The Shops at Sunset Place won’t be redeveloped anytime soon.
The South Miami City Commission killed proposed zoning rules that would have allowed the mall’s new owners, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Comras Company and Grass River Property, to redevelop the aging mall.
Commissioners voted 3-2 against the project during a meeting that stretched into Tuesday morning, according to the Miami Herald. Mayor Philip Stoddard and Vice-Mayor Bob Welsh voted yes, while others voted against it. Commissioner Walter Harris said voting for the zoning package would “open the door to extreme development the likes of which South Miami has never seen.”
The owners paid $110 million for the 500,000-square-foot, Mediterranean-style mall in 2015, and unveiled their plans to redevelop portions of the property last year. That included knocking down parts of the mall and adding two apartment buildings with 400 units and a 200-room hotel and retail on the ground floor connecting both. The hotel and residential component would be on the north end of the mall closer to South Dixie Highway. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis