POMPANO FASHION SQUARE
North Federal Highway / US 1 and Copans Road
Pompano Beach, Florida
By the late 1960s, Broward County, Florida hosted three fully-enclosed shopping hubs; CORAL RIDGE SHOPPING PLAZA (1962), HOLLYWOOD MALL (1964) and LAUDERHILL MALL (1966). Ground was broken for a fourth interior mall on August 1, 1968.
POMPANO FASHION SQUARE was developed by the Hartsdale, New York-based Leonard L. Farber Company. They moved their home office to Pompano Beach as the mall was being built. The 25 million dollar complex was situated on a 60-acre tract, located 1.7 miles northeast of downtown Pompano Beach. The site incorporated land from the World War II-era Pompano Beach Air Park.
Promoted as "the Gold Coast's newest multi-million dollar enclosed mall," the shopping hub encompassed 870,000 leasable square feet and 119 stores and services. A 2-level (152,000 square foot), Miami-based Burdine's opened for business on November 3, 1969. An official mall dedication was held on January 14, 1970.
In addition to Burdine's, POMPANO FASHION SQUARE was anchored by a 2-level (164,000 square foot) J.C. Penney, 2-level (160,000 square foot) Sears and 1-level (84,000 square foot), Miami-based Jordan Marsh Florida. Predominantly a single-level structure, the mall featured a rooftop parking deck and upper level mezzanine, Charter inline stores included Morrison's Cafeteria, The Barefoot Mailman Gifts, Gray Drug, Haber's Fashions, Baron's men's wear, Chess King apparel and an F.W. Woolworth 5 & 10.
There was never a motion picture theater in the mall proper, or in its parking area. However, a multiplex was built on a pad north of the mall. The United Artists The Movies At Pompano 1-2-3-4-5-6 opened for business on May 26, 1978. This theater was demolished and replaced by the Muvico Pompano 18, which made its debut on September 18, 1998.
POMPANO FASHION SQUARE did not have a true retail rival until the completion of TOWN CENTER AT BOCA RATON {7.5 miles northwest} in 1980. This was followed by GALLERIA FORT LAUDERDALE {8.3 miles south}, also in 1980, and CORAL SQUARE MALL {8.9 miles southwest, in Coral Springs}, which opened in 1984.
The western environs of Broward County were being extensively developed in the 1970s and '80s. POMPANO FASHION SQUARE, in the eastern environs, was soon in decline. An extensive facelift was initiated in March 1985. During this project, courts and concourses were redecorated using a South Beach Tropical Art Deco motif. New skylights were installed, as was a high-tech (for the time) Pompano Info System video display network. Moreover, the small upper level was refashioned into the 12-bay Sundeck Food Court; this accessed by a new glass elevator.
The renewed retail center, renamed POMPANO SQUARE, was officially dedicated on November 15, 1985. Initially successful, the reinvented mall soon fell on hard times. By the late 1980s, it was -once again- in a downward spiral and began to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance. Jordan Marsh was shuttered in September 1991, with Mervyn's opening on June 7, 1992. By mid-1997, this store was shuttered. Dillard's bought the building. They considered adding a second level and opening a store in the structure, but eventually abandoned this plan.
San Francisco-based Equities Development acquired the struggling shopping center in May 1997 and announced plans for its redevelopment. However, one of the partners in the venture passed away and the plan was scuttled. In July 1999, the Miami-based Lefmark Group bought POMPANO SQUARE, with its own scenario for redevelopment. This plan also never saw fruition.
Charlotte, North Carolina's Faison Retail Services came on the scene in the year 2000. After overcoming several red tape-type hurdles, they initiated a 75 million dollar renovation. The first phase, started in August 2003, involved demolition of the vacant Jordan Marsh-Mervyn's and South Wing of the mall.
These were replaced with a 3-level PLAZA area and open-air concourse of stores, along with a 1-level (163,400 square foot) Lowe's. This store opened for business in the fall of 2004. J.C. Penney had temporarily ceased operation in January 2003. The store was remodeled into a downsized, 1-level (85,000 square foot) operation, which was dedicated on November 5, 2003.
The upper level of Penney's was divided by a corridor and sectioned into a (31,300 square foot) Pompano Fitness facility and Jumpers Party Pad indoor family amusement center. Most of the remaining area became leased office spaces.
Sears was given an interior and exterior remodeling. Burdines was rebranded as Burdines-Macy's on January 30, 2004 and was fully "Macy-ated" on March 6, 2005. The interior was also redecorated. The final section of the mall to be demolished fell to the wrecking ball in early 2006. Meanwhile, new exterior-entranced Office Depot, Linens 'n Things and Ross Dress For Less stores were built; these making their debut in mid-2006.
A new name came along with the mall's reinvention; POMPANO CITI CENTRE. The predominantly open-air complex encompassed 972,000 leasable square feet and housed fifty-eight stores and services. The complex was sold to the Palm Beach-based Sterling Organization in April 2012. Following the shuttering of Linens 'n Things, in October 2008, the store space was taken by Big Lots. Office Depot pulled up stakes, with most of its area going to a new PetSmart. This store began business on June 25, 2016.
Sears did an abrupt "anchors away," with the store going dark on December 16, 2018. Macy's followed suit on March 22, 2020. The vacant Sears was reconfigured as five store spaces. Burlington and T.J. Maxx welcomed first shoppers in the fall of 2020. The abandoned Macy's was torn down. The site is being redeveloped as a seven-building, 356-unit residential community.
Sources:
The Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
The Boca Raton News (Boca Raton, Florida)
The South Florida Business Journal (Miami, Florida)
https://www.cinematreasures.org
http://www.pompanociticentre.com (website on Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
https://pompanociticentre.com
https://www.sterlingorganization.com / The Sterling Organization
https://floridayimby.com
