Brighton/Gardner collaborate on assisted living in Meridian

David Turnbull has had an assisted living home on his mind since he started building nearly 1,000 homes in 2004 in Meridian’s square-mile Paramount subdivision.

Twelve years later, construction has started on the 55,000-square-foot, 73-unit Veranda Senior Living at Paramount at the corner of Chinden Boulevard and Fox Run Drive.

“It’s all a matter of planning and timing,” said Turnbull, CEO of Brighton Corp., the developer of the 520-acre neighborhood built from scratch in north Meridian.

First came close to 1,000 homes, 96 townhomes, an elementary school, Rocky Mountain High School, a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the 20-acre Paramount Marketplace. Ultimately, Turnbull expects 1,800 residential units within Paramount.

Veranda Senior Living is a joint venture between a man set on bringing an assisted living home to Paramount and the Gardner Co., which has a senior living development division. Gardner is better known in the Treasure Valley for more prominent ventures such as the Eighth & Main tower, City Center Plaza and the Nampa Library.

This summer, Turnbull also expects to file for building permits for 280 apartments in two- and three-story buildings at McMillan and Meridian. These would be the first apartments for Paramount.

Later this year, Turnbull expects to start with a 98-unit cluster of single-family homes that he is calling Encore. With these, he is creating an age-qualified living environment at Paramount for residents aged at least 55 or 62. The age limit is not decided yet, Turnbull said.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum, Turnbull also wants to add a 101-unit cluster of single-family homes at Paramount called Cadence that will target millennials with nearby schools, a low maintenance lifestyle, a pool and affordable pricing.

“This is not your typical subdivision,” Turnbull said. “The objective from the beginning was to create a wide range of living opportunities. We have several multi-generation families. It makes for a more vibrant community. That’s why we planned the schools from the beginning.”

Brighton Corp.’s master planning of the entire subdivision, which is bordered by Chinden, Meridian, Linder and McMillan, spared Meridian’s Community Development Department from having to integrate different developments into an urban fabric, in the words of director Bruce Chatterton.

“They have created a real sense of community,” Chatterton said. “Paramount has really created an entire section of the city. Paramount in many ways furthers the principles of our master plan. They’re thinking of the needs of their residents. That dovetails nicely with what the city is trying to accomplish anyway.”

Veranda Senior Living at Paramount will have 45 assisted living units and 28 memory care units, said Jeremy Garner, project manager for senior living at Gardner Co.

This is Gardner’s second assisted living home in the Treasure Valley. Gardner worked with Edgewood Management Group to build the 61-unit Spring Creek Eagle Island assisted living property that opened in October.

The multi-living options at Paramount appealed to Gardner.

“Families can have stay close together and have all their needs met at one location,” Garner said. “For us, we go off feasibility studies. That’s a real growing area with the LDS temple. We see it as being a successful location.”

The $10 million Veranda Senior Living at Paramount was designed by Babcock Design Group. ESI Construction is the general contractor. Completion is expected in February 2017, Garner said.