Treasure Valley developer plans over 2,000 houses in this growing part of Meridian
A major Treasure Valley developer is planning to build a 600-acre master-planned community in South Meridian that would continue the transformation of the city’s treasured farmland into thousands of rooftops.
Brighton Corp. submitted an application to the city to build the new Pinnacle subdivision at the intersection of Lake Hazel and Locust Grove roads, near the city’s new Discovery Park. At full buildout, the subdivision could include over 2,000 houses.
“It’s the next major growth area,” said David Turnbull, owner of Meridian-based Brighton, in a phone interview. “North Meridian has been the highest growth area in the state, but that’s going to shift to South Meridian.”
Pinnacle would be built over 15 years, Turnbull said. The first phase would see 357 houses built at the northwest and southeast corners of the intersection, as well as a community center and several acres of commercial land. Eventually, all four corners of the intersection — all controlled by Brighton — would be developed.
The subdivision would include a mix of housing densities, including apartments, duplexes to the typical detached single-family homes seen across Meridian.
“We are going to try to target a diverse demographic and price range,” Turnbull said. House prices will range from about $300,000 for smaller models to potentially upward of $600,000 for higher-end ones, he said.
Pinnacle Northwest, at the northwest corner, would include denser housing types, such as the alley loaded units with garages in the back of the houses, creating more walkable streetscapes uninterrupted by driveways. Among these units will be 32 duplexes.
Next to the alley-loaded houses would be a community center, which could include an amphitheater, a clubhouse, post office and cafe.
At the southeast corner, Pinnacle Southeast would include two commercial lots fronting Lake Hazel Road, which Turnbull said could one day include a big-box retailer, such as a grocery store. Smaller office spaces and retailers would be built out first.
South of the commercial area, Pinnacle plans hundreds of single-family detached houses. The area would also include a playground, as well as access to Discovery Park, which the city opened in 2019 and plans to further develop in the next decade.
Maps of the site at full buildout show a possible West Ada School District site near the northwest corner of Lake Hazel and Locust Grove roads. Turnbull said he is also interested in bringing a new charter school to the area.
Turnbull is in talks with the city of Meridian and the Ada County Highway District about road improvements Brighton would be required to make. They would include converting the roundabout at the intersection of Locust Grove and Lake Hazel into a signalized intersection.
Brighton has set the pace for much of the growth in Meridian with large subdivisions that typically include a variety of housing types. In South Meridian, it is building the 224-acre Century Farm subdivision, with over 600 houses and a new YMCA, which the city approved in 2014. In Northwest Meridian, it is building the 191-acre, 500-house Bainbridge subdivision south of Chinden Boulevard, midway between Ten Mile and Black Cat roads.
The Pinnacle subdivision would be twice as large as either of these.
Turnbull said Brighton has been acquiring land in South Meridian since 2006, waiting for city utilities to reach the area.
In recent months, the Meridian City Council has also identified Southeast Meridian as one of its priority growth areas, signaling to developers that they should aim growth where the city had already invested in infrastructure like fire stations and sewer mains.
“We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing,” said Mayor Robert Simison said during a City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 3.
Still, Pinnacle could cause potential strains on the city and its transportation infrastructure. The houses would be built miles from nearby job centers in downtown Boise and along Eagle Road, forcing most of the subdivision’s residents to rely on their cars. The subdivision would also push the slow march of development further into Meridian’s remaining farmland, a trend that has continued even as some people in Meridian call for more preservation of agricultural land.
Turnbull says that growth in the Boise suburb is inevitable.
“North Meridian is getting closer to being built out,” he said. So South Meridian is up next.
Meridian’s Planning and Zoning Commission is set to hear the application for the development at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at the Meridian City Hall, 33 E. Broadway Ave.
