As Meridian population keeps growing, a longstanding development hot spot sees change
Meridian has made dozens of “fastest-growing cities in the U.S.” lists over the past couple of years, and the U.S. Census reported that the Boise suburb made the list of the Top 10 fastest-growing cities.
That growth has not slowed down since the 2020 census. And the Meridian planning staff still receives multiple development applications per day, said Caleb Hood, planning division manager for the city.
One of the hot spots for development is near the corner of Ten Mile and Franklin roads, near the Ten Mile off-ramp from Interstate 84. The area is especially popular for townhouses, lofts and apartment complexes.
“Ten Mile, Franklin and that vicinity, that’s where we’re seeing quite a bit of multifamily,” Hood said in a phone interview.
The popularity of multifamily applications is new for Meridian, which has long been a city of single-family homes and commuters.
In an interview with the Idaho Statesman, Hood mentioned several apartment and townhouse projects along Ten Mile Road. The area has been popular since the opening of the Interstate 84 interchange at Ten Mile in 2011, but recently the types of development applications, which typically were for single-family subdivisions, have changed.
“Our residential has slowed down,” said Hood, who noted the city categorizes apartments and townhouses as commercial developments. “There’s no doubt about it, we are doing less permitting with residential.”
What projects are going up in Meridian?
Outer Banks, a subdivision located at Franklin and Ten Mile, plans to bring 364 apartments, 126 flat apartments and 26 townhouses to the area. It was approved last year and is in the permit process with the city, with plans for three buildings. The developer is 10 Mile Franklin LLC, a Sacramento-based company.
The townhouse buildings would be three stories and 15,398 square feet apiece, each with 8 units.
Another development, which was approved by Meridian Planning and Zoning on March 2, includes 44 single-family homes, 18 townhouses and one apartment building. The developer is the Conger group, a Boise-based company, and the location is 4250 W. Franklin Road.
Hood said that like the Conger project, many apartments and townhouses are going up near Compass Charter School, a public charter school that opened in 2019 near Black Cat and Franklin roads.
Corey Barton, Idaho’s largest homebuilder, has plans for apartments along Ten Mile, near Pine Avenue, which is north of Interstate 84. Barton plans to build 216 apartments at 3500 W. Pine Ave. Called the Foxcroft Apartments, they would comprise nine three-story buildings, each with 24 apartments, the Statesman previously reported.
Commercial development catching up to rooftops
Hood said he wasn’t worried that the city’s single-family permits are down. He said commercial development is catching up with “the last wave of residential we had over the past several years.”
“The amount of residential we approved ... is really sustaining the commercial,” Hood said. “There’s a little bit of a lag with the commercial following the rooftops.“
Another development trend Hood has noticed recently is that with nearly every restaurant, “drive-thrus are the thing.” He said the majority of commercial applications in Meridian have that component.
Meridian’s development hot spots are also popular locations for chain restaurants. A Noodles and Co. was recently approved along Ten Mile. And some of the chains are the first for the Treasure Valley, such as the eagerly awaited In-N-Out location.
This story was originally published April 3, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
