163rd STREET CENTER
Northeast 163rd Street and Northeast 15th Avenue
Dade County, Florida
Greater Miami's first shopping mall was built by New York City-based Food Fair Properties. The company, a retail development subsidiary of Philadelphia's Food Fair supermarket chain, was formed in 1955. Their first endeavor was 163rd STREET CENTER.
The complex was developed on a 55-acre parcel, located 9 miles north of center city Miami. The site, within unincorporated Dade County, was adjacent to the suburb of North Miami Beach. Originally encompassing 525,000 leasable square feet, 163rd STREET CENTER was designed by Fort Lauderdale's Gamble, Pownall & Gilroy firm and Raymond Loewy & Associates, of New York City.
At its grand opening, held on November 1, 1956, the complex housed forty-eight stores and services. Festivities included a pageant saluting Latin American nations and the "Dominion of Canada," with 5,000 invited guests. Dr. Kurt Peisner (President of 163rd Street Center) presided over the dedication ceremony. Entertainment was provided by Caesar LaMonaca and His Bayfront Park Orchestra. Two local Boy Scouts opened a large replica of the Liberty Bell, from which Mrs. Nadeen Kirkland, theme girl of 163rd Street Center, emerged.
The primary anchor of the 15 million dollar shopping complex was a 3-level (130,700 square foot), Miami-based Burdine's ["bur-diynz"]. The chain's fifth branch, the 163rd STREET store followed locations in Downtown Miami (1898), Miami Beach (1928), West Palm Beach (1941) and Fort Lauderdale (1947).
Charter 163rd STREET CENTER tenants included Walgreen Drug, M & M Cafeteria, a (32,200 square foot) Food Fair supermarket, 2-level (35,400 square foot) F. W. Woolworth 5 & 10 and 2-level (54,100 square foot) J.C. Penney. A 2-level (120,000 square foot), Miami-based Richards department store was dedicated on April 12, 1957.
The shopping facility was situated on a main retail level, with the larger stores having basements. Its exterior design incorporated what came to be known as "
MiMo" ("my-mow"), or
Miami 1950s Modern architecture. A large open
Mall Plaza in front of Burdine's served as the main entrance to the shopping venue. By the late 1950s, this area had become a mini-amusement park, with six kiddie rides. Included were a merry-go-round and sky-copter that lifted riders high in the air as they pulled back on a lever.
A mini-train track (with tunnel) surrounded the kiddie ride area. Urban legends circulated around Dade County, telling of shoppers who had been hit by the choo-choo at 163rd STREET CENTER. These stories were never substantiated. By the early 1960s, the mall also had a go-kart track in its northeast parking lot. This attraction was destroyed by Hurricane Cleo in August of 1964 and was never rebuilt.
The Wometco (Wolfson Meyers Theatres Company)
163rd Street Theatre showed its first feature on September 23, 1960. The single-screen venue was built as part of a freestanding strip complex. This housed Duke's Restaurant, an S & H Green Stamps Redemption Center and Harmony Music Shop (which had relocated from within the mall proper). The
163rd Street Patio Theatre, also a single-screen house, was added to the back of the original cinema and opened on October 29, 1970. The
163rd Street Theatre was twinned in the early 1980s, with the three auditoriums promoted, henceforth, as the
Wometco Theatres.
Major shopping centers in the 163rd STREET CENTER trade area included NORTHSIDE CENTER (1960) {6.9 miles southwest, in Dade County} and SKYLAKE MALL (1969) {2.4 miles northwest, also in Dade County}.
163rd STREET CENTER was expanded in the 1960s. A third floor was added to Richards in 1965, with the store encompassing 180,000 square feet. A 2-level addition was also built on the north side of Burdine's, with a third floor extended over the store. It now encompassed over 200,000 square feet. A parking garage was included in the late '60s Burdine's expansion.
The northeast corner of the mall was reconfigured in the early 1970s. Food Fair relocated to a new (31,200 square foot) store. A 4-level (244,000 square foot), Miami-based Jordan Marsh Florida was constructed on a portion of the old supermarket site. This store, which included a parking garage on its east side, held its grand opening on February 15, 1971. By this time, the existing Woolworth 5 & 10 had been enlarged into a 60,400 square foot store. Richards was expanded with a south side addition and west side parking garage. This store now housed approximately 222,200 square feet.
Food Fair Properties, who had built 163rd STREET CENTER, created a subsidiary known as Amterre Development, Incorporated. They sold the mall to Canada's Nu-West Development, Limited in October 1978. Nu-West re-sold the complex in April 1981; its new owner being New York City's Equitable Property & Development Company. A large-scale mall renovation had been announced in February 1980.
The 40 million dollar renovation got underway in September 1981. Richards, which had closed in January 1980, was sectioned into a 3-level mall-within-a-mall. The 12-bay Grandstands Food Court was installed on its top floor. Original eateries included Upstairs Chinatown, The Yogurt Garden, Potatoes Etc., All American Hero, Orange Julius, Benihana's Teri Yaki U.S.A. and Chick Gourmet.
A Teflon-coated fiberglass enclosure, measuring 60 feet by 1,000 feet, was fitted over the main shopping concourse. Locals would refer to it as The Dome. As part of the mall refurbishment, open areas were filled with new retail spaces. Now encompassing approximately 1.2 million leasable square feet and 145 stores, the revitalized retail hub was dedicated on November 9, 1982. Its name had been changed to MALL AT 163rd STREET.
Within months, the complex would encounter a formidable rival. AVENTURA MALL {3 miles northeast, in Dade County} opened in April 1983. It wasn't long before effects were being felt at MALL AT 163rd STREET. AVENTURA snatched the 26-year-old J.C. Penney.
Pantry Pride was shuttered in September 1983, with its space re-opening as a Service Merchandise. The main level of the old Penney's space was divided among six inline tenants. The basement floor became a Texas-based Oshman's Sporting Goods. In January 1990, The Grandstands Food Court was shuttered. Massachusetts-based Marshalls opened a (40,000 square foot) store in the vacated area in November 1990. A smaller culinary complex was dedicated, on the second level of the old Richards, in June 1991.
Jordan Marsh closed for good September 30, 1991. Mervyn's, occupying the first 2 levels of that store, held its grand opening on June 7, 1992. Mervyn's closed in 1995. Woolworth, a charter tenant, went dark in July 1997. Burdines shut down on July 31, 1999, with a new store officially opening the following day at AVENTURA MALL.
Meanwhile, the cinema and
Theatre Mall Stores complex at MALL AT 163rd STREET had been demolished. A 1-level (117,700 square foot) Home Depot opened, as a freestanding structure, on January 5, 1995. Inside the mall, new Radio Shack, Plumb Gold, Snack Shack and Foot Action Superstore locations began business in March 1995.
A joint venture of the Toronto Dominion Bank and Chase Manhattan Bank had owned MALL AT 163rd STREET for a number of years. In March 1999, they sold the property to a partnership of New York City's New Excel Realty Trust and Phoenix, Arizona's Wilton Partners.
MALL AT 163rd STREET had been in varying stages of decline since the late 1980s. A second reworking of the center got underway in mid-2004. One-third of the mall, and the north and east parking garages, were razed. A 26 million dollar refit was done to the remaining mall, which included replacement of elevators, a new escalator, an exterior face lift and the construction of two mall entrances.
The northern section of the vacant Burdines building was torn down, returning the structure to its original 1956 footprint. A 1-level (30,500 square foot) Ross Dress For Less went into the second (or ground) floor in August 2005. Steve & Barry's University Sportswear would briefly inhabit the third.
New tenants in other sections of the mall included an (11,900 square foot) Anna's Linens and (19,200 square foot) Office Depot. These welcomed first shoppers in August 2005. A 1-level (216,000 square foot) Wal-Mart SuperCenter, built in the northeast parking lot, opened on September 14 of the same year.
MALL AT 163rd STREET was now a hybrid enclosed mall-power center with approximately 706,900 leasable square feet and seventy-one store spaces. The complex was acquired by Australia's Centro Property Group in April 2007. In June 2011, the United States holdings of Centro were sold to New York City-based Blackstone Real Estate Partners. They formed a new management entity, known as the Brixmor Property Group, in September.
Sources:
The Miami News
The Miami Daily News
The Miami Herald
The Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Food Fair Stores, Incorporated Annual Reports 1956 and 1969
City Stores Company Annual Report 1956
Impressions of Ed Morgan, Miami-Dade resident, 1957-2006
http://nreionline.com / National Real Estate Investor
www.bizjournals.com
www.cinematreasures.org
New Wal-Mart Now Completed - Mall At 163rd Street Getting Extreme Makeover" Article / March 22, 2006 / http://www.citynmb.com
T & G Contractors
BLACK & WHITE PHOTOS:
From the Gottscho-Schleisner Collection / Repository: United States Library Of Congress Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C. / Taken by Gottscho-Schleisner, Inc., January 1957 / Photographs are in the public domain: no known restrictions on publication / www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
