Defying ‘all expectations,’ new Warm Springs Grill and Golf is about ‘community’
After over two decades of talks and a year of construction, the brand-new Warm Springs Grill + Golf facility is now open in East Boise, beckoning more than just people craving birdies and crisp drives.
The city invested in the new clubhouse with the design of it becoming a sort of community center in an area of town that lacks a lot of options, Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway said. The building holds a restaurant, bar, grab-and-go snack bar and golf shop, and features indoor and outdoor seating.
“It’s a place for the golfers, but it’s a place for the community. It’s a place for the neighborhood, it’s a place for people who use the Greenbelt and use the Mesa Reserve across the street. It’s for the community as a whole,” Holloway said at an event Wednesday afternoon.
City leaders, including Mayor Lauren McLean and City Council President Pro Tem Meredith Stead, along with Holloway and others who worked to see the building come to life, gathered in front of the facility to mark its opening to the public.
And that word, “public” is the key to what the city had in mind with this major project. The restaurant will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, and officials hope East End residents find it welcoming as a place to eat, drink and relax — even if they don’t plan on taking aim with 8-irons that day.
The menu will include breakfast dishes such as omelettes, a bacon and egg sandwich, and eggs Benedict. For lunch and dinner, there are staples such as burgers, chicken strips and salads, as well as a Boise favorite: finger steaks.
With plenty of nice summer and fall days ahead, visitors can hang out on the expansive patio — over 5,000 square feet — in lounge chairs or at tables, or just relax in the bar area at indoor seating, Holloway said.
Holloway has talked about how Parks and Rec has wanted to build a new Warm Springs facility for over two decades — the old clubhouse was in use for 50 years — but the city never had the budget.
It wasn’t until a donor presented the city with a $3.5 million contribution that the idea really got legs. McLean supported the $12 million project, which broke ground in May of last year.
“When she heard about the donor and the money, she didn’t say, ‘Let’s try to make this happen.’ She said, ‘We, I mean emphatically, we’re going to make it happen,’” Holloway said.
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The project was funded in part by donations, but also through an internal loan from the city that Warm Springs Golf Course will pay back over the next 10 years.
McLean said that when she first saw the finished building, it “defied all expectations that we had.”
“This is what we wanted, a place where we can continue to build the community that makes Boise so special for everyone,” the mayor said Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
