Walking into Aventura Mall on a Saturday might feel like sensory overload to anyone isolating in an effort to avoid catching or transmitting the coronavirus.
There are holiday decorations, open restaurants and cafés, shops with lines of customers and an all-encompassing sound of human voices echoing throughout the mall, emanating from people of all ages talking, laughing and shouting. Except for (most) people wearing masks and COVID-19 related advisory signs, visiting Aventura Mall feels like the pandemic is over, at least within the confines of its 83-acres.
Leo Diaz/Courtesy of Aventura Mall
Aventura Mall’s “Walking Figure” sculpture was created by artist Donald Baechler, whose work can also be seen in New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim.
Jackie Soffer, president and CEO of Turnberry Associates, is the principal owner of Aventura Mall. While she doesn’t know how many people have visited since it reopened on May 2, she said the crowds have been growing steadily, adding that even she was “pretty surprised” by the size and makeup of the shopping multitudes.
Shopping malls across the nation are going bankrupt or being foreclosed on, and while crowds at Aventura Mall are thinner than what they were prior to COVID-19, Soffer said they are doing just fine.
“We’re not as strong as it has been historically, but it is a pandemic,” she said. “… We have nothing to complain about.”
Located at NE 195 Street and Biscayne Boulevard in the heart of the city of Aventura, Aventura Mall is a very big place. About 2.8 million square feet, the shopping center has around 340 stores, restaurants and kiosks. It’s currently the largest shopping mall in Florida and, according to Architect Magazine, the third largest mall in the United States. It is home to five department stores, several luxury brand stores, the biggest Apple store in the state and a 24-screen AMC movie theater.
Aventura Mall was built in 1983 by the DeBartolo Realty Corporation and the founder of Turnberry Associates, Donald Soffer, Jackie Soffer’s father. It’s expanded at least three times since then. The last renovation added 315,000 square feet and is marked by a giant 93-foot-tall Carsten Hollёr art piece (pictured on the front cover of this edition) that doubles as a giant slide which, prior to the pandemic, people could actually swoop down on. Below the slide is “Gorillas in the Mist,” an art installation by twin artists Nikolai and Simon Haas consisting of water fountains shaped like gorillas and trees.
Leo Diaz/Courtesy of Aventura Mall
Gorillas in the Mist,” an art installation by twin artists Nikolai and Simon Haas, was designed, they said, to signify “the roles that certain people can play: a partner, a good friend and a child.”
The newest retail space includes the aforementioned Apple megastore, which has an amphitheater and a courtyard garden beneath a glass roof. The mall also replaced its 1980s-era food court with Treats, a modern food hall located on the addition’s third floor. Just outside the food court is an outdoor patio with seating and amusements like ping pong tables and an oversized chess set. The patio is connected to a 25,000-square-foot special event space called Level Three.
Kenitra Swift, director of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) surveillance for Kroll Bond Rating Agency, said the owners of Aventura Mall were smart to invest in entertainment and restaurant options, especially with the rise of online shopping.
“An entertainment, lifestyle component gives people a reason to visit a retail establishment, versus sitting at home and clicking a button,” she said.
But those upgrades came at a price. Aventura Mall is now $1.75 billion in debt, borrowed from four banks in June 2018 by Turnberry Associates and Simon Property Group, a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns more than 200 shopping malls across the U.S. and a 33.3% stake in Aventura Mall.
Roy Chun, managing director of CMBS surveillance for Kroll, said his company has so far rated Aventura Mall as financially stable, but that may change due to the pandemic. Landlords, he noted, are “struggling” with collecting rents from their tenants.
Courtesy of Aventura Mall
The exterior of Aventura Mall.
“Aventura Mall would not be immune to that,” he said.
But Swift, Chun’s colleague, pointed out that restaurants and bars in Aventura Mall make twice as much as other shopping malls across the nation.
“It’s one of the best performing malls in the country,” she said.
Double Whammy
When Aventura Mall boosted its mortgage to nearly $2 billion, online shopping was the primary threat to shopping malls and brick-and-motor retail. That threat has now been replaced by a virus so contagious, physicians have recommended people wear masks and avoid large crowds in enclosed spaces – like shopping malls.
The combined threats have taken their toll. CBL & Associates in Tennessee, which owns 100 malls in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in November. Within South Florida, Southland Mall in Cutler Bay is being foreclosed on while Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, owner of the Westfield Broward Mall in Plantation, is behind on its loan payments.
Chun said that the pandemic has sped up the online shopping trend. It took five years for e-commerce to grow from taking 5% of all retail sales in the U.S. annually to 11%, Chun explained, but when coronavirus shutdowns commenced in March, online sales grew to more than 16%.
Online shopping impacted Aventura Mall long before the pandemic reached the U.S. It’s blamed for the closure of Topshop and Topman, two high-end British retailers that closed after just two years at the mall, where they occupied a two-story retail structure that Aventura Mall Ventures constructed for them as part of the 2017 expansion.
This year, Soffer said several stores closed down due to the pandemic, but they’re being replaced by new stores interested in filling those spaces. Since reopening in May, she said the mall has “over 32 deals in progress” from tenants who are opening or in the process of opening.
Gio Alma
Jackie Soffer, president and CEO of Turnberry Associates, says Aventura Mall is doing remarkably well during the pandemic.
During a walk-through in mid-November, Biscayne Times spotted 11 vacant or closed stores or restaurants. Out of those 11 empty spaces, at least five of them had “Coming Soon” signs advertising a new incoming business.
One of those empty storefronts is the spacious Grand Lux Café, a subsidiary of the Cheesecake Factory chain, which has been shuttered since March 19 when the mall closed during the county’s two-month shutdown phase. Soffer said the mall has a “good relationship” with Cheesecake Factory and that a new “great restaurant” will open in Grand Lux’s vacated location.
There are some relationships that are a little bumpier. Biscayne Times found five eviction filings in the Miami-Dade court system that were filed by Aventura Mall Ventures. Of those, the international artisan jewelry store John Hardy and The Grill on the Alley are now closed. Sugar Factory, an international confectionery restaurant known for attracting celebrities with its “insane milkshakes” and “inventive cocktails,” will fill Grill on the Alley’s old space, Soffer said.
On Oct. 20, Aventura Mall also filed an eviction suit for nonpayment of rent against Aventura Equinox, a gym that, as of deadline, is still operating within a 60,000-square-foot space. Th gym is part of the Equinox chain controlled by The Related Companies, a real estate development firm headed by Miami Dolphins co-owner Stephen Ross. The Related Companies did not return an email and phone call for comment. Soffer, though, said the mall is now “working with Equinox.”
A Vibrant Town Center
In many cases, Aventura Mall has been filling vacant spaces with pop-up short-term lease stores. For example, pop-ups such as Nickelodeon’s Slime City and Beauty Hall filled the Topshop-Topman space when it was vacated. Soffer said a long-term tenant, who she can’t name, will fill the Topshop retail center in the near future.
Another example of a pop-up store is COVD-19 Essentials, which sells masks for anywhere between $10 – $129, as well as accessories and hand sanitizers. Anna Thaakur, a COVID-19 Essentials employee, said business has been so good that her boss is planning on extending the lease.
Jared parker for Biscayne Times
The COVID-19 Essentials store plans to extend its lease.
“It is a very hopping location. There are a lot of people who are coming to this mall,” she said.
Several restaurants have shut down at Aventura Mall, including Grand Lux Café and The Grill on the Alley, whose sign was recently removed.
Just who are all of those people? Certainly not the throngs of tourists who used to flock to South Florida and contribute to Aventura Mall’s success. According to a survey conducted by the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, Aventura Mall was the second most popular shopping destination for foreign tourists behind Dolphin Mall. Unfortunately, international flights to Miami International Airport are down 67% compared to last year.
Fortunately for Aventura Mall, Soffer said it has “strong local appeal” for residents as well as “snowbirds” who return here for the winter every year. The mall has also strategically cultivated families from densely populated Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach and surrounding communities for years with high-quality events that draw people to the mall to spend the day.
Part of the mall’s appeal to local residents are those special events, like piano concerts, pet adoptions, interactive shopping promotions and book sharing sessions. Many of these events have been canceled since the coronavirus hit, but not all. For example, the mall is still hosting its regular Aventura Farmers Market.
Erik Bojnansky for Biscayne Times
The Aventura Farmers Market is one of several special events Aventura Mall has continued to offer during the pandemic.
Soffer, who sees Aventura Mall as northeast Miami-Dade’s town center, is particularly proud of the Aventura Farmers Market.
“There is something about the experience, about purchasing from a person rather than a big large company. People want to come back every weekend,” she said.
Trouble May be On the Horizon
As bad as things might be for retail around the nation in general, there are predictions of worse things to come. A top analyst for real estate firm Green Street told the Tampa Bay Business Journal in July that even the top-rated malls in the nation will be collecting 20% less rent in two to three years. And Mark Cohen, a former CEO of Sears Canada, told CNBC in September that “the mall-based department store is in its last stages.”
Erik Bojnansky for Biscayne Times
A closed store with a posted “Coming Soon” sign.
Soffer scoffed at “this whole dialogue that retail is problematic.” Some department stores may fold and the concept will change, but they won’t go away, she opined. As for shopping centers, Soffer said their success or failure depends on how they’re run and where they’re located. She noted that she’s not only getting approached by tenants interested in moving into Aventura Mall, but also at Solé Mia, a 184-acre project Turnberry is co-developing with New York developer Richard LeFrak at 15055 Biscayne Blvd. in North Miami, just three miles south of Aventura Mall.
Hue Chen, president of Saglo Development, said retail in the Sunshine State has generally fared OK.
“There is a lot less fallout for Florida shopping centers because the shutdown was not as harsh or strict as it was in other states,” he said.
In Miami-Dade in particular, many properties are actually selling at higher prices than before the pandemic. That’s because the Greater Miami area continues to attract investors, Chen said. Plus, financial institutions have allowed landlords to be more flexible with their tenants. Retail rents in general have remained more or less the same, he added, but not everywhere.
“The only areas in Miami-Dade where rents have gone down is South Beach and maybe Brickell,” he said.
Retail is struggling in Brickell because many of the downtown area office buildings are empty, thanks to office dwellers now working from home, Chen explained. In the case of South Beach, rents have dropped because tourism has plummeted.
The amount charged for rent in Aventura Mall varies from tenant to tenant but averages $122 per square foot, said Swift. In comparison, the average retail rent in the City of Aventura, where the mall is located, is $43.38 a square foot, while retail in the northeast Miami-Dade region averages $22.94 a square foot, according to a recent retail report from Colliers International.
Competition is another factor that Aventura Mall may soon have to contend with. Several large retail projects were in various stages of development pre-pandemic which, if they come to fruition, will be looking to lure the same shoppers.
The Public Safety Implications of COVID-19
Expansions, online shopping and competition aside, foot traffic is currently tied to public safety.
Within Aventura Mall, there are plenty of signs advising people to wear masks and to social distance. Hand sanitizer is available everywhere and most shoppers are wearing masks, although Biscayne Times did spot a few people entering without them and some wandering the mall with masks under their noses. A few others wore them as chin guards or took them off to shout for their companions. Also, when dining or drinking or trying samples, visitors kept their masks off.
Erik Bojnansky for Biscayne Times Courtesy of Aventura Mall.
Signage encourages shoppers and staff to stay safe and healthy.
Mary Jo Trepka, chairwoman of the department of epidemiology at Florida International University, opined that “doing anything indoors with a lot of people is risky” given “the large number of people being diagnosed with COVID-19 each day in the county.” Trepka also emphasized that if a mask is “not covering the mouth and nose completely, you are essentially not wearing a mask.”
Bottom line, she said, is that “people should not be congregating indoors with other people. The safest place to be is outdoors, more than 6 feet away from other people.”
Soffer, as well as Aventura Mall’s public relations team, insisted that the mall is safe.
“At Aventura Mall, the reopening plan has been oriented around following all federal, state and city safety guidance, as well as communicating consistently with consumers and tenants about protocols designed to keep them safe,” an Aventura Mall spokesman stated in an email to Biscayne Times.
“I think people feel very comfortable [visiting Aventura Mall]. And people have been very cooperative. They are wearing masks. People are taking it seriously here,” Soffer said.
If anything, she conveyed, the pandemic has proved one thing: People want to get out, and they won’t just be satisfied with staying at home and doing their shopping online. They want to go out and get the retail experience, she said.
Every mall in America is certainly banking on that sentiment as the holiday season kicks in.
But what if there’s another shutdown, just as there was in March? Soffer said she’s ready, but is also optimistic.
“We have had three vaccine announcements in the past couple of weeks,” Soffer declared. “So, we might have a rough six months or so, but I’m in this for the long run.
In the short run, we might have some problems. But we have weathered … the storm. The outlook is not as scary.”