MERIDIAN, Idaho — The Village in Meridian has been a shopping staple for a decade. A new expansion marks the final phase of development of the mall.
'The Bridge' at The Village will be a new mixed-use property with 550 apartments and 34,547 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
"The Village of Meridian has now been open for just about 10 years, been under design and development for about 15 years. And this has always been part of the plan," said Hugh Crawford, director of property management for CenterCal Properties.
The new development will be on the west side of The Village, near the mall entrance off Eagle Road.
"We're at 100% occupancy in both retail and restaurant. So it's the right time and the right place for us to expand and continue the plan of The Village of Meridian. We're bringing in 550 residential units, 50,000 square feet of new restaurant and retail and entertainment space that just makes The Village of Meridian a very carefree lifestyle choice for people to live and play and work," Crawford said. "The amenities that will be available not only inside the residential, but stepping outside of The Bridge apartments with the restaurants and shopping and the entertainment components that are part of The Village of Meridian that exists today just makes it an amazing place for someone to live."
Plans for the project were approved during Meridian City Council's meeting on Tuesday.
The project was initially denied by planning and zoning, due to being above zoning height limits.
"What triggered the conditional use permit process was the fact that they wanted to exceed our height limit of 65 feet for buildings in Meridian," Meridian City Council President Brad Hoaglun said. "Now, that's not unusual. We have several areas in the community where that height allowance is given through the conditional use process."
The maximum height of The Bridge is 85 feet.
Concerns were also expressed over the number of available parking spots at The Village, but during their presentation at Meridian's City Council meeting, CenterCal said The Village would still have 623 excess parking spaces than what is required by city code.
"I think the developer was very thorough in showing that it is not out of place there, the height of what is at The Village, buildings that will be in front of The Bridge, this development that will happen to allow a stepped up look to it," Hoaglun said. "So after their hearing with planning and zoning, I think they kind of went too more detail to make sure it was truly understood what they were trying to do here and what the exception was, and how it's not out of place for that area."
Meridian City Council granted an exemption for The Bridge, and construction can now move forward at one of Meridian's biggest attractions.
"What used to be a small farm town on the edges of Boise has really drawn people from around the valley, and even out of state to come to. And it's great to have these types of places," Hoaglun said. "So it really is a wonderful place to have in our community. And it's one element of many that we're now developing throughout our community, which is really exciting for our citizens."
Construction documents on the project are being finalized. CenterCal expects to break ground on the project in Spring. The construction process will last 24-30 months, and expected opening is in 2025.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist: