Drive along Interstate 84 southeast of Boise, and it can be easy to miss a cluster of nondescript sandstone-colored buildings to the east.

Those buildings contain the home base for Micron, the multinational company worth nearly $140 billion. The company’s plans to invest $15 billion to expand that campus and build a new computer chip manufacturing plant is poised to be one of the biggest investments in Idaho history.

Micron’s expansion, along with a new $800 million Kuna data center for Facebook parent company Meta, may boost the region’s prominence in technology. But they also pose growth-related problems for a metropolitan area already bursting with them. The two projects are expected to need over 4,500 construction workers. Micron expects its new fab to employ 2,000 people and create 15,000 non-Micron jobs.

Questions swirl among local city, business and community leaders: How will we house everyone amid a housing shortage aggravated by in-migration during the pandemic? How will our roads support the growth?

Some answers are slowly coming into focus as developers look to build more homes in southeastern Boise, including near the Micron campus off Federal Way.

Consider the 287-unit Canyon Ridge apartments from Boise developer Hawkins Cos. The apartments aren’t marketed directly towards Micron employees, but Hawkins expects the units will be attractive to them, since the apartments are close to the campus, said Ethan Mansfield, predevelopment project manager for Hawkins, by phone. The apartments are a 1½-mile drive to the campus.

“There will obviously be a need for housing on that side of town as not just Micron grows, but Gateway East and all of the other industrial projects come online and grow as well,” Mansfield said by email.

The Micron expansion falls just outside a Capitol City Development Corp., the city’s urban renewal agency, district called Gateway East. The urban renewal agency and city plan for the area, a largely undeveloped space centered around the old Boise Factory Outlet Mall, to become industrial hub with projects like the Red River Logistics and Commerce Centers.

Red River would bring nearly 1.3 million square feet of industrial space for uses such as distribution, manufacturing, warehouse and storage, according to the Capitol City Development Corp.’s website. Development is estimated to cost $142.6 million and would bring nearly 500 construction jobs and 640 permanent jobs.

Mansfield said he hoped that as the city expands industrial opportunities on that side of town, housing options would also expand to avoid housing shortages or roads congested by people commuting from farther away.

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“I can imagine other developers, just like us, are aware of that industrial growth and are responding to it,” Mansfield said.

Other projects include Boise-based CBH Home’s Rush Valley subdivision at 6559 E. Zaffre Ridge St., next to the Sunny Ridge and Painted Ridge subdivisions off Columbia Road east of Micron and south of the Oregon Trail Trailhead. Construction of Painted Ridge is already complete, while Sunny Ridge’s final 33-home phase was approved in 2020. The city is reviewing Rush Valley, which would include over 400 homes.

Developers are also working on two developments that would bring over 1,200 homes to 62 acres north of the New York Canal and Boise Airport. Vista Point and Seasons on the Bench would be a five-mile drive from Micron at 2017 W. Victory Road and 2521 W. Victory Road.

The Canyon Ridge apartments under construction at 2774 E. Gowen Road are just south of the Simplot Sports Complex in southeastern Boise and about a mile north of the Micron campus.

JRS Properties III, a business created by the family of the late Idaho potato baron J.R. Simplot, applied in 2021 to develop the apartments, according to prior Statesman reporting. The site is near Columbia Village, which another Simplot family business developed.

Hawkins borrowed $56 million for the construction from Sunwest Bank, according to prior Statesman reporting.

“The project has been designed to attract professional tenants by offering efficiently sized units, extensive amenities and a desirable location that is walkable to major employers and recreation centers,” said Chris Moyer, executive managing director of commercial real estate agency Cushman & Wakefield, in a March 2023 news release.

Canyon Ridge would include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units spread out between five buildings, according to a letter from Mansfield. Each unit would include large windows and decks with views of the Boise Foothills and Owyhee Mountains.

Mansfield said units at Canyon Ridge would be rented at market rates. The median rent in Boise in June 2024 was $1,264, while a one-bedroom apartment cost $1,093 and a two-bedroom $1,259, according to ApartmentList. Rents at the Columbia Village apartments, directly to Canyon Ridge’s north, run from about $1,768 for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit to $3,576 for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, according to Columbia Village’s website.

Amenities include a 5,700-square-foot clubhouse with mezzanine, gym, covered barbecue area, dog park, “pet comfort stations,” playgrounds and a central pool, according to Mansfield.

Buildings would include pewter-colored brick with a white and cream stucco, dark gray vertical cement siding and dark colored metal.

Concerns over traffic

Nearby neighbors voiced concerns over Canyon Ridge on Nextdoor recently, arguing that the project would snarl traffic along Federal Way and Broadway Avenue as residents travel toward downtown Boise.

“Federal Way and (Idaho) 21 will be insanity,” one user wrote.

The project is expected to generate 1,506 daily total trips, but according to the city of Boise and the Ada County Highway District, nearby roads have plenty of capacity to handle that increase.

“All study intersections and roadway segments are expected to operate at an acceptable level of service,” according to ACHD’s report.

Others expressed concern over not enough parking for the apartments. But site plans call for 521 parking spaces for the 287 units, which is well above the 365 required by city code.

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