It’s hard to tell which developments might come to life and which might die.
The process can begin with so much hope for a new building, subdivision or neighborhood. It’s common to find sleek architectural renderings, glossy pamphlets that could make design nerds geek out, and a bevy of amenities that could entertain even the biggest grouch.
But hopes can quickly sour as reality hits full-force. The long and often tedious development process has numerous pitfalls from geographic constraints, difficult financing, a downturn in the economy, or neighbors who simply don’t want a development in their neighborhood.
Nearly a decade after it was first approved amid neighborhood resistance, the ax seems to have dropped on one such development in the Boise Foothills: The Reserve at Deer Valley.
Longtime Boise developer Larry Leasure’s White-Leasure Development Co. had originally planned the subdivision to include nearly 100 homes built into the edge of the Foothills at 7614 Pierce Park Lane, just north of Hill Road and east of Riverglen Junior High School.