Downtown at the Gardens, the $150 million outdoor shopping and dining
mall in Palm Beach Gardens that opened in 2005, is now 30 percent
vacant and its new owner, Berman Enterprises, has begun a large-scale
effort to try to save the flailing project. While the company is
rumored to have purchased the complex for just $40 million — the previous owner, a
California pension fund, bought it in 2007 for
more than $200 million — it has since invested much more on

improvements. “It’s big enough that I don’t feel comfortable”
revealing the sum spent on the property, Kevin Berman, one of the
Berman family members heading the project, told the Palm Beach Post.
In addition to several physical improvements, like a new escalator to
the second-story movie theater and improved landscaping, the company
is also looking to attract tenants, especially modestly-priced

restaurants that fit into the concept of so-called “eater-tainment,” meaning that they offer both dining and simultaneous entertainment.
Some have been offered free rent in exchange for a percentage of the
sales proceeds. Berman is also offering free events to attract
visitors, like a holiday light show and an American Idol-style talent
contest. [Palm Beach Post]

Veterans and newcomers to South Florida commercial real estate are
ready to leave the sidelines and start picking up properties at bargain
prices. Boca Raton-based Woolbright Development, a fixture in South
Florida real estate, has been joined by Miami-based Steelbridge Capital
and other new arrivals as they ready acquisition plans. The climate is
right. Institutional investors such as the California Public Employees’
Retirement System, which in July turned over the Downtown at the
Gardens mall in Palm Beach Gardens, want to shed distressed assets. [more]

After the $138 million foreclosure of Downtown at the Gardens, lenders
Berman Enterprises and Ashkenazy & Agus want to revive the tony
shopping mall. Berman Enterprises, a family-run real estate firm based
in Rockville, Md., and Ashkenazy & Agus Ventures of Boca Raton said
the shopping center can be revitalized with better management and
reinvestment. Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Joe Russo will confer with the
new owners and said he hopes they’ll bring some new life to the
project. The owners’ attorney, Gary Dunkel of Greenberg Traurig in West Palm
Beach, said the group believes it can revamp the shopping center. [more]

Downtown at the Gardens has been hit by a $138 million foreclosure suit. The struggling Palm Beach Gardens shopping center was owned by Institutional Mall Investors and the California State Teachers Retirement System, which paid between $150 million and $250 million for the 348,000-square-foot property. It is now in default and worth less than $138 million, said Andrew Miller of Institutional Mall Investors. Boca Raton-based Ashkenazy & Agus Ventures bought the mortgage note on the property about six months ago. [more]