Retail building goes up at Meridian Town Center

The shell of a 91,146-square-foot retail building is rising on former farmland at 2200 N. Eagle Road, just north of Fairview and the still-unopened Big Al’s entertainment center.

California-based CenterCal, the owner of the project, won’t name the retailers committed to the space. One store will take up about 40,000 square feet, while four split the rest.

The building is valued at $360,000, according to a Meridian building permit.

About 25 stores and restaurants that are new to Idaho are planned for CenterCal's Meridian Town Center site, said CenterCal founder and CEO Fred Bruning.

The center will include water fountains, whimsical sculptures, children's play areas, interconnected streets and walkways with mature landscaping, Bruning said.

Burning says he has commitments from tenants for about 73 percent of the space. “That’s as well as we would have done before the recession,” he said.

By 2013, the company says, the project will add 400,000 square feet of new shopping, entertainment and eateries to the Treasure Valley. It is expected to be built out by 2014.

The first building to open at the center will be Big Al’s. It's a two-story, 66,000-square-foot bowling center, sports bar and arcade. It's been under construction since August and is set to open next August. Big Al's says the center will add 180 jobs to the Treasure Valley.

Immediately to the east of the CenterCal project, Meridian's $25 million Julius M. Kleiner Park is under construction, too. Designed to offer a peaceful urban retreat, the park will feature a plaza, band shell, amphitheater, arboretum and rose garden, ponds, public art, recreation complex, picnic areas, paths and open space.

A 14,000-square-foot senior center inside the park is nearing completion. It's scheduled to open this spring.

The park was once a dairy farm owned and operated by Julius Kleiner, who died in 1972.

Sandra Forester: 377-6464

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Retail building goes up at Meridian Town Center