Hayden townhouse project aims to expand ownership for local buyers

A new 56-unit townhome project in Hayden is trying to do something Kootenai County’s housing market has made increasingly rare: give local buyers a path to ownership. The Bridge, now under construction at 9848 Laylin Road, is being built by Jimmy Brennan of Cornerstone, Inc. Custom Homes with Levi Brennan, Brenny Ross and Chad Ross.

The project is being presented as an attainable-homeownership effort rather than another rental development, a distinction that matters in a county where housing costs have become one of the biggest civic issues. The homes are meant for households that earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing but not enough to buy comfortably in a tight market. In that sense, The Bridge is aimed at the middle of the market that has been squeezed hardest, especially younger families and first-time buyers trying to stay in Hayden, Coeur d’Alene and the rest of Kootenai County.

Its design also sets it apart from the larger-lot subdivision model that has long defined North Idaho growth. Instead of sprawling luxury homes, the project is a smaller-footprint neighborhood of attached units with community amenities. That makes it the kind of product builders say can lower the barrier to entry while still allowing buyers to build equity, even as the broader affordability gap remains wide.

Teachers, public safety employees, hospitality workers and others who keep the local economy running are the households most likely to be watching projects like this one closely. For those buyers, the question is not whether Hayden needs more housing. It is whether the numbers on the homes, along with taxes, insurance and monthly payments, can actually work on a local paycheck.

Brennan has long said he wants to build ownership opportunities instead of adding more rentals, and The Bridge reflects that philosophy in concrete form. The project may not solve Kootenai County’s ownership crisis, but it does show one of the few ways builders are trying to answer it: with smaller, attached homes designed to let local buyers get a foothold before prices climb further out of reach.