‘Home for health sciences’: Idaho State prepares big Meridian expansion. What’s coming
Idaho State University’s Health Science campus in Meridian is ready to move forward on its plan to expand into 23 acres of farmland after receiving the Idaho State Board of Education’s blessing.
The land, directly north of the existing campus on Locust Grove Road, was annexed and zoned by Meridian on Sept. 10. With approval from the State Board Oct. 16, ISU will enter into a development agreement with the city, the next step in a potentially multidecade expansion.
The university hopes to build upon the existing programs offered on the Meridian campus and ultimately establish ISU-Meridian as “a future home of health education and health research for the state,” Brian Sagendorf, vice president for campus operations at ISU, told the Idaho Statesman.
“We’re still in very early stages,” Sagendorf said. “This is going to be a project that will be measured over decades, and not months or years.”
The Meridian campus has about 1,000 mostly graduate-level students and 160 faculty and staff. It offers 52 degrees including associate, bachelor’s, post-baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees. Academic programs include pharmaceutical sciences, audiology and an accelerated nursing track.
Sagendorf said the university acquired the property — which sits along Locust Grove south of the Meridian Police Department and east of the Idaho State Police headquarters — shortly before the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, a farmhouse on the mostly empty lot has been used for storage.
In July 2023, the university received $8.4 million in capital funds from the Legislature’s permanent building fund; $5.4 million is designated for the expansion, according to an email from Sagendorf to Idaho’s Division of Public Works.
Sagenford said ISU has yet to spend any of that money, as it needed approval from the city before development could commence.
With the property annexed and zoned by the City Council in a unanimous vote on Sept. 10, ISU now seeks the city’s approval of a development agreement.
The proposed agreement affirms that ISU “will develop in a way that’s consistent with the way it’s been zoned,” said Sagendorf.
To make the agreement, ISU needed approval from the State Board, Sagendorf explained. “The land is owned in the name of the board,” he said.
The agreement is scheduled to come before Meridian City Council on Nov. 6. If accepted, Mayor Robert Simison would sign the agreement, allowing ISU to proceed.
Early steps include preparing the land for development by relocating the storage on the property, Sagendorf said.
He said ISU will start “preparing for utilities and infrastructure” such as “roadways and water and sewer and electrical … before we could start any type of actual infrastructure development and construction on any of those things.”
What’s beyond those initial land preparations is still in the realm of possibility at this point. Typically, developers submit a detailed design plan at the time of annexation, but the City Council agreed to delay that step in favor of a more gradual timeline for the multiyear project.
Dr. Gabe Bargen, executive director of the ISU Meridian campus, told the Statesman that among what’s envisioned for the expansion are on-campus student housing, research opportunities, additional health clinics and an athletic facility.
“We’ve got lots of ideas for the expansion,” Bargen said. “But the priorities for Idaho State University at the moment are providing housing for students, as we don’t have that currently on our Meridian campus, as well as expanding some of our student services to be more robust.”
Bargen said student housing “wouldn’t be the typical … dorm rooms” but rather studio apartments to help accommodate ISU-Meridian’s predominantly graduate-level student body and students at the neighboring Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Bargen said ISU also hopes to expand research, clinical and residency opportunities.
“By working with the community, identifying what are those workforce needs, what are the gaps that we’re experiencing in Idaho, that’s going to help drive what we’re needing to create within those clinical opportunities,” Bargen said.
“Creating more opportunities will hopefully get more of our trained professionals to stay in the state of Idaho,” she said.
Clinics, including those specializing in audiology, physical therapy, counseling and primary care, are also open to the public.
Additional clinical space could also benefit partners including ICOM, the College of Western Idaho and the West Ada School District, which sometimes share services on ISU’s campus. ICOM sent a letter to the city supporting the annexation.
ISU-Meridian shares a building with Renaissance High School, which Bargen said makes for “a lot of shared opportunities.” Some Renaissance High students use ISU facilities, and some acquire an associate degree from ISU while attending high school.
Bargen said a dream project for the expansion would be a center for excellence for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.
“That would be working with, again, with community partners, including Idaho Educational Services for the Deaf and Blind, and potentially West Ada School District and Boise School District, and creating a center that we can not only meet the needs for the community and help provide education to to that population, but also train our students to work with those populations,” Bargen said.
City officials in Meridian say they are also excited about the prospect of expanded services and more skilled health professionals, especially as the Treasure Valley grows.
In an email to the Statesman, Meridian Mayor Robert Simison said he hopes the expansion will help “make Meridian the medical epicenter of Idaho,” a priority he echoed in his State of the City addresses in 2023 and 2024.
You can use ISU’s Meridian health clinics
Idaho State University’s Meridian campus operates seven clinics open to the public, including a primary care clinic from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Fees for the clinics’ services are covered by most major insurers.
Appointments can be made by calling (208) 373-1734 or scheduling at www.isu.edu/clinics/meridian-health-care. All clinics are located at 1311 E. Central Drive.
The other clinics and their hours are:
Monday: 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Thursday: 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Monday: 4 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Tuesday: 2 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Wednesday: 1 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m - 2 p.m., 4 p.m - 8 p.m.
Tuesday through Thursday: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 3 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Monday through Thursday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
