Live in Caldwell? Indian Creek Plaza has it all, except apartments. And they’re coming

By Rachel Spacek

Updated January 20, 2023 2:07 PM

Affording Boise: Rental housing

Soaring rents. Skyrocketing home prices. The double-digit rates of increase in the costs of Boise-area housing create increasingly urgent problems for low-income, working-class and even moderate-income Idahoans who need places to live. Affording Boise is a series of Idaho Statesman special reports on housing. This collection focuses on rental homes, including apartments. A separate collection focuses on homeownership.

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A 142-unit apartment complex with first-floor retail will be the latest addition to the rapidly growing Indian Creek Plaza in downtown Caldwell.

Before 2018, few may have described Caldwell as “a true anchor in western Idaho,” but since the development of Indian Creek Plaza and the revitalization of downtown, Caldwell Economic Director Steven Jenkins describes the city as exactly that.

Creekside, a project by local development group deChase Miksis, would add housing into the mix of shops and restaurants in Indian Creek Plaza.

Indian Creek Plaza is shown on the lower half of the photo. The upper half shows the construction on Creekside, a 142-apartment project. Darin Oswald doswald@idahostatesman.com

DeChase Miksis broke ground on the project last winter. It will consist of a single five-story apartment building with surface parking, retail on the ground floor and apartments above. The building is expected to have 7,500 square feet of retail space, a news release about the groundbreaking said.

DeChase Miksis plans the Creekside building to have retail on the ground floor and 141 apartments on the higher floors. City of Caldwell

“Watching the growth (of Idaho) over the past 15 years, I watched Boise expand, and Meridian and Nampa expand,” said Kati Stallings, deChase director of marketing and business development and a lifelong Idahoan, by phone. “Caldwell was one of those where no one was there yet. When they put up their (request for proposals) for Indian Creek Plaza, it was a no brainer that we wanted to get into that market.”

Construction began in April. Jenkins said it will take about a year and a half to complete.

Almost workforce housing

The Creekside development was almost workforce housing. That was deChase Miksis’s goal, and it would have made its rents affordable to people making 80% of the area median income. Workforce housing is priced for people who earn 80% to 120% of the area median income.

Eighty percent of the area median income, or AMI, in Canyon County is $42,200 for one person and $48,200 for two, according to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. That would mean rents would start around $1,000 a month for people who make 80% of AMI and shouldn’t spend more than 30% of their monthly income on rent.

But construction, labor costs and other partnership and stakeholder factors made it impossible for deChase Miksis to make its first Canyon County development affordable, said Dean Papé, a partner at deChase Miksis.

That means the apartments will rent at market rates. The average rent for an apartment on the market today in Caldwell is $1,395 a month, according to RentCafe, which says it bases its figures on apartment buildings with at least 50 units.

Papé said the company is working with the Caldwell Housing Authority and the city to find other locations for an affordable housing project in Caldwell.

“Like every community we go into, the demand for housing is really high,” said Papé, by phone. ”As we go into each community, they usually say, ‘just bring us quality housing.’”

DeChase Miksis plans to build this 141-apartment building in downtown Caldwell. It hopes to address the need for housing downtown. City of Caldwell

DeChase Miksis partnered with developer Clay Carley to build affordable apartments in the Thomas Logan apartment building in downtown Boise, using a federal tax credit program. Forty-five of the building’s 60 apartments are rented to low-income people making between 30% to 60% of Ada County’s median income.

Sixty percent of Ada County’s median income is $31,680 for a one-person household and $36,180 for a two-person household; 30% of AMI is $15,850 for one person and $18,100 for two, according to IHFA. Affordable monthly rents for one person making 30% of AMI would be $396 and for two people would be $453.

Jenkins said the city is focused on working on partnerships like the one in downtown Boise to bring affordable apartments to Caldwell.

“I am working with four developers that are focused on affordable and workforce housing,” Jenkins said, by phone. “We are working on site selection with property owners and utility needs. We are hands-on because we know that they need the support to get projects off the ground.”

The restaurant, Amano, is pictured. It is located on Main Street and 7th Avenue, on the outskirts of Indian Creek Plaza. Darin Oswald doswald@idahostatesman.com

What else is happening in downtown Caldwell?

Creekside is the latest apartment building going up in downtown Caldwell, but it will likely be followed by dozens of retail shops and restaurants. These are the recently opened and incoming businesses to Caldwell:

▪ Olive and Vyne, olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop, yet to open

▪ Biscuit and Hogs, an American restaurant, yet to open

▪ Mesquite Creek Outfitters, bar and store, yet to open

▪ The Milled Olive, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and housewares shop, yet to open

▪ Bond and Bevel, a coffee shop, open now

▪ Rose Hill Bakery, a bakery, open now

▪ Thunder Spirit Trading Post, a shop featuring Native American art, open now

▪ Oakes Brothers Main Street Marketplace, an indoor marketplace with local artist’s shops and pop up spaces, open now

▪ The Cellar, a wine accessories shop, open now