Jan 19, 2006

Citi Centre in Pompano Beach & Lighthouse Point

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

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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Jan 18, 2006

Broward plans redevelopment conference

From the South Florida Business Journal

Here’s the link:

Broward plans redevelopment conference

Citing the need to fuel "good growth" in Broward County, myriad groups are to take part in a senior-level conference that focuses on managing the challenges and opportunities of redevelopment.

The group of elected officials, economic development and government planning professionals, private developers, business leaders and local residents are to attend "Redevelopment in Broward County - Successful Collaboration Between Developers & Government."

The program, presented by the Broward Alliance, is to be from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Jan. 25, on the campus of Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

The half-day event was originally scheduled for October, but postponed due to Hurricane Wilma.

"Lack of public education about redevelopment results in misunderstanding and lack of support for projects that can enhance our economy and quality of life," said Ron Drew, director of business development for the Broward Alliance. "This event will educate and enlighten everyone about how we can all work effectively to make redevelopment a force for positive change that best benefits all of Broward County."

Scheduled topics and speakers include:

"Redevelopment: Issues and Options for 21st Century Broward" - Frank Schnidman (Florida Atlantic University)
"Best Redevelopment Practices - A Global View" - Elizabeth Seifel (Seifel Consulting)
"The Housing Component in Broward" - James Carras (Broward Housing Partnership)
"The Potential of Redevelopment" (panel discussion) - Moderator: James F. Murley (Florida Atlantic University); Panelists: J. Gary Rogers (city of Lauderdale Lakes), Charles Siemon (Siemon & Larsen), Norman Taylor (Broward County Office of Economic Development)

The conference is also to include a showcase of current and planned projects from cities and developers and distribution of a redevelopment toolkit containing information, guidelines and resources in Broward County.

Some attendees are also eligible to earn continuing education units during the event.

Registration is to take place at NSU's Carl DeSantis Building before attendees move to the Miniaci Performing Arts Center for the program.

The conference cost, which includes lunch and a cocktail reception, is $65 for Broward Alliance investors and $75 for guests. The alliance said it recommends reservations because space is limited.

South Florida Lifestyle Representatives:

Rory Vanucchi 754.246.7758
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Carole Riser 954.695.3416

Boomer Migration Trends

This post was taken from Luxury Sarasota Living

Here's the link to the article: Boomer Boom

The oldest of the nation's 78 million baby boomers, those born in 1946, will turn 65 in 2011. The youngest, those born in 1964, turn 65 in 2029. Based on current population trends, more than 200 baby boomers will move to Florida every day during the boomer retirement years, beginning in 2011 and continuing thru 2029.

Experts on retirement trends say sharp increases in the state's housing costs and the busy hurricane seasons of the past two years have done little to diminish interest in the Sunshine State as a retirement destination.

Sarasota area builders and developers, are convinced that millions of baby boomers will retire to Florida during the next two decades, insulating the state from any downturns in the nation's housing market.

On roughly the same note, United Van Lines recently released its 29th annual “migration” study that tracks where its customers, over the last 12 months, moved from and the most popular destinations. While the mountain Western states showed the most inbound popularity, with Oregon (63.6%) continuing its 18-year, high-inbound trend and having the highest inbound migration of all states in the study, Florida (54.2%) has been inbound since the survey commenced but this year marked the lowest number of relocations to the state since 2000.

Builders bet on boomer boom [Sarasota Herald Tribune]
United Van Lines Releases 2005 Migration Study [United Van Lines]

South Florida Lifestyle Representatives:

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local scene - whole foods market

source: the matrix

link to the article

Lisa Chamberlain, in her article A Destination for Serious Eating [NYT] expounds “Although it has always had a few well-known specialty stores, downtown Manhattan has seemingly overnight become a mecca for food shopping.” There are a variety of specialty food stores, a niche seemingly ignored by the chain supermarkets, that have been moving into metropolitan markets, namely the emerging downtown areas.

In four years after entering Manhattan, Whole Foods, the Austin based specialty food chain, has become the stamp of authenticity, a happening, that a residential neighborhood or new development “has arrived” [REJ]. Stores in Chelsea and Union Square made that statement. The new Time Warner development at Columbus Circle gave credibility to one of the few “malls” in the borough as an anchor tenant. Rumors of new locations provoke speculation [Curbed].

The same interest goes for Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC [DC Bubble] and others. In fact, its become part of the grocery vocabulary [Centerstage] implying a category or type of foods.

Why?

Over the past 7 years, the housing boom and aging baby boomers have helped revitalize many downtown urban areas [Matrix] throughout the US. Many US retailers have stayed away from these markets because the required space was large and not especially cost effective. However, now that the demographics and economics are changing, retailers are starting to get it.

South Florida Lifestyle Representatives:

Rory Vanucchi 754.246.7758
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Jan 17, 2006

goldilock's economy? - january 2006

new urbanization or downtown trends

article posted by Jonathan J. Miller in the Matrix website

Eugene L. Birch of the Brookings Institution just completed an analysis of population, household and income trends in downtown areas from 1970 to 2000 called Who Lives Downtown

Download full the report [pdf]

The study was based on 44 different cities whose results vary widely but show these trends:

During the 1990s, downtown population grew by 10 percent, a marked resurgence following 20 years of overall decline.
From 1970 to 2000, the number of downtown households increased 8 percent—13 percent in the 1990s alone—and their composition shifted.
Downtown homeownership rates more than doubled during the thirty-year period, reaching 22 percent by 2000.
Downtowns are more racially and ethnically diverse than 20 years ago.
In general, downtowns boast a higher percentage of both young adults and college-educated residents than the nation’s cities and suburbs.
Downtowns are home to some of the most and least affluent households of their cities and regions.

The results, if based on the past five years would likely show a more pronounced shift toward urban revitalization.

link to the full article

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South Florida Lifestyle Representatives:

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Jan 16, 2006

local scene - Florida sea turtles

Defending Sea Turtles in Florida

Did you know that nearly 90 percent of sea turtle nesting in the continental U.S. occurs on Florida’s beaches? Or that five of the world’s seven species of sea turtles are found here? Although sea turtles are impressive swimmers, crisscrossing oceans during different stages of their life cycles, they haven’t been able to avoid many threats posed by people. These threats include fishing, poaching, pollution, habitat destruction and disturbance of nesting beaches. Defenders is working to help sea turtles in Florida by raising awareness of the animals’ plight, supporting citizens’ lawsuits to protect nesting habitat and shaping coastal policies in the state legislature.

link to full article

source: defenders of wildlife

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area happenings: local scene and happenings

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our daily updates: waterfrontlife blog page

contact information: waterfront life representative

South Florida Lifestyle Representatives:

Rory Vanucchi 754.246.7758
Jean Whitson 954.494.4636
Suzanne Wright 954.328.0594
Carole Riser 954.695.3416