PLANTATION, Fla. – The Fashion Mall in Plantation is coming down and is set to be replaced with a mixed-use complex that’ll feature residential units and office space.
“I call it the regeneration of Plantation,” Mayor Diane Bendekovic said.
The mall was built in 1988. Back then, the mall had it all, including anchor stores like Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and Macy’s. But in 2005, the Macy’s shut down after it was damaged by Hurricane Wilma, and the mall completely shut down in 2007.
“That mall has been an eyesore for us the last 10 years,” Bendekovic said.
Now there is a $300 million plan to renovate it.
Bendekovic said the mixed-use complex will have 73,000 square feet of retail space, and nearly 700 residential units, as well as office space.
This type of development has become popular, according to Greg Matus, a commercial real estate expert.
“I just got back from the shopping center convention in Vegas and that is the movement in retail. People are looking for a place to spend time but they don’t want to walk through a mall,” Matus said.
Matus, a managing partner at Franklin Street, said the development is a home run.
“The marketplace is starving for this place to be redone,” he said. “You have a large young demographic moving out west.”
The developer, Art Falcone, said Planation is one of South Florida’s most desirable cities but it lacks a commercial and residential heart. Encore’s redevelopment of the Fashion Mall site will be a new town square.
