South Miami leaders recently approved major plans to renovate its “creepy” empty downtown to bring life back to the once vibrant area.
The Shops at Sunset Place shopping center, with many shuttered storefronts, will be torn down and replaced by sleek mixed-use towers.
A $309 million investment will go toward redeveloping South Miami’s mold-infested City Hall and police station.
Both projects aim to make the area more walkable, welcoming and attractive to residents, according to city officials. They will also provide much-needed residential space.
The Shops at Sunset Place used to be a booming shopping center, but locals say it has become an empty, eerie building.
Development plans to renovate City Hall and the police station include transforming the area into modern residential, commercial and public spaces for the community.
The shops on Sunset Place have been empty and are “creepy,” as one South Miami resident described them.
One resident described the mall as “a little creepy,” The Miami Herald reported.
South Miami is Miami’s suburban sister and is home to about 12,000 people. The city spans 2.5 square miles and is located about three miles south of Miami.
It is known as the “City of Pleasant Living” for its charming atmosphere and family-oriented design.
But downtown South Miami has been in decline for decades. The shops of Sunset Place were the main attraction in the area.
In 2009, someone left a glowing review on Yelp about the mall, which opened in 1999.
Someone wrote: ‘I love this place. It’s small but with a good selection of stores like Forever 21, American Eagle, Urban Outfitters.
“To me this is like the perfect little retreat from the city.”
But in 2012 someone said, “It looks like this mall is officially dying, as a large portion of it is now marketed as office space.”
In 2019, another review revealed the difficult state of Sunset Place.
He says, ‘I’m not sure what’s going on with this mall! It used to be so much fun and full of open shops, but now it’s like a ghost town!’
Heatherwick Studios laid out plans to redesign Sunset Place into a mixed-use complex
But the city has planned to restore the site to its former glory.
Seven buildings, between 12 and 33 stories tall, will fill the 10-acre property.
There will be 1,513 apartments, shops, offices, a 1,300-seat theater and a 287-room hotel, according to the The Miami Herald. The new development will be called simply Sunset Place.
South Miami Mayor Javier Fernández said: ‘We need an evolution, not a revolution.
‘Nothing we are doing is a new topic under the sun. What is missing is people in the district. “We have to let the downtown evolve and grow with more residential.”
London-based architectural design firm Heatherwick Studio has been chosen to lead the project with Midtown Opportunities, the developer that purchased the property in 2021.
The Sunset Place stores opened in 1999, but have been virtually empty for years as previous redevelopment plans fell through.
This will be the first project in the United States.
Heatherwick Studio founder Thomas Heatherwick said in a statement: “As people are social beings, drawn to places where other people gather, our idea is to get rid of the sterile atmosphere of the former shopping center and reclaim the streets.”
“Influenced by the human scale and charm of Sunset Drive, the plan is to extend the existing street network into the site to create continuous routes and a village of smaller, more intimate urban spaces, framed in an extraordinary way by the apartments above “.
However, this was a controversial decision because some residents were concerned about the traffic this complex would cause.
In 2017, similar plans were in the works for Sunset Place, but were squashed by disapproving citizens and politicians.
Then-Mayor Philip Stoddard gave his seal of approval to the project, but then-Commissioner Walter Harris was one of the people not on board.
He The Miami Herald reported that Harris told the developers that he liked the idea, but that he thought it would “open the door to extreme development the likes of which had never been seen before in South Miami.”
The Link at SoMi (pictured) is a $309 million project led by 13th Floor Investments and Corwil Architects
Other critics of the original plan said the people who supported the plan did not represent the masses of South Miami.
But the ongoing renovation of downtown has caught the attention of residents and business owners.
A business owner in South Miami said local10: ‘I think it’s a great benefit to the community. I feel like South Miami has been relatively dead for a while.
“Since we’re bringing a whole new concept to the area, I think Sunset will ultimately be, or South Miami will be, an attractive place to come.”
While blocking the first round of development plans, the mall’s previous owners sold it at a $45 million loss.
That’s when Midtown Opportunities stepped in and purchased the property for $65.5 million, according to The Real Deal Real Estate News.
Mayor Javier Fernández said getting rid of the outdated shopping center (pictured) will allow “the city center to evolve and grow.”
“They were crazy,” Stoddard said, according to the Miami Herald, of the commission that voted against the development in 2017.
‘We have a lovely centre. But we have a basic problem. And we don’t have enough boots and purses on the street,” he added.
The second plan, to repair the city’s aging facilities, has been under discussion for nearly a decade, the Miami Herald reported.
Developer 13th Floor Investments and Corwil Architects are spearheading this project. Not only are they redoing the police department and City Hall building, but they also want to add a public library to the mix.
Called Link in SoMi, the developer also added an apartment building to the plan, which will be between 15 and 18 stories tall.
There will be 670 apartments, a new municipal building and 28,000 square feet of commercial space.
The Sylvia Martin Building, built in the 1930s, used to be a level community center. It has now been converted into offices.
The Link at SoMi (pictured) will be designed to showcase a renovated City Hall building
However, it will again be a community gathering space, possibly including a cafe, and will serve as the focal point of what the developers have described as “an urban village.”
CEO Arnaud Karsenti of 13th Floor Investments told the Miami Herald: ‘We thought, why don’t we celebrate South Miami Town Hall instead of hiding it?
‘It can be a beacon for South Miami instead of an eyesore. And let’s also show the historic building.”
Of the 670 apartments, 67 will be reserved for ‘workforce housing,’ meaning they are for people earning 120 percent of the county median income.
Karsenti told the outlet: “Projects like this provide a real alternative to living in this area if you can’t afford a multimillion-dollar home.”
These plans are subject to change.
The exterior of the Shops at Sunset Place (pictured), which used to be a staple of downtown South Miami.
Strong reactions were generated from the community, especially over the Sunset Place plans.
Someone wrote on Reddit: ‘Not sure how I feel about the new design. I grew up going to Sunset when I was in high school and going to the Vans store to skate on the ramp. But I hate to see the empty shell he has become now.
‘That intersection is already a giant dead end. “I can only imagine the impact on traffic that adding 1,000+ apartments will cause,” another person said, echoing traffic concerns from last time.
Others were optimistic: ‘I hope they build it. Much more residential is needed here to meet demand. It’s also a good place to do it, near a train stop.