North Federal Highway / US 1 and Northeast 2nd Street
Boca Raton, Florida
Like Chicagoland's DIXIE SQUARE MALL, Palm Beach County's BOCA RATON MALL experienced a rapid rise and decline. The shopping center was in business for only 14 years. As brief as its time turned out to be, the actual implementation of BOCA RATON MALL was a long and drawn-out process. Initially proposed in 1969, the prospective plaza was to encounter several delays and hurdles before its construction finally got underway, in September 1973.
Built on a 31-acre site in the center city of Boca Raton, the mall was developed by Trenton, New Jersey's S.P.A. (Smathers, Plapinger & Aronowitz) Properties. Miami's Lloyd Frank Vann designed the fully-enclosed structure, which consisted of a single level of retail and approximately 405,300 leasable square feet of store space.
A rooftop parking deck was connected with the shopping concourse below via glass-enclosed elevator. An anchor store stood at each end of the dumbell plan center. There was a 2-level (125,000 square foot), Miami-based Jefferson Store on the north and 2-level (100,000 square foot), New York City-based Britts on the south. The upper levels of both anchor stores had entrances on the rooftop deck.
Britts became the first operational store on November 4, 1974. The dedication of the Jefferson Store was held November 14th. A mall-wide grand opening took place November 29th, when twenty-five inline stores opened for business. The 16 million dollar center was to eventually house over seventy.
Mall tenants in 1975 included Walgreen Drug (with Walgreen Grill), GNC, Thom McAn Shoes, Rock of Ages Records and Florida's thirteenth Orange Bowl snack bar. The American Multi-Cinema Boca Mall Six, an in-mall venue, made its debut on August 29, 1975.
The completion of TOWN CENTER AT BOCA RATON {2.6 miles northwest}, in 1980, was the harbinger of doom for BOCA RATON MALL. The shuttering of Britts, in January 1982, hastened the steady decline of the shopping venue.
Jefferson Stores had been acquired by Montgomery Ward in January 1973. A division, known as Jefferson Ward, was created. Jefferson Stores began operating under the Jefferson Ward division, although a bona fide Jefferson Ward nameplate would not appear in print ads until late 1982. A going out of business sale began at the Boca Raton store on August 29, 1985. It re-opened, as a 1-level Montgomery Ward Clearance Outlet, on November 1, 1985. This was shuttered on May 24, 1986.
By this time, the struggling shopping center was being promoted as simply BOCA MALL. Its rooftop parking deck was closed off. The empty Britts building was leased as a Levitz Furniture Showroom, which opened in November 1985.
In March 1988, a redevelopment plan for the moribund mall was announced. The complex would be completely demolished and replaced by MIZNER PARK, a mixed-use "village within a city." In June 1988, Boca Raton's Tom Crocker (of Crocker & Company) acquired the virtually vacant property and formed a joint venture with the Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency.
This plan was bitterly contested by a group known as the Boca Raton Mall Preservation Association. In the end, the Redevelopment Agency prevailed. The Boca Mall Six showed its final features in November 1988. The last operational stores went dark in May 1989. The mall was demolished between August and October.
The first phase of the 60 million dollar MIZNER PARK project was dedicated during a weekend-long celebration, which got underway on January 11, 1990. MIZNER PARK was named in honor of renowned South Florida architect Addison Mizner.
Open-air in format, MIZNER PARK featured 236,000 square feet of retail, 165,000 square feet of office space and 136 residential units. Charter tenants included Altair Jewelers, Dillan Isle men's wear, Jordan Shoes, Midnight Sahara ladies' wear, VIP St. Tropez ladies' wear and the Bistro L'Europe, Baci and L & N Seafood restaurants.
American Multi-Cinema's Mizner Park 8 megaplex was dedicated on December 12, 1990. The venue was shuttered in January 2011. It was renovated into the state-of-the-art Ipic Theatres Boca Raton, which showed its first features on May 4, 2012.
Meanwhile, Maryland's James Rouse Company acquired the MIZNER PARK property in December 2003. As a result of the November 2004 merger of the Rouse Company and Chicago's General Growth Properties, MIZNER PARK became a GGP holding. Brookfield Property Partners, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, acquired a share of General Growth Properties in 2016. In August 2018, Brookfield established 100 percent ownership of the corporation. Hence, MIZNER PARK became part of the Brookfield retail center portfolio.
Sources:
The Miami Herald
The Palm Beach Post
The Fort Lauderdale News
The Boca Raton News (Boca Raton, Florida)
www.groceteria.com
The Boca Raton News (Boca Raton, Florida)
www.groceteria.com
http://nreionline.com
"Mizner Park" article on Wikipedia
"Mizner Park" article on Wikipedia
