Bal Harbour Shops is an upscale, open-air shopping mall in Bal Harbour, a wealthy suburb of Miami Beach, Florida, known internationally for its luxury retail. Bal Harbour Shops is owned by the Whitman family and is one of the few remaining family-owned malls in the nation. There is a waiting list at the shopping center which has operated at 100% occupancy for several decades. Demand for additional space by many existing retailers continues to grow with numerous luxury brands, including Salvatore Ferragamo, Valentino, Balenciaga, The Webster and Moncler expanding their presence in 2015 and 2016 .
New stores opening in 2016 and 2017 include: 3.1 Phillip Lim, Aquazzura, Gianvito Rossi, Rolex by Tourneau and Zimmermann.
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History
Stanley Whitman visualized the conceptual plan for the open-air shopping center on the site of a former United States Army barracks and World War II prisoner of war camp. He abandoned the conventional enclosed air-conditioned mall concept, firing architect Victor Gruen, and hiring the South Florida architectural firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates. Whitman purchased the land in 1957 for $2 per square foot, which was a record price to pay for retail property, more than 20 times what was being paid at the time.
Bal Harbour Shops officially opened in 1965 with 30 upscale, mostly New York-based retailers including, FAO Schwarz and Abercrombie & Fitch. In 1971, Neiman Marcus opened its first specialty department store outside of Texas at Bal Harbour Shops. In 1976, Saks joined Neiman Marcus and it was the first time any center had both major retailers in one location.
When Gucci opened in 1977, Bal Harbour Shops was its first retail location in a shopping center and its 5th in the U.S. After that, an influx of major brands opened their first mall stores including Cartier, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Harry Winston.
Bal Harbour Shops has ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for decades in productivity based on sales per square foot. It recently ranked No. 1 in the world, according to the September 2012 cover story in the International Council of Shopping Center's Shopping Centers Today magazine. With just two exceptions (following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and the recession of 2008), sales at Bal Harbour Shops have increased every single year since its opening in 1965. For the year ended 2013, sales per square foot hit a record high of $3,010.
Bal Harbour Shops Miami Beach Video
Future
Bal Harbour Shops is planning to add 340,000 square feet . To accomplish that, in 2012, the Whitman family struck a land swap deal with Church by the Sea. In exchange, Bal Harbour Shops will build a 60,000-square-foot church on land purchased for them, by Bal Harbour Shops .
In January 2013, Bal Harbour Shops announced an equity partnership with Swire Properties to jointly develop the 500,000-square-foot retail component of Brickell CityCentre in downtown Miami. Bal Harbour will contribute equity, brand recognition and its luxury retail expertise to the project.
A 340,000 square-foot expansion of the Bal Harbour Shops, in the works for more than a decade, won final approval from the Bal Harbour Village Council in May 2017 . The expansion will focus on major retail and dining upgrades to the lushly-landscaped, open-air shopping center, which sits just across from the Atlantic Ocean. The upgraded center is anticipated to feature the first Barneys New York flagship store in the southeastern U.S., major upgrades to longtime anchor tenant Neiman Marcus and new dining options, including Freds at Barneys .
The Shops enhancement plan will build on its fifty-year legacy of community investment by providing funding for a new, environmentally-sustainable, hurricane-protected Village Hall and parking garage, improvements to Village infrastructure, donating the land to 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, and millions of dollars in new annual tax revenue that will help sustain the Village for years to come .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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