Most of this Treasure Valley shopping center’s retail spaces are vacant. What now?
The Nampa Gateway Center, a 65-acre shopping center with mostly vacant storefronts surrounded by mostly empty parking lots, may soon get an overhaul from its latest owner.
It has been more than 15 years since the shopping center opened in 2007 along Garrity Boulevard and Interstate 84, with J.C. Penney as its anchor. Sports Authority opened in 2009. So did Macy’s. The company then known as Edwards Cinemas opened the Nampa Gateway Stadium 12 in 2010.
But the Great Recession and the opening in 2013 of the Village at Meridian 10 miles east put pressure on Nampa Gateway. Sports Authority and Macy’s closed in the mid-2010s. The theater, renamed the Regal Edwards Nampa Gateway, closed in 2022. The center was sold in 2017 and sold again, to Gardner Cos. of Salt Lake City, in 2020.
Most of the storefronts in the center’s four-building interior, a pedestrian-friendly marketplace with brick-accented sidewalks, trees and bell-shaped street lamps, are empty now. Storefront windows are plastered with signs saying “Space Available” and inviting potential tenants to call Gardner leasing representatives, including former Boise Mayor David Bieter, who now works for Gardner in its Boise office.
Now Gardner wants to change the center in an effort to bring more of it to life. It is preparing to build 77 town houses and 168 apartments, demolish some retail space, and repurpose other spaces.
At the same time, Gardner will keep pursuing new stores and restaurants. It recently landed a commitment from Chipotle, the Mexican fast-casual chain, to build on an available parcel.
Geoffery Wardle, a land-use attorney who represented Gardner during a Nampa City Council meeting on the proposal in 2022, said then that Gardner plans to reuse and reorient some of the center’s 400,000 square feet of retail space for office buildings, hospitality businesses and local Treasure Valley retailers.
The Nampa Gateway’s location at 1206 N. Galleria Drive, on the southeast corner of Interstate 84 and Garrity Boulevard, is “one of the most critical interchanges in the Valley,” Wardle said.
The original retail plan for the Nampa Gateway was approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2005, with buildings for several big-box stores and numerous acres of parking. But times have changed, Wardle said, and acres of parking are no longer needed.
Tenants today include Shoe Carnival; Defy, an extreme air-sports park; Crunch Fitness, a gym; and the Digestive Health Clinic, a Treasure Valley medical business.
Gardner doesn’t want to depend upon “national big box stores” for its future, Wardle said. Since the company purchased Gateway, it has been adding local retail users to the plaza, he said.
“That is what we want to do in the future,” Wardle said.
The eastern side of the project is set to include the town houses and already includes the remodeled former Macy’s store, now home to House of Design Robotics, which sells robotics systems for use in construction.
The City Council first approved Gardner’s application for the 168 apartments in February 2022. In March, the council approved Gardner’s proposal for the town houses and for moving House of Design into the Macy’s building.
David Wali, Gardner’s executive vice president in Boise, said he is now waiting for the Nampa Design Review Committee to approve the apartments’ design. Then he will work on the town houses’ design.
Cost is a factor in the timing of the planned housing. Wali said he hopes to save money by buying all the materials he needs for the apartments at once.
“Construction costs are quite high still.” he said by phone. “You have a better chance to buy all the lumber at once and all the raw materials when they’re available at the right price.”
Meanwhile, construction has begun on Chipotle in the J.C. Penney parking lot.
Rents for the planned housing have not been disclosed. At The Station Apartments at Gateway, an upscale complex immediately south of WinCo, rents range from $1,256 per month for one-bedroom units to $3,747 per month for three-bedrooms, according to a listing Thursday on Apartments.com.
Business and Local News Editor David Staats contributed.
This story was originally published February 25, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the status of the movie theater at the Nampa Gateway Center and included an outdated quote about it. The theater has closed.
