Plans emerge to redevelop aging South Miami mall

Midtown Development has submitted plans with the city of South Miami to redevelop a nearly empty mall into a mixed-use, transit-oriented neighborhood.

The plans filed by Midtown Development call for the redevelopment of the Shops at Sunset Place into “a vibrant mixed-use community.” Named only Sunset Place, the redevelopment would include nine towers up to 33 stories high, 1,500 apartments, 287 hotel keys, a movie theater and performing arts center, alongside 149,506 square feet of retail space and just over 50,000 square feet of offices.

Although 2,418 parking spaces are also planned, the development team is aiming to avoid the use of large “bulky” garage podiums with the use of “slim towers, clustered together to form efficient blocks, and raised on columns that allow pedestrian life to flow beneath them,” according to the documents.

The result would be “two contrasting characters” with busy pedestrian streets below and a collection of “elegant” residential towers above, according to the plan.

The project would completely revamp the mall that currently occupies the space at 5701 Sunset Drive in South Miami, a city a little over seven miles south of Miami proper.

The mall originally opened in 1999 across the street from the South Miami Metrorail station. Despite its initial success, like other malls across the country, the 523,000-square-foot shopping center has slowly lost tenants and visitors over the past decade.

While Sunset Place has struggled, more modern and walkable mixed-use destinations have seen greater success, such as the Shops at Midtown Miami, the fully leased Brickell City Centre, and the redeveloped Cocowalk, an open-air shopping mall in Coconut Grove.

Major remaining retailers still at the Shops at Sunset Place include AMC Theatres, Barnes and Noble, GameTime and LA Fitness. Approximately 277,162 square feet of space remains vacant at the mall, according to CoStar data.

London-based Heatherwick Studio is the design architect. ODP Architecture and Design is the architect of record. Civil and landscape engineering is being handled by Langan.