The former Best Buy building in Kimball Junction covers about 30,000 square feet. This winter, roughly 7,500 of them are planned to hold a climbing structure, an infant and toddler area and a café. Nearby, the old Outlets Park City site, now Junction Commons, is adding a 25,000-square-foot Nordstrom Rack and a studio with heated fitness classes, with a ramen counter listed as coming soon.
Taken one at a time, each of these is a single opening. Taken together, they are a pattern. The Junction's empty retail space is being refilled with places built for the months when the trails are icy and the backyard is under snow. Most of it is landing this fall and winter.
A playground for snow days in the old Best Buy
TownLift's September report on Treehouse opens with a question that Park City parents of very young children know well: what do you do with a toddler on a snowy day, when you both need to get out of the house? Founder Fontaine McFadden told the outlet the idea grew out of regular drives down the canyon to indoor play spaces in Salt Lake City.
The plans call for a café, an infant and toddler area, a climbing structure for kids up to age 10, and rooms for parties and programs such as STEM and music-and-movement classes. The design is meant to feel like a woodland setting, not the bright, high-stimulation look of many indoor playgrounds. A Park City Chamber job listing posted Sept. 23 calls it a screen-free space.
The opening is still described only as "this winter," with no firm date yet. The Junction has seen this kind of reuse before. In 2024, Barnes & Noble announced a November opening in the former Bed Bath & Beyond space at Redstone.
Heated classes at Junction Commons
The adult version of the snow-day answer is coming to Suite F110 at Junction Commons, 6699 N. Landmark Drive. Park City-founded Fourth Space Studios is opening its first studio there, and most of its classes are heated. The schedule on the Fourth Space website lists Hot Sculpt, Hot Pilates, Hot Yoga and Hot Deep Stretch. Strength and Breathe to the Beat are the two unheated classes.
As of early October, the Junction Commons directory still lists the studio as "Coming Fall 2026," with no opening day. When it opens, it will be one of the first tenants at the center that gives people a reason to stay for an hour instead of making a quick stop.
Two ramen shops in one season
Warm food is coming too, from two directions. Koyoté, a Salt Lake City ramen restaurant, has leased the former Hana Ramen Bar location in Kimball Junction. The Park Record reported an October target, with timing dependent on buildout.
Separately, Junction Commons announced Tosh's Ramen in March as part of its next round of tenants and projected a September opening. The center's website still shows Tosh's as "Coming Soon," so the September target hasn't been confirmed. If both open on schedule, the Junction will have gone from a former ramen space to two ramen shops within one cold season.
Oct. 22 at 8 a.m.
The opening with a firm date is the biggest one. Nordstrom Rack opens at Junction Commons on Thursday, Oct. 22. According to the center's event page, a pre-opening event starts at 8 a.m., a gift-card drawing follows at 8:45, and doors open at 9.
A 25,000-square-foot store would once have been the whole story at an outlet center. This fall it opens in the same weeks as a hot-yoga studio, a ramen counter and a children's café that are all still being built out. That mix of shopping and places to spend time is what makes this season at the Junction different.
Here is where each opening stood as of Oct. 7, 2026:
| Opening | Location | Status as of Oct. 7, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Nordstrom Rack | Junction Commons, 6699 N. Landmark Dr. | Grand opening Oct. 22, doors at 9 a.m. |
| Koyoté | Former Hana Ramen Bar space, Kimball Junction | October target, dependent on buildout |
| Tosh's Ramen | Junction Commons | Listed as "Coming Soon" |
| Fourth Space Studios | Junction Commons, Suite F110 | "Coming Fall 2026" |
| Treehouse | Former Best Buy building | "This winter," no firm date |
| Ephemeral at Swaner EcoCenter | 1258 Center Dr. | Open through Nov. 29 |
Swaner's exhibit closes Nov. 29
Not everything indoors this season is new construction. The Swaner EcoCenter at 1258 Center Drive is showing Ephemeral, a native-plant art exhibition, from Sept. 12 through Nov. 29, 2026. Utah State University's Swaner page lists admission as free, with a suggested $5 donation per person. The EcoCenter is generally open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed today, Wednesday, Oct. 7, and tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 8.
Alongside the exhibit, Swaner opened a free native-seed library. Visitors can take up to three packets, and the public can donate native seeds, which staff review before adding them. The library focuses on Utah-native seeds, mostly Wasatch Back species, and includes a seed exchange and landscaping resources. It's a winter visit that pays off in spring, when those packets go into a Basin yard.
Bus lanes on SR-224 this winter
Getting to all of this should be easier this winter. On Oct. 6, KPCW reported that High Valley Transit's bus rapid transit project between Kimball Junction and Old Town is ahead of schedule. Chief Development Officer Gabe Shields said the orange cones will come off the road for winter and some sections will have dedicated bus lanes. On the finished stretch between Olympic Parkway and Canyons Drive, he said, BRT will run "just about fully complete."
Some smaller work on bus stops and off-road items will continue through winter. The full corridor is scheduled for completion in fall 2028. For anyone coming from the Canyons side on a busy ski Saturday, the stretch that leads into the Junction is the one that will be running first.
The site's longer-term plan
The new tenants are moving into a property that is already approved to change. On Sept. 8, the Summit County Council unanimously approved the Junction Commons redevelopment. The approval rezones the former outlet site and clears a 19-building mixed-use plan with about 55,000 square feet of commercial space, pedestrian connections and gathering areas. The massing diagram in the approval packet shows existing retail buildings staying in place alongside new residential buildings and ground-floor commercial space.
Next door, Altus Park City, the project formerly known as Dakota Pacific, received preliminary subdivision approval from the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission on Aug. 25. That approval does not authorize building construction. Developers told the council they plan trail connections between Junction Commons and Altus. In the meantime, the studio, the ramen shops and the playground are opening in buildings that are already here. They should be running this winter, long before any new construction is finished.
If you own property near the Junction, the openings this winter and the redevelopment approved on Sept. 8 will both affect what that property is like to live in and to rent out. Parker Properties manages homes across the Snyderville Basin, and we track these changes as they happen so our owners hear about them early. Start Effortless Ownership. Schedule a Consultation.
