the Valley.”
“We have designed and built The District at Meridian around that idea, where people can come and enjoy their work and really enjoy being in Idaho, being together as a community, and being part of a community like Meridian,” he added. “It will redefine the shape of the Treasure Valley for generations.”
Among the city and county dignitaries who spoke at the ceremony or lifted a shovelful of dirt was Meridian Mayor Robert Simison.
Simison noted that city planning efforts for the Ten Mile Interchange area have been in the works since 2005, before the interchange was built.
That planning work “really is allowing us to even be here today for this part of the vision … to come to life,” Simison said. The specific-area plan guiding growth in the region “focuses on (the) live, work, play, raise a family components, which this is going to help contribute to,” he said.
“Ten Mile has had some traffic challenges over the last few years,” Simison said — something that was a key source of concern for city officials when the project was approved in 2024. “But it’s understanding about what comes next.”
Simison noted that the Idaho 16 extension and improvements on Linder Road are expected to alleviate congestion on Ten Mile Road. He argued that improvements would “allow this place to be a place that people can get in and out of, to get what they need or what they want, or to choose to live here.
“And those type of issues will subside and go away.”
What else is coming
Ahlquist told the Statesman that a third and final phase of development at The District would include a 35-acre “lifestyle center” drawing inspiration from The Village at Meridian shopping center. Developers are still working to obtain necessary entitlements, a roughly 12-month process with the city, before beginning construction, he said.
Ahlquist didn’t have details for that piece of the development, but said that another hotel is a possibility.
He also noted that part of the project slated for residential development was sold to home builders with Corey Barton Homes. Developers previously stated that the development could include up to 400 town houses.
Four more industrial buildings are also teed up, according to representatives with Idaho’s Adler Industrial.
The two now in construction add up to more than 230,000 square feet of space slated for “typical industrial tenants,” said Charity Nelson, Adler’s director of leasing and people. Those could include warehousing and distribution, light manufacturing and food processing, Nelson said. They’re expected to open in the fall.
Four smaller industrial “flex” buildings would follow, but a timeline has not yet been determined, Nelson said.
At the ceremony, Cleary pointed to a timeline for The District overall: “When this is all done in … three to four years from now, we’re going to come here and think what an amazing project that we’ve been a part of.”
