Is there a 'downtown' Meridian? (Boise, Nampa: city hall, leasing, co-op)

[LS35a]

Or is it just all spread out? Shopping centers? New housing complexes? Or is it mostly agricultural and older homes?

It's only about ten minutes drive from Meridian to downtown Boise, yes?

Is it a 'bedroom' community for people who work in Boise? Or is there some industry/business there?

Any comments on Meridian welcome.

[VandalsLOL]

Yes, kind of a small, cute little few blocks. For the most part Meridian is completely spread out suburbia, though. More like 15-20 from most places in Meridian to downtown Boise, but could be around 35-45 depending on traffic/time of day.

Yes, a bedroom community. Nothing much interesting there. SNOOOOOOOZE.

[IdaD]

There are sort of two centers. One is the actual downtown where the city hall and some restaurants and shops are located. Then there's the more auto oriented Eagle Road corridor.

Housing is largely newer, with probably more than half of your single family homes under 20 years old. I'd say Meridian is mostly suburban but to be honest so is most of Boise and the rest of the Treasure Valley - that's kind of the nature of the beast when the bulk of homes were built after 1960 or so.

How long it takes to drive to downtown Boise depends. It may only take 10 minutes to get downtown from St. Lukes. A residential development like Tuscany south of the freeway is more like 12-13 minutes. But a residential area in northwest Meridian like Lochsa Falls is probably a good 30 minutes to downtown. The other factor to consider right now is the freeway is completely torn up with only three lanes in each direction, so rush hour traffic will be really bad until later this year.

Meridian was a classic bedroom community but it has sort of grown past that at this point, at least to an extent. St Luke's and all the other medical offices on Eagle by the freeway likely has the highest concentration of jobs. But you've also got the business parks on either side of Eagle just south of Overland, Blue Cross and Scentsy off Franklin, and actually that Franklin corridor has quite a bit of industrial and commercial all along it. And of course there are lots of retail and food service jobs but I wouldn't expect many of those to pay very well. I suppose the Co-Op may pay comparatively well when it opens this fall, but I don't know - just a guess on my part.

I live in Meridian and like it a lot, but my office is also in Meridian so I don't really have much of a commute to speak of. Our place is also on some property which I like because our kids have plenty of room to run/play/explore and I don't have any neighbors on top of me.

[aisling123]

I am in meridian now. My impression: all sprawl. Everything is subdivisions and shopping plazas off the freeway. The houses are new and nice, but you have to exit through your attached garage and drive.

[boisefan88]

It's interesting. I am living just north of approximately 36th/State. I work downtown near approximately 11th/Main. I'm 2.6 miles from work. It takes me 12-15 minutes to get to work, or home from work, each day, no matter which route I take. On those rare times (weekends, late night or early morning traffic) I can make that drive in 8 minutes if I catch all the lights.

Previously I lived in SE Boise near Broadway/Highland. It took me almost exactly the same time to get to work.

I'm also a pretty aggressive driver.

It astounds me to continually see people continually say that places like Meridian, Eagle, Nampa, etc., are only 10-20 minutes from downtown Boise. From freeway entrance to freeway exit coming from Eagle Rd. maybe... and that's only if you're not driving during busy times (7:30-10 am; 3:30-6:30 pm).

[sunflowersinthegarden]

I went from the Walmart area on Fairview/Eagle to Trader Joe's downtown in about 15-20 minutes around 7pm. The freeway traffic wasn't the issue, Eagle was.

[IdaD]

Originally Posted by boisefan88

It astounds me to continually see people continually say that places like Meridian, Eagle, Nampa, etc., are only 10-20 minutes from downtown Boise. From freeway entrance to freeway exit coming from Eagle Rd. maybe... and that's only if you're not driving during busy times (7:30-10 am; 3:30-6:30 pm).

I used to live in the Tuscany sub near Eagle and Victory and work downtown, and my morning commute was consistently 12-13 minutes. I was going in before 7:00 so traffic was not an issue, but that was my garage to parking space time. Coming home in the evening rarely took longer than 20 minutes (around 5:00 pm), although currently I'm sure it would be much worse with the freeway construction. If you are coming in from Eagle or the north part of Meridian, it's obviously a different story because you're going to burn a lot of time either getting to the freeway or dealing with lights on State or Chinden.

[LS35a]

I see there is a new, very nice looking shopping Mall in Meridian:

Dine | The Village at Meridian

I guess that's sort of a town center.

[boi2socal]

That's the new fad...outdoor malls mimicking villages/town centers. It is very nice, although more dining heavy than shopping thus far. Still a lot of empty storefronts they claim are leasing more quickly than expected.

[LS35a]

Originally Posted by boi2socal

That's the new fad...outdoor malls mimicking villages/town centers. It is very nice, although more dining heavy than shopping thus far. Still a lot of empty storefronts they claim are leasing more quickly than expected.

Good, I like to eat more than I like to shop! I see there's Kona grill there. I used to eat there in Seattle and Phoenix.