Ross Dress for Less signed a lease at the historic former Burdines building in downtown Miami.
The retailer plans to lease 34,192 square feet at 22 East Flagler Street. The vacant building was most recently occupied by Macy’s. Macy’s closed the store in early 2018 as part of a wave of closures as it looked to shed its assets and reduce costs.
TheNextMiami first reported the lease.
Nearby, Ross has another location at One Bayfront Plaza at 100 South Biscayne Boulevard. Florida East Coast Realty plans to build a 92-story, 1,049-foot tall building on the site, which will also include over 1.4 million square feet of Class A office and hotel space.
In 1917, Miami businessman Richard Ashby originally leased the 48,000-square-foot building at 22 East Flagler Street to Burdines for about $30,000 a year. In 1956, Burdines merged with Federated Department Stores, which also owned Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and other stores. By 2005, Federated had brought all its Burdines outposts under the Macy’s brand.
Records show Aetna paid $15.6 million for the property in 2013.
In recent years, the Flagler Street area has seen a surge of investment, much of which has come from developer Moishe Mana.
Over the past several years, Mana has become downtown Miami’s biggest landlord with roughly 45 properties on and near Flagler Street. But he’s been slow to actually build anything. Recently, Mana said he’s ready to move forward with his plans for the area.