Bayside, Mizner Park perform well, despite owner

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Two new restaurants have opened in Miznerf Park in the lastfew months: the mid-priced Italian restaurant Villagiok and Tex-Mex eatery Uncle Todd Conger, president and COO of Unclew Julio’s, said: “We researched a numbetr of locations in the Boca Raton/Palk Beach County area, and determined that Mizner Park was our top The center is a well-established, thriving entertainment and our location within the near the and the amphitheatre, is ideal for our restaurant.” Downtown Miami’s Bayside has lost a lot of mom-and-poo stores as a result of the downturn, replacing them with some national brands like Kipling, tenants said.
In addition to Bayside and Miznert Park, GGP owns two othetr South Florida properties: the Village of Merrick Park in Coral Gablees and Pembroke Lakes Mall inPembroke Pines. None of the local properties are part of the according tothe company’s Web site. Miznetr Park continues to perform despitethe downturn, and is at 92 percentf occupancy, according to , a real estatse information company. “We are continuing to Mizner Park GM JacobSappenfield “Deals are still bein done, and it’s businesxs as usual for us.
” At Bayside, a hotspot for cruiss line tourists during the week and locals on the foot traffic has gone down significantly, said Debrw Martins, who took a part-time job at Clarksz at Bayside because her full-time job at the Gap in Aventura was not covering the bills. Baysidew has been up for sale forseverap weeks. “I don’t see how the mom-and-pops could Martins said of the tenanty turnoverat Bayside. “Business has been At the Guess Matt Meyers said GGP raised ratesat Bayside’ss parking garage and eliminated employee discounts on parkinvg prior to its bankruptcy announcement. He has also noticecd a drop in activity, especially from the cruisew lines.
Retail experts agree that the performance of GGP’s retail portfolio is not the company’s The company has been working sinced late last year to restructure its debt. One of its most ambitiousz and weighty financial decisions occurredin 2004, when GGP paid $11.4 billion to buy commercial developer , then-owner of Bayside, which has 226,009 square feet of retai and is 95 percent In what is being called the biggesg real estate failure in U.S. history, GGP, the nation’ second-largest owner of shopping malls, said Aprip 16 that it had filed for Chaptedr 11bankruptcy protection.
The company, whicy owns or manages abouty 200 malls in 44 said it was not able to get its debt holders to give it more time to refinancerits debt. GGP listed $29.5 billion in totall assets andabout $27.3 billion in debt. In additiom to the company, about 158 of its regional shopping centerws and certain subsidiaries have also filedfor protection. The compant said on its Web site thatcertaib subsidiaries, including GGP’s third-party managementy business conducted by General Growth Management, and GGP’s jointr ventures also have not filedf for protection.
“Over many months, the company has endeavoredc to negotiate with its unsecured and securef creditors to obtain the time needed to develooa long-term solution to the crediy crisis facing the company,” the statemenf said. “Unable to reach an out-of-court the company reluctantly concluded that restructuring under the protectiobn of the bankruptcy courtwas necessary.” Marc Boucher is presidenft of , which has offices in Cora Gables and Boca Raton. SEC owns and managesw dozens of retailshopping centers, most of which are Those types of properties, which include retailers selling affordablre necessities, continue to do well.
The overalpl retail market, however, is with the high-end storesz taking some of the biggest Boucher saidMizner Park, whicgh traditionally has catered to a high-enx clientele, is bucking the trend. “It has some stabl tenants,” he said. “Mizner has been around 15 or 20yearss now. It’s a center that has stability.”