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FORT LAUDERDALE’S GALLERIA GRANDER AFTER REFIT

BY DEBRA HAZEL

Following a $46 million renovation, and a half century after its birth, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., mall is about to regain its place in the sun.

The open-air Sunrise Shopping Center, which industry pioneer Leonard Farber opened in 1954, became a retail hub for Fort Lauderdale. Enclosed and renamed The Galleria in 1980, it was ideally situated on a 32-acre site at Sunrise Boulevard and U.S. Highway A1A, only two blocks from the beach, though four or five miles from downtown. Over time, however, Fort Lauderdale’s true downtown began attracting upscale boutiques and restaurants. And the opening of such centers as Town Center at Boca Raton, 20 miles to the north, in 1980 and Aventura Mall, as many miles again to the south, in 1983 (with an expansion in 1997) further eroded the Galleria’s business. By 2001 Galleria’s sales were averaging about $300-$325 per square foot — good, but not great for an affluent community. The national average is $345 per square foot, according to ICSC, but an upscale mall can expect to generate much more. And the Galleria definitely counts itself as upscale, what with its Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue anchors, along with a Burdines and a Dillard’s. (Lord & Taylor left the mall earlier this year as part of its cutback program.)

“We had a great tenant mix, but the common areas needed a face-lift,” said Linda DiZinno, SCSM, SCMD, The Galleria’s general manager.

Part of the 1.05 million-square-foot center’s salvation (and a big reason for the overhaul) has been the growth of the market, DiZinno notes. Broward County comprises more than 1.5 million people, and the neighborhood immediately surrounding the center is filled with million-dollar homes.

“Every neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale is an upscale neighborhood,” said Richard K. Gelber, one of three founders of Philadelphia-based SPG3, the architectural firm that oversaw the renovation. The Galleria, he notes, is located in one of the poshest. Household income in the mall’s primary market averages $67,000 a year, according to the developer.

Keystone Florida Property Holding Corp. bought the mall in 1993 and retained King of Prussia, Pa.-based Kravco Co. (now Kravco/Simon) in the fall of 2000 as a third-party manager.

One of the challenges, Gelber says, was to retain the center’s strengths, such as a strong national anchor and tenant mix, while making the center more Floridian, something particularly important to the affluent local shopper. “They have a clear idea of what’s special and unique about Florida,” said Gelber. “This is their local fashion shopping center, and it wasn’t fashionable.”

One of the first things that had to go was the 1980s-style dark interior immediately inside the main entrance. The architects gave the mall a grander entrance, one befitting its high-end retail; they designed it in the style of the old Floridian resorts and added palm trees.

The Galleria also needed to spice up its food offerings, DiZinno says. The food court was small, with local tenants and no upscale restaurants. Now, refashioned as the Piazza di Giorgio, the court’s a lot smarter. Four restaurants have been added just off a new, circular porte cochere — Blue Martini, The Capital Grille, Red Star Tavern and Seasons 52 — and the lighting has been replaced.

Other interior upgrades include the addition of an elegant promenade running the length of the mall with marble floors, a new ceiling, centrally located seating areas and new lighting.

“They did a great job,” said Bradford W. Fitzgerald, president of the locally based Fitzgerald Group brokerage firm, who shops at the Galleria, though his firm has done no business there. “They lightened it up and brightened it up.”

In keeping with the Floridian theme, neutrals with green and lavender accents dominate the color palette. “[The mall is] like a luxurious hotel lobby,” DiZinno said. “We wanted that sophistication.”

Outdoors, a streetscape offers seating along with classic column-framed arches, cornices, iron detail work and lush, native-plant landscaping, including royal palms.

Kravco/Simon refaced and relit the mall’s exterior and fixed up the garage with new ramps. Because of the mall site’s relatively small size, the bulk of the center’s 5,000 parking spaces are in that garage. “We’re really an urban center,” DiZinno said.

There are some new tenants, too, Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa, Jos. A. Bank and L’Occitane among them.

Work began in November 2002 and was completed in February. Leasing continues, however. Before construction began, The Galleria was about 80 percent leased. DiZinno says she expects it to be 95 percent leased by year-end. Sales are up 20 percent so far this year; DiZinno anticipates sales of up to $500 per square foot next year.

“It’s a very affluent, growing market,” she said. “You could never put this project together today.”