Bal Harbour Shops to add 30 new stores

Matthew Whitman Lazenby and the Bal Harbour Shops
Matthew Whitman Lazenby and the Bal Harbour Shops

The expansion of the Bal Harbour Shops will add 25 to 30 new retail stores, plus a new specialty department store, Matthew Whitman Lazenby, operating partner of the shops, told the South Florida Business Journal.

In September, the shops made a deal with the Church By the Sea after nearly half a century of talks to buy and redevelop their land in exchange for a new, eco-friendly church. And in January, the shops paid $13.5 million for the the 4,987-square-foot SunTrust Bank building at 9600 Collins Avenue, finally making the expansion possible.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

“In the past couple of years the percentage of international tourists shopping at Bal Harbour has grown to more than 70 percent,” Whitman Lazenby said. “South American visitors have always been important for us. Based on the feedback from our retailers, Brazil and other South American markets are No. 1 in purchasing power, followed by Russia, Mexico and emerging Asian markets.”

As The Real Deal previously reported, the Bal Harbour Shops are partnering with Hong Kong-based Swire Properties to develop the retail component of the Brickell CityCentre project in downtown Miami. [SFBJ]-Christopher Cameron