Kuna's New Costco Opens Nov. 5, With Road Work Its Developer Paid For

One week from today, on Thursday, November 5, at 8 a.m., Costco opens a 200,342-square-foot warehouse at 203 E. Tower Lane, near Lake Hazel Road and Meridian Road. The address is inside Meridian city limits, but BoiseDev places it very near the boundary with Kuna, and the opening story was written for "Costco fans in South Meridian and Kuna."

Most of the new signals and lanes around the store are being paid for up front by the developer behind the shopping site, through a state program that can reimburse those costs later out of the sales tax the project generates. Meanwhile, the major public road projects on Kuna's side of town are still being designed or are waiting for funding. Kuna's north edge is getting road upgrades on a retail timeline, and that changes where errands are likely to happen for years.

Who Built the Road to the Store

The warehouse sits inside Pinnacle Marketplace, a 160-acre commercial site owned by Meridian-based Brighton Corp. The Idaho Statesman described the site as the main commercial piece of Brighton's Pinnacle master-planned community, which covers more than 800 acres. Brighton put in the sewer, water and roadwork. Costco built the warehouse and gas station.

The roadwork is the part that matters for anyone driving up from Kuna. An ITD spokesperson told KTVB that the project is going through Idaho's Sales Tax Anticipation Revenue program, known as STAR. Under STAR, developers pay up front for work the state has already decided needs doing, and they may be repaid from the sales tax the project brings in. According to the agreement among Brighton, ITD and ACHD, Brighton will spend at least $24 million on road improvements. That figure is a correction: KTVB first reported $6 million, which turned out to be the legal minimum.

The project pays for:

• A widening of a mile-long stretch of State Highway 69, which ITD said was still under construction
• A new traffic signal at the Aristocrat Drive intersection
• Two new signals at the store's entrances, one on Meridian Road and one on Lake Hazel Road. ACHD told KIVI that Costco is responsible for those signals and expected them to be fully working by early October

The schedule has moved. In August, Brighton's president of development, Jon Wardle, told the Statesman the Meridian Road improvements were expected to wrap up by early October. He added that he expected Costco's opening to be "pretty well tied together or shortly after roads are available and open to them for use." KTVB's later report on the opening date said the widening was still under construction and gave no new finish date. Plan on some active work zones when the doors open.

How That Compares With Kuna's Public Road Projects

The pace is easier to see next to the public plans for the same highway and for Kuna's other main route north.

ITD's full corridor vision for SH-69 runs the length of the highway between Kuna and Meridian, and it doesn't have funding for construction yet. The Swan Falls Road overpass, which the Statesman put at just over $47 million in preliminary costs, is meant to keep traffic moving when freight trains cross. In October, KIVI reported that ACHD would go after construction grants once design is done. In other words, the mile of SH-69 by Lake Hazel is the one stretch of the Kuna commute where the paid-for improvements arrived along with a destination.

What Costco Has Confirmed So Far

Costco's page for the new location still says "Warehouse coming soon" and lists the opening date as 11/05/2026. The only department it shows is an AT&T cellular kiosk. That leaves a lot of open questions for the first week, so here is what is known and what isn't.

The delivery space explains why the building is so big. BoiseDev reported in September that the store is larger than most Costcos, and among the largest anywhere, mostly because of that back-of-house fulfillment center for delivering large items to homes. KTVB reported that it is the first of these delivery operations in the Treasure Valley. The shopping floor won't be unusually large. The Kuna corner is where Costco's local large-item deliveries will start from.

Before going, check Costco's page for the location to see whether hours and departments have been added.

What It Replaces

Until now, the nearest Costco for Kuna shoppers was in one of three places:

1. Boise, at 2051 S. Cole Road
2. Meridian, at 3403 W. Chinden Boulevard, which opened in 2020 near Chinden and Ten Mile
3. Nampa, at 16700 N. Market Place Boulevard

A Kuna resident told KIVI she shops at the Boise store, about 10 miles each way. The Statesman summed up the change in one line: south Meridian and Kuna shoppers "will no longer have to venture miles north or get on Interstate 84 to go to Costco." For many Kuna households, that turns a trip on the interstate into a drive straight up Meridian Road.

The Corner Is Just Getting Started

Pinnacle Marketplace is 160 acres, and the Costco is its first big piece. In September, BoiseDev reported a preliminary plan for the northeast corner of Meridian and Lake Hazel with seven more buildings totaling 33,755 square feet. Three would have drive-thrus and four would be retail buildings. No tenants are named, and formal permitting and approvals are still to come. BoiseDev describes the space as planned for "multiple national and regional retailers."

The same corridor is filling in on the Kuna side, too. DK Donuts opened its third shop at 1200 N. Meridian Road, Suite 140, in a newly built strip center. The Statesman reports it serves doughnuts, breakfast and lunch, coffee and smoothies. It's an easy stop on the way north, with no Costco card needed.

For drivers, this means the Lake Hazel intersection, already signalized and partly widened, is likely to get busier as each new pad opens.

Kuna's Own Calendar Through the Holidays

The new store opens at the start of a busy stretch on Kuna's own calendar, and most of these events are in the middle of town, nowhere near Lake Hazel:

• Now through Jan. 4, 2027: The Kuna Arts & History Center has two exhibits up, "Pass Times of Times Past: Recreation in Kuna" and Lois Chattin's "Puny, Punny Still-Life Painting."
• Nov. 18: Arbor Day celebration, on the City of Kuna's 2026 event calendar
• Dec. 5: Tree lighting at Bernie Fisher Park and the Kuna Chamber's Night Light Parade, 6 to 7:30 p.m., with lineup by the park
• Dec. 11: Candy Canes with the Mayor
• Dec. 31: The Gem Drop

More on the town is in our Kuna neighborhood guide. For a look at how state highway contracts are changing commutes in another west Ada town, see our post on Star and its 2027 road schedule.

The first Saturday after opening is Nov. 7. Anyone heading north for a bulk run that weekend should expect the new signals, the remaining widening work, and an opening-week crowd at the Tower Lane entrance.

If you'd like to talk about how Pinnacle Marketplace and the work on SH-69 could affect your part of Kuna over the next few years, Elizabeth Hume is glad to go through it with you. Let's Connect.