Woodland Kids fills last spot at former Kmart

Woodland Kids in early September leased the final 12,000-square-foot space to fill up the former Kmart building on Fairview Avenue in western Boise.

Kmart, which occupied the space since it was built in 1976 at what was then the western edge of town, closed the building in March 2016. The first three new tenants signed on in February 2017, with Ace Hardware opening in May and Lifetime Store yet to open.

Woodland Kids is a father-daughter startup geared for children up to 12 that will offer a nature-inspired play center with a gated section dedicated to newborns and non-walking toddlers who are age 3 or younger, co-owner Aami Russell said.

“There really is no specific place for little ones,” Russell said about play centers in general.

Woodland will have toys made of wood or natural material along with living plants for decoration and fabricated trees for kids to climb.

Russell owns Woodland Kids with her father, Allen Crolius. They plan to open by Feb. 1 next door to Dead On Archery.

“We were turned down by a lot of places,” Russell said. “They wanted big national tenants.”

Gregg Davis, an agent at Keller Williams, said he and Russell looked at three or four spaces.

“This is one of the larger ones with a good rate,” Davis said. “This use will bring a lot of families to the center.”

The former Kmart now has an eclectic mix of tenants including a Vector Christian Center and Idaho Youth Ranch store.

With Woodland Kids soon to open, it will have taken nearly three years to refill the 84,000-square-foot department store space, which was split into six spaces.

“It just took patience and determination,” said Bob Mitchell, the retail broker at Thornton Oliver Keller who represented the property throughout the transition.