Take a drive up Chinden Boulevard, development keeps pushing westward

As a construction and development writer, I conduct countless phone interviews with developers, builders and other business owners at my desk, which happens to be in BoDo. However, what I learn is most meaningful to me when I hop in my car and drive out to the multitude of new developments that are dotting the Treasure Valley. I love meeting people in person and surveying what exactly is going on. One of those places is northwest Meridian, which is buzzing with new construction just about everywhere you look.

The Eagle Island Marketplace, anchored by a Fred Meyer, is a shiny new development, with plenty of parking and a variety of shops and restaurants. Right next door, tractors are moving dirt in the former Foxtail golf course. A new planned development is about to take off in there. Nearby, former fields of corn are now platted for more homes and other still-to-be announced retailers.

Further down the road, the transformation of the once-bankrupt SpurWing Golf Club is in full swing (no pun intended). I had an opportunity to spend part of my afternoon there Oct. 8, and was surprised at all the new construction that’s happening right off Chinden Boulevard.

The private golf club is in the midst of a building boom. New homes are going up, and there are new amenities for the golf pros, or for those wanting to improve their game. Golfers were out in force on the driving range, some on the 18-hole course, and another in the professional golf training studio. The new Challenge Golf Course, which speeds up the usually long game to just less than two hours, is set to open in spring 2014. On that course, 23 lots are platted out, with six lots sold. Other home construction is underway in SpurWing Greens and SpurWing Estates as well.

“A lot of our members who don’t live in SpurWing, live within a five-mile radius of us,” Jason Bideganeta, SpurWing’s director of membership and marketing said.

Not surprisingly, that number could increase with more home construction along Chinden Boulevard. Paramount and Lochsa Falls subdivisions are just minutes away. With access to northwest Meridian heightened due to connectivity by the Ten Mile Interchange and improved Linder Road intersection, the center of the valley has certainly shifted west.

Jennifer Gonzalez covers construction, development and real estate news for the Idaho Business Review. Reach her via email at [email protected] or at her desk at 208-639-3515.