Bal Harbour Shops’ $400M renovation receives final approval

Rendering of the new plaza at Bal Harbour Shops

 Courtesy of Whitman Family Development/Rendering by Zyscovich Architects

A $400 million enhancement of the Bal Harbour Shops received final approval last night, paving the way for a multi-year renovation of one of Miami-Dade County’s most high-end malls.

The renovation plans, designed by Zyscovich Architects, will add 340,387 square feet of new retail space, which nearly doubles the open-air shopping center’s current retail portion. The project also will create over $100 million in public benefits for the community and is slated to begin in late 2017. It’ll be completed in stages over the course of five to six years in an effort to minimize the construction impact.

Among the major upgrades is the first Barneys New York flagship in the southeastern United States. There also will be a new plaza at the main entrance and improvements to anchor tenant Neiman Marcus, in addition to some new dining options, such as Freds at Barneys.

“We’re thrilled to be making this major investment in the future of Bal Harbour Shops, which will solidify our longstanding place at the forefront of global luxury retail and build on the vision that my grandfather Stanley Whitman had when he first developed the Shops in the 1960s,” said Matthew Whitman Lazenby, President and CEO of Whitman Family Development, which owns and operates the center.

“As a business – and as a family – we have always believed that what’s good for the Shops is good for the Village, too, so these upgrades are also being made with the intention of benefitting the surrounding community.”

The public benefits are outlined as follows:

• Funding for a new, environmentally-sustainable, hurricane-protected Village Hall and parking garage
• Improvements to Village infrastructure
• The nearby Fairfield and SunTrust properties, totaling nearly 2 acres
• Millions of dollars for a new waterfront community park
• Funding to create a new Art in Public Places program for the Village