Dadeland, Miami's Original Mall, To Get Major Upgrade
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Dadeland Mall, South Florida's first shopping mall and a South Dade landmark since 1962, will get it's 5th major overhaul, with a new building housing restaurants and a new group of stores developers are calling the Kendall Wing. The mall will also see an expansion of the parking deck.
The two-story expansion was announced Wednesday by the Simon Property Group, owners of the mall located at Kendall Drive, US1 and the Palmetto Expressway. The expansion will take place on the site of the former Limited/Express store at the mall's main entrance, which was itself part of the mall's last major expansion in 1991.
The Limited/Express will be torn down, and the building housing the new restaurants and shops is set to open in Spring, 2013.
The building will be divided into two areas. The first floor will offer a new valet entrance into what is being dubbed the "Fashion Runway". Shops will be placed on the first floor, but at this point mall developers offered no indication what stores would be there.
"Interest is very strong and we already have commitments for most of the space which we plan to announce in the near future," said Dadeland manager Maria Prado.
The second floor is expected to be dedicated to restaurants, with patio seating overlooking Kendall Drive, which was known as "The Road to Nowhere" when Dadeland opened as an open-air shopping center.
Over the years, Dadeland has seen a number of reinventions and expansions.
In 1966, Jordan Marsh, a department store chain that has passed into Florida history, joined the original Burdine's and Food Fair supermarket as an anchor store.
In 1969, the owners doubled the size of the mall, placing Burdine's at the center, and fully enclosed the newly air-conditioned shopping center.
In 1983, the mall added two new anchor stores and the food court, and in 1991 the mall's front entrance was updated, along with new stores like The Limited.
The last major renovation of South Florida's original mall was 21 years ago. Since then, the Dadeland area has seen major growth, with hew hotels, condos, and office buildings, forming a thriving urban neighborhood.
