MIAMI, FLORIDA

The town of Cutler Bay has set its sights on becoming the next boomtown of South Miami-Dade County. Those hopes are pinned on a semi-vacant shopping mall that has struggled to rebound since Hurricane Andrew and is now the site of a $1 billion redevelopment project.

We will be the geographic heart of South Dade, and we’re going to be the economic engine of South Dade in a very short period. All the opportunity is right there,” Mayor Tim Meerbott said last month during a meeting of the Miami Association of Realtors. “It’s already great now, but we’re going to be by far the best city you will ever see.

Once one of the largest employers in South Miami-Dade, Southland Mall has struggled to attract customers and restore its image after Andrew destroyed most of the structure in 1992. Despite its location at the convergence of the Florida Turnpike and U.S. 1, the mall remains partly vacant.

Cutler Bay leaders say this project will be a much-needed boon for the town of 45,000 where 96% of residents work elsewhere, according to the town’s 2021 Transportation Master Plan. If successful, it may become a blueprint for future large-scale developments in the often-overlooked South Dade region, as available land across South Florida continues to shrink.

‘CITY WITHIN A CITY’

Developers BH Group and Electra America in April purchased the Southland Mall property for $100.35 million. Then in October they acquired the adjoining Sears for an additional $34 million.

“It’s still early on in the process, but we envision a ‘city within a city’ for living, working, shopping, and playing,” Ron Gaither, Electra America’s chief development officer, said in an email to the Miami Herald. “We have a track record of 30 years developing and acquiring mixed-use residential properties, but this will be one of the largest, most ambitious projects in our portfolio.”

Preliminary plans for what will become the Southplace City Center include a 150-key hotel, 60,000 square feet of medical office space, a terraced community amphitheater, golf cart trails, a trolley system, restaurants, retail and approximately 4,400 housing units to be built over a seven-year period.

MORE HOUSING PLANNED

The mall redevelopment is one of three projects that would bring more housing to Cutler Bay.

In October, the Town Council approved the site application to build a $100 million housing community called “The Contemporary” for people age 55 and older, which will include 196 housing units, 42,000 square feet of medical space and 19,000 square feet of retail space.

The applicant for that project, Cutler Bay Real Estate Partners LLC, is co-owned by Juan Carlos Mas, according to the site application. He is the brother of Jorge and Jose Mas, who are co-owners of the Inter Miami soccer team and leading the $1 billion Miami Freedom Park soccer stadium project.

Read more at:

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article268782157.html

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