Whitman gets $150M loan for Bal Harbour Shops expansion

Luxury mall will more than double in size to 850k sf

Rendering of Bal Harbour Shops and Matthew Whitman Lazenby
Rendering of Bal Harbour Shops and Matthew Whitman Lazenby

Whitman Family Development scored a $150 million mortgage for Bal Harbour Shops’ expansion, property records show.

SunTrust Bank provided the financing for the luxury shopping mall at 9700 Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour.

The Whitman family secured approval last year for a $400 million expansion and renovation of the high-end mall that will add more than 340,000 square feet to the 511,000-square-foot property. The approval in May capped more than a year of contentious politics, lawsuits and last-minute opposition from anchor tenant Saks Fifth Avenue.

The expansion plans include the first Barneys New York flagship store in the Southeastern United States and new luxury boutiques and restaurants. Bernard Zyscovich of Zyscovich Architects is the lead designer on the project, which could take about eight years to complete.

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As part of the renovation and expansion, Whitman is making improvements to the village, including building a new park along the Intracoastal Waterway and a new village hall. The family firm will also widen and improve sidewalks that border the shops, build a 20-foot high wall near single-family homes to limit construction noise and pay for up to 4,500 hours of police protection during the construction phase of the expansion.

Bal Harbour Shops’ founder Stanley Whitman opened the luxury shops in 1965. He died less than a week after the expansion project was approved last year.

Whitman is also a retail co-developer with Swire Properties and Simon Property Group on the retail component at Brickell City Centre. A spokesperson for Whitman could not immediately be reached for comment.