Where Sunrise Boulevard splits off from Federal Highway and heads east toward the beach, a marquee has stood since 1951. The strip of storefronts beside it, the Gateway Shopping District at 1900 E. Sunrise Blvd., has been changing all year. Each lease has been small, and taken together they make the corner just south of Poinsettia Heights a place with a reason to stop at almost any hour.
That's the plan, too. Jaime Sturgis, whose Native Realty team curates the plaza, put the goal plainly when the latest leases were announced in a February 2026 citybiz report:
"We are proud of our role in shaping the growth of Gateway Shopping District into a true 24-hour neighborhood destination."
A landlord who leases like a neighbor
The ownership explains most of what has happened here. The Real Deal reported in March 2026 that entities of Native Realty and Sturgis own Gateway Shopping District. The owner and the leasing team are the same Fort Lauderdale firm, and it has been picking tenants for fit, not just filling space.
The square footage shows it. Here's what the 2026 leases look like next to each other:
| Business | What it is | Size | Status as of early November 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pulp & Press | Coffee shop | 1,485 sq ft | Opened in February 2026 |
| De la Fontaine Naturals | Natural perfumery, founded in South Africa | 1,000 sq ft | Shop at 1914 E. Sunrise Blvd. |
| Stretch Zone | Existing tenant | 1,000 sq ft | Long-term lease renewed |
| Barolo Cucina D'Autore | Northern Italian restaurant | 1,500 sq ft | Taking reservations at 1910 E. Sunrise Blvd. |
| Peppi's Pizza | Pizza and cheesesteaks | 2,101 sq ft | Opening targeted for November |
None of these spaces is much bigger than a two-bedroom condo. The citybiz report says the plaza gets exposure to more than 60,000 vehicles a day along US-1 and Sunrise Boulevard. That traffic is being met with small rooms with very different uses, so a coffee, an errand, a dinner and a film can all happen within a short walk of each other.
How the day fills in
What makes the "24-hour" line more than a slogan is that each tenant covers a different part of the day.
Morning. Pulp & Press opened its 1,485-square-foot coffee shop at the plaza in February 2026. It was the first of the new arrivals to open, and it's the one that makes the corner a morning stop.
Midday. De la Fontaine Naturals started in South Africa as a boutique natural perfumery. It calls its Gateway Plaza space at 1914 E. Sunrise Blvd. an atelier and shop and lists weekday and Saturday hours. Stretch Zone has been at the plaza long enough to sign a long-term renewal, and that renewal is what Sturgis pointed to as proof the curation is working.
Dinner. Barolo Cucina D'Autore serves Northern Italian food in 1,500 square feet at 1910 E. Sunrise Blvd. In early November 2026, its OpenTable page showed a 4.8 rating across 138 reviews, with entrées in the $31 to $50 range. That's a sit-down dinner within a short drive of most Poinsettia Heights driveways, with no need to cross the bridge or find parking on Las Olas.
Late. The theater has always covered the late hours. The newest lease adds a second late-evening option right beside it.
The pizza counter on the way
Peppi's Pizza comes from Philadelphia native Ryan McKeown, who is also known as a yacht chef on Bravo's "Below Deck Down Under." The Sun Sentinel's October 26, 2026 roundup of fall openings describes a menu built around cheesesteaks he calls "authentic Phillys," with Cooper Sharp or Cheez Whiz. It also lists strombolis, rigatoni Bolognese, Old Bay fries, garlic knots and eight pies ranging from Sicilian tomato to mushroom and stracciatella.
The Fort Lauderdale shop at 1930 E. Sunrise Blvd. will join the Miami original, which opened in late 2024. McKeown told the Sun Sentinel he was targeting a November opening. The brand posts updates on its Instagram account, which is the most direct place to check whether the doors are open on any given evening.
At 2,101 square feet, Peppi's has the largest of this year's leases. It's also the one that fits the after-movie hour, which matters most once you look at what sits at the west end of the strip.
The 1951 anchor that never left
Most of the tenants above are new. The theater is not. The Cinema Treasures history of the Gateway says it opened in March 1951 as a Wometco single-screen theater with 1,500 seats. In the room that once held 1,500 moviegoers, today's whole roster of new leases would fit with space left over.
The building has changed hands more than once in recent years. It was closed during the COVID shutdown, and in May 2021 the New Pelican reported that it was getting ready to reopen under the management of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. The festival's run ended with final screenings on August 4, 2022. The Sun Sentinel reported at the time that Paradigm Cinemas would take over after a short closure for cleaning and repainting.
Paradigm Cinemas: Gateway is still the name on the building at 1820 E. Sunrise Blvd., and it has been part of the local festival calendar this year. Miami New Times listed an OUTshine screening there on February 4, 2026. OUTshine's fall festival returned to the Gateway for screenings on October 16 and 17, according to FTL Review's festival preview.
So the theater was the one business on this corner already open late, and every lease since then has added a reason to arrive earlier or stay longer. Dinner at Barolo before a show and a slice afterward was not possible on this block a year ago.
Getting in and parking
The practical details are simple. Paradigm's location page puts the theater at the point where Sunrise Boulevard and US-1 diverge, with free parking in two lots behind the building. For a night that combines dinner and a film, those lots are the obvious place to leave the car and walk the length of the strip.
From Poinsettia Heights, the trip is a short run south to Sunrise Boulevard. Weeknights are the easiest time to try a new table, and Barolo's reservation calendar on OpenTable is the quickest way to see what's open on a given night.
What a curated corner means a few blocks north
For a homeowner, this corner is about convenience more than shopping. A plaza run by a landlord who is paying attention tends to change in small steps: one coffee shop, one perfumery, one renewal, one restaurant. Each step adds an hour of the day when the corner has a reason to be lit. The citybiz report names Flagler Village, Victoria Park and Coral Ridge as the nearby neighborhoods the plaza draws from. Poinsettia Heights sits just north on the same Federal Highway corridor, close enough to treat the Gateway as its own.
If you're weighing how changes at corners like Sunrise and Federal affect what your Poinsettia Heights home offers day to day, Trent Sells Fort Lauderdale is glad to walk you through it. Schedule a free consultation and home valuation, and we'll look at your home and the blocks around it together.
