New shopping center bulking up with a gym in North Miami-Dade

UFC Gym will open its first location in Miami-Dade County at La Fontana Shops, a new shopping center under construction on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, The Real Deal has learned.

The fitness center, which operates locations in 28 states nationwide, plans to occupy 10,000 square feet in the 26,000 square-foot center at 10990 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, Lisa Bolivar, vice president of Beacon Hill Property Group, which is the exclusive leasing agent for La Fontana Shops, told TRD.

UFC is a brand extension of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts training league. To date, UFC Gym only has one location in South Florida, in Fort Lauderdale.

The new gym will feature mixed martial arts, fitness equipment and group classes, and will be the largest tenant at La Fontana Shops. When the shopping center opens in October, it will have 15,000 square feet along Biscayne Boulevard and 11,000 square feet on 109th Street, Bolivar said.

La Fontana Shops, located between North Miami and Miami Shores, is being developed by “a family from Argentina that has accrued a number of properties for development, and mostly in North Miami,” she said, declining to name the principals.

Miami-Dade property records show Mayres LLC bought the 81,900-square-foot lot at 10990 Biscayne Boulevard for $4.4 million in June 2013. Florida corporate records show that when Mayres LLC was formed in 2013, its manager was Osvaldo Spadafino, with a Surfside address.

La Fontana Shops is currently in talks with other prospective tenants, including restaurants, local retailers, an urgent care center, a veterinarian, and national phone and packing and shipping companies, Bolivar said.

“We want to have a combination of nationals and locals — a woman’s fashion store, a jewelry store, a furniture store,” she said. “It’s upscale tenants. We’re improving the area around there, gentrifying the area.”