The Treasure Valley's New Duo: Apple Comes to The Village

Apple just launched the iPhone Duo, its first foldable. The Treasure Valley is getting a duo of its own: a second Apple Store, this one at The Village at Meridian. I don't know about you, but I'm excited.

For years, Boise Towne Square has had the only Apple Store in Idaho. That store is staying open, according to Apple. The Village now joins it, and that puts Meridian's lifestyle center in a different weight class.

Full disclosure: I've been a firm believer in Apple over the years. Lately they've fallen behind on the hardware innovation I expected, and I'm no longer a shareholder. But as a real estate guy, I know exactly what an Apple Store does for a shopping center.

What the city records show

Apple's build-out is right there in the City of Meridian's public permit log. The city issued permit C-TI-2026-0083 on May 11, 2026, for a new retail store at 3300 E. Longwing Ln., Suite 130 (City of Meridian weekly permit report).

• Permit: C-TI-2026-0083, issued May 11, 2026
• Address: 3300 E. Longwing Ln., Ste. 130
• Space: 7,892 SF commercial
• Declared valuation: $8,000,000
• Contractor: SAJO Inc.

That's Apple's store: an $8M finish-out at The Village in the heart of the new expansion. For comparison, Gorjana's 1,767 SF finish-out in the same building was permitted at $300,000 (April 2026 report).

Apple is part of CenterCal's 80,000 SF expansion at The Village: 16 new businesses, including Alo, Tecovas, Kendra Scott, Vuori and solidcore. Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma move over from Boise Towne Square in February (Idaho Press).

How an Apple lease works

Apple doesn't pay what the tenant next door pays. In my experience, landlords give Apple a big discount on rent, and Apple makes up for it by spending $8M to $10M of its own money on the store.

The Meridian permit backs that up. $8M across 7,892 SF works out to roughly $1,000 per square foot of build-out. Most inline retail finish-outs run a fraction of that. Gorjana's, next door, came in around $170 per foot.

Apple also tends to skip percentage rent, the share of sales most retailers pay above a set threshold. Landlords accept that because Apple pulls anchor-level traffic (Chain Store Age). The landlord gives up some rent on one space. In exchange, it gets a destination that lifts every space around it.

A new level of attention for The Village

Apple is the kind of tenant other tenants follow. National brands deciding between Boise Towne Square and The Village now have a clear signal about where the regional shopper is going.

It's already playing out. Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma are leaving the mall for The Village. Alo, Vuori, Tecovas and Kendra Scott are all newcomers. Those leases came together around an Apple anchor.

What it means locally:

• The Village and its neighbors: More trips and longer visits. That supports higher rents at renewal and makes vacancy easier to fill.
• Eagle Rd. and Fairview corridor owners: Restaurants and service tenants will want to be near this traffic.
• Boise Towne Square: It keeps its Apple, but it loses a couple of tenants. Watch how the mall re-tenants that space.

What to watch

Apple hasn't set an opening date yet, but my guess is a Q1 2027 delivery. The rest of the expansion opens through 2027. When those doors open, The Village becomes a regional destination, not just a Meridian one.

If you own retail near Eagle Rd. and want to know what this means for your rents or value, reach out at blake@kzbrealestate.com.

This post first appeared in Commercial Real Estate Boise, a KZB newsletter on Treasure Valley commercial real estate.