CocoWalk is an open-air

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in the

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

neighborhood of

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, in the United States. The development and planning of CocoWalk goes as far back as 1984 in the city of Miami. It was developed by Constructa Properties and designed by John Clark of Maryland. It opened in 1990. It featured an iconic entrance with an open plaza being the central point of the mall. The design heavily reflected

Spanish architecture Spanish architecture refers to architecture in any area of what is now Spain, and by Spanish architects worldwide, influencing mainly areas of what was once part of the Spanish Empire. The term includes buildings which were constructed within t ...

. It marked the transformation of Coconut Grove from a sleepy Bohemian neighborhood following the era of the Cocaine Cowboys. This disgruntled many locals a few years later, having to deal with an increasingly suburban lifestyle with a tourist presence, along with worsening traffic conditions. Being a popular local shopping destination and tourist attraction, dining and entertainment destination throughout the 90s, the center, however, began to decline in the early 2000s as Miami Beach increased in regional popularity for dining and entertainment and many of the retail chains, combined with its relatively small format, lessened the appeal for shoppers. In 2004, Thor Equities purchased the mall for $120 million in an attempt to tap into Hispanic and Black customers. By this time, it hosted chain stores like

Banana Republic In political science, the term ''banana republic'' describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resource.A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, where th ...

B. Dalton B. Dalton Bookseller was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the largest retailer of hardcover books i ...

, and Gap, along eight bars and restaurants. In 2006, PMAT Real Estate Investments purchased the Cocowalk mall for $87 million. In 2007, it experienced what was described as a renaissance, with a revival in activity within the mall and new tenants, including high-end stores, signing leases for space within the mall. Renovation to the movie theater was made by new tenants

Muvico Theaters Muvico Theaters was a movie theater chain headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Muvico had seven complexes in Florida, one in the Chicago metropolitan area (Rosemont, Illinois, Rosemont), and one in Thousand Oaks, California. Muvico's theate ...

. Having bought it for $87 million, PMAT invested $7 million in improvements. It was sold for $87.5 million to the Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust in 2015, its fifth owner since its opening. In 2017, plans to redesign CocoWalk were announced, with the intent to get rid of the Spanish-style architecture. The new design would better cater to the local, suburban population as opposed to the previous focus on tourists, with owner FRIT citing localization within Miami's communities. The Cinepolis movie theater underwent renovations. There was a focus on leasing existing vacant space as office space and moving the retail wing to one side of the mall. Its vacancy rate was 20% as of May 2017. After a total revamp CocoWalk reopened in 2021.

References

External links

CocoWalk official website
{{Greater Miami Buildings and structures in Miami Shopping malls in Miami-Dade County, Florida Tourist attractions in Miami Shopping malls established in 1990 Coconut Grove (Miami) 1990 establishments in Florida