Citi Centre in Pompano Beach & Lighthouse Point

A post from the Sun-Sentinal talks of the makeover for the Pompano Square Mall.

Here’s the link: Read Full Story.

Dying Pompano Fashion Square gets new life as Citi Centre

By Jean-Paul Renaud
Staff Writer
Posted January 17 2006

Pompano Beach· During its grand opening 35 years ago, the Pompano Fashion Square mall was reported to be the second largest in the country. It was said that no other mall in the world had so many major department stores -- Sears, Burdines, J.C. Penney -- under one roof.

It was the reflection of a city at its pinnacle. But that moment has long since faded.

For the following three decades, shoplifters, sex offenders -- even rats -- plagued the shopping center at Federal Highway and Copans Road. Tired and worn out, Pompano Beach's shining achievement again became a reflection -- this time of a city that had lost its luster.

Now the mall, much like the city, is trying to reinvent itself. New façades, new stores, even a new name -- Pompano Citi Centre -- hope to bring shoppers back to Pompano Beach.

"It's coming up nice," said Carmen Irzquierdo as she strolled down one of the mall's open-air walkways. "In this area, there's really no nice place to go shopping."

It was the Hollywood resident's lunch break and her first time at the new mall. She said before Citi Centre stores began opening about two months ago, the only place to go for a lunch break was Taco Bell.

"This place is going to be jammed," she said.

The mall stayed open as different sections were razed for more than a year and then rebuilt. Slowly, stores began migrating from their old spaces to their newly built ones. Major department stores -- Lowe's, J.C. Penney, Macy's, Ross and Sears -- have already opened, along with 12 smaller shops.

The open courtyards and grand staircases will host an additional 25 shops by the end of 2006, including Office Depot and Linens `n' Things.

"It is an extraordinary piece of real estate," said Ken McCoy, managing director for Faison and Associates, which is developing the project. "The fellow that developed this first off recognized that. Pumping new life into it, remaking it, if we didn't do it, someone else would have."

In 1968, developer Leonard L. Farber set his sights on a 60-acre swath of land near Pompano Airpark. For the next two years, he pumped $25 million into building an almost 870,000-square-foot super mall -- with 74 stores -- in the heart of one of Broward County's largest cities.

But booming development in western Broward stunted Pompano Beach's growth, as well as its super mall.

Now, with almost 250,000 people living within 5 miles of the mall, this facelift may breathe new life into these once-dilapidated stores.

"Knowing what I know about locations, there's nothing between The Galleria and the Boca Raton Town Center except this mall," said Maureen Berk, whose Hallmark store was the first to open in the new Citi Centre. "There's a lot of building happening in Pompano, and putting all that together, this is going to be a good mall."

Jean-Paul Renaud can be reached at jprenaud@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4556.

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