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SALT LAKE CITY — Have you visited The Gateway lately?
The mall brought home plenty of gold after hosting the world during Salt Lake City's 2002 Olympics. It's seen some challenging times since then, with more retail competition downtown and two dozen empty storefronts. But as this holiday shopping season kicks off, mall management and Gateway's major tenants are excited about the future.
Some say The Gateway is on the brink of regaining the luster it lost when City Creek Mall opened two and a half years ago. Maria Farrington is the CEO of Discovery Gateway children's museum and she's excited about The Gateway management's plans and attitude for the future.
"It is a renaissance ready to really begin. We are primed. We are on the precipice," Farrington said.
It will be a challenge. In the last three months, Forever 21, Z Gallerie and Z'Tejas have closed. More than a dozen other retailers abandoned The Gateway for City Creek two years ago, including the Apple Store.
So where is the hope for The Gateway's future? Part of the answer comes from the support and investment of the mall's primary stakeholders. The mall has signed a new 10-year lease with one of its largest tenants, Megaplex Theaters. Blake Anderson is the president of Megaplex Theaters and he says although the decision to sign wasn't easy, the new commitment to the mall includes more than a million dollars in renovations and improvements to the theaters.
"We're introducing some tremor seats, the vibrating seats, and just a lot of neat, exciting things here. You'll see the difference when you come in," Anderson said.
Other differences and additions that visitors will experience include a Gameworks arcade that will open at the north end of the mall in late November. It will move into the storefronts originally occupied by Lane Bryant and The Skybox.
Bryan Hill, The Gateway's general manager, said Gameworks is taking 25,000 square feet.
"It's going to be an interactive family gaming concept with great food in addition to that," Hill said.
Another new business is going in at the south end of the mall just under the entrance to Megaplex Theaters, a first outside of London and New York City called Mystery Rooms.
It is a renaissance ready to really begin. We are primed. We are on the precipice.
–Maria Farrington, CEO of Discovery Gateway children's museum
"The concept is, basically, they'll have two different rooms, you come in as a team, and you have to figure out how to get out of the room in an hour or less, " Hill said.
Hundreds of new housing units are going up within blocks of The Gateway and those are new customers the mall hopes to capture. And for those who want to shop and be entertained seven days a week, mall management has a message.
"I would tell them that it's OK to shop on Sunday. Gateway's open," said Jan Brownstein, marketing director for The Gateway.
Discovery Gateway planned for a drop in foot traffic when City Creek opened. But two years later, the museum could really use a boost from some new retail.
"We want it to be done yesterday, quite frankly," CEO Maria Farrington said.
The museum is more than hopeful about the future, having booked three major exhibits each for 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Some businesses and their loyal customers never left the mall.
Raquel Guerrero, a loyal Gateway shopper, said, "I love the beauty around the surrounding area and I live close by, so I come and visit a couple of stores that I like."
"I just come for all the different shopping and stuff," said Casey Rand, a freshman at the University of Utah who often rides Trax down to The Gateway from campus. "I like the different stores that they have here."
Jazz games also draw shoppers and diners from up and down the Wasatch Front.
"We're from Provo, so we don't come down often, but when we do, we often come here, especially when it's a Jazz game," Mark Palmer said.
The goal for 2015 and beyond is to recruit new retail to surround and support businesses already bringing customers downtown. Brownstein said The Gateway's marketing strategy will "capitalize on all the strengths we do have and then we complement them with additional merchants and tenants that come in that kind of fit what we're looking for."
Anderson said there are already signs of new economic life at The Gateway.
"People are coming downtown. This is a very vibrant urban center and there's room for everyone here."
Contributing: Keith McCord
