By Don Day – BoiseDev Editor
June 5, 2025 – 10:00 am
The Nampa Gateway Center is getting a sweet new name — and look.
Gardner Co. has renamed the outdoor mall, which opened in 2007, as the Sugar District, Managing Partner David Wali told BoiseDev in an interview.
“The Sugar District seemed like a better tie-in with the area — everyone has a gateway, but not everyone has a sugar beat factory,” he said, referencing the nearby and well-known Amalgamated Sugar factory.
Along with the new changes, Gardner has made significant progress on its project to redevelop the center, with further changes to come.
Developers Diversified Realty built the center across more than 65 acres at the Garrity exit to I-84. It opened in 2007 with the first tenant, JCPenney, which reentered Nampa after 19 years. It added a standalone Macy’s store, an Edwards Cinemas movie theater, and several drive-thru restaurants. But much of the retail space struggled.
In 2013, CenterCal Properties opened the Village at Meridian to the east, introducing a similar “lifestyle center” to Eagle Rd. But while the Village thrived, Nampa Gateway languished.
New owners, new ideas
In 2021, as BoiseDev reported, Gardner Co. bought Nampa Gateway, and Wali said at the time changes would come over time.
Wali, both in his role at Gardner Co. and as an independent developer, has a reputation for buying and redeveloping projects that have struggled.
Along with partners, he purchased Garden City’s Riverside Hotel and has worked to add restaurants, pools, and other upgrades. With former Gardner Co. co-worker Tommy Ahlquist, he took the infamous “Boise hole” and built the tower anchored by Zions Bank. Gardner even bought the Boise Factory Outlets mall, with plans to tear it down and convert it into a heavy truck dealership. Wali is also leading a group of investors that will redevelop a portion of the Les Bois Park racetrack into a new venue for professional soccer.
He says Nampa Gateway — now Sugar District — falls in line with those projects.
“I think it goes without saying that I’m always excited about things that other people aren’t,” he said with a laugh.
With the Sugar District, he said the project was a victim of bad timing.
“This has been sitting there languishing. No one wanted it,” he said. “But it has everything you could want, it just came on at a tough time.”
He noted that the center of the Treasure Valley’s population has continued to move westward. Once, Boise Towne Square on Milwaukee St. in Boise was the heart. Then the Village at Meridian along Eagle Rd. sat roughly in the middle. Now, as Canyon County booms, he contends the Sugar District is set for success.
“With time and with growth, this becomes more central than when it was built.”
Experiential businesses, hotel, more
But the Sugar District isn’t headed for a future similar to the Village. While JCPenney, that first tenant, remains open, Macy’s has long since closed, and the Edwards Cinemas shut down in 2022.
“We changed the concepts inside to go from mid-box soft goods to mid-box athletic, and steered toward the youth,” he said.
A collection of sports and athletic-related businesses is open or moving in. Goldfish Swim School is open. SkyZone Trampoline Park operates in the former Sports Authority building. Athletic training business D1 Training is open, and the gymnastics school SparkZone Fitness opened recently. The Treasure Valley’s second Flying Pickle venue will open this summer.
“For the gymnastics school… building new is out of the question,” Wali said. “This had effectively an industrial building type with 20-foot ceilings built at a time when these builds were far more affordable with ample parking. The heights that work well for indoor sporting uses, but we can lower ceilings for more traditional retail.”
A new TownPlace Suites hotel, with 112 extended-stay rooms, will open in July.
The future of the empty movie theater is still in flux, and Wali said Gardner is working to see where the in-person movie business goes.
Upgrades to the buildings, with a new, more modern paint scheme, a resurfacing of the aging parking lot, and new Sugar District signage have helped spruce up the property.
Along with the sports businesses and remaining retail businesses like Penney’s and Shoe Carnival, Wali said they will continue to add food uses.
“We’ll wrap around the sports business with the uses like ice cream and coffee,” he said. “Experiential-related users that are out there, and there aren’t a lot of places to put them.
House of Robotics
One piece of the puzzle that still isn’t solved is the former Macy’s box.
Robotics company House of Design opened in the building in 2022. By 2024, the business had been acquired by an investment company. Later that summer, all employees were laid off. It then entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, and the Nampa building sits empty.
Wali said the property is tied up in those proceedings, and the next move will come after the process is complete. He said it could house businesses like indoor mini-golf, or another robotics company could take over the building.
