Crossing The Finish Line
At a time when many developments have been called off or postponed, The Village at Gulfstream Park is crossing the finish line and opening its doors.
Randall Shearin

Rendering of The Village of Gulfstream Park. Phase I of the project will consist of 410,000 square feet of retail space opening this month.

While many shopping centers planned over the last few years have been tabled, a few are still actively under development. And, of those, only a few are large enough to be considered “regional.” This month, Forest City will open one of the few such centers to debut in 2010 in Hallandale Beach, Florida, when it opens the 410,000-square-foot retail component of The Village at Gulfstream Park. The development is one-of-a-kind — built into Gulfstream Park, one of the country’s most well known horse racing venues. That unique factor, say Forest City executives, is the reason that the company had no second thoughts about seeing the project through, despite the economy.

As with all retail projects, demand was the driver that lured the development of The Village at Gulfstream Park. Magna Entertainment Corporation (MEC), owner of Gulfstream Park, noticed that while races were well attended, race-goers went elsewhere for dining and entertainment if they couldn’t get a table at the track’s exclusive clubhouse. Even after a multimillion-dollar renovation of the clubhouse that added more restaurants and gaming venues — completed in 2003 — MEC was unable to satiate demand and keep race-goers at the venue all day. Those who did stay were the ones who were able to get a table at the clubhouse or entertain themselves at gambling venues. Additionally, the demographic of horse racing was changing. Younger people were embracing the sport, and they wanted to be entertained on and off the track. As well, the city of Hallandale Beach was looking to expand its economic base, and needed more dining for the local population.

While the two parties had been in discussions since 2000, Forest City was brought on board by MEC shortly after the expansion of Gulfstream Park’s clubhouse was completed to develop a mixed-use center — what would really be a hub for Hallandale Beach — next to the park. Forest City has extensive experience in public-private partnerships, and MEC was hoping that Forest City could use that to broker a deal with the city to make a mixed-use project feasible. In this case, however, the city had never had to go this far out on a limb for a private entity. After a number of years of negotiations with a very agreeable city government, the city of Hallandale Beach issued its first tax-increment financing (TIF) to Forest City to help defer some of the $244 million cost of the project.

“This was a caliber of development beyond anything that this city had seen,” says Will Voegele, vice president, project director for Cleveland-based Forest City. “There was a process of working together so they could understand who Forest City was and what it was we were trying to accomplish. We had a significant amount of cooperation and support from the city. They approved the first TIF, and allowed us to create a community development district, tools that allowed us to handle the infrastructure cost.”

In the early 2000s, when Forest City was unofficially onboard, MEC was in the process of redeveloping the clubhouse at Gulfstream Park. As that developed, Forest City was able to coordinate the design of the center with the look that was being created for the clubhouse so the two projects would ultimately appear seamless.

In the foreground is the clubhouse at Gulfstream Park, which was the catalyst for adding retail to the racing venue.

“The two projects actually ended up being planned and designed together,” says Voegele. “There was an intense desire on our part to build this shopping, dining and entertainment environment as closely-knit and interactive to the racing and casino component as possible.”

The project has been designed to incorporate the feel of a resort into the racetrack. Wide promenades feature prominently in the center’s design, and from each of the streets that radiate from the clubhouse, visitors will be able to look toward the racetrack and see the finish line. The architect of record for the project is Cleveland-based ka Inc., with additional design by Orlando, Florida-based Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo.

Ground was broken for the project in 2007. Original plans called for retail, office and nearly 1,500 residential units. While development was scaled back from its initial estimated size of 1 million square feet to 500,000 square feet, long range plans still call for adding the multifamily component when the market returns. About 90,000 square feet of office space will open above the retail space this month as part of the first phase.

While the current market for leasing retail space was challenging for Forest City, the company had already planned to build a different type of center and knew it would be searching for unique tenants. With the area’s leading regional mall (Aventura Mall), one of the nation’s top outlet centers (Sawgrass Mills) and one of the nation’s top ten luxury malls (The Bal Harbour Shops) within 10 miles of the center, having a defined niche for leasing was necessary from the start, says Voegele.

“When you have all that within 20 minutes, you don’t want to build a direct competitor,” says Voegele. “We knew we had a very powerful demographic in the location. We had no choice but to be a complement to these centers. When people come here they will see a richness, and it won’t be what they will find at one of the other centers nearby.”

At opening, the center will be 85 percent leased. The chief categories missing from the market were home stores and restaurants. A 35,000-square-foot Crate & Barrel opened ahead of the center, as did restaurant Texas de Brazil. Retailers joining the center include Pottery Barn, The Container Store, West Elm, Williams-Sonoma, Z Gallerie, Scala, Scene Romeo & Juliet Couture, Rock Star, Rock & Roll Religion and Atelier. Restaurants were key to the center’s leasing success, since there was a shortage of fine dining in the immediate area. Texas de Brazil, III Forks, Brio Tuscan Grille, Cadillac Ranch, PrimeBar, Ola Cuba by Chef Douglas Rodriguez, Greenhouse Nightclub and The Playwright Irish Pub are among the restaurants that have taken space at the center. About 50 percent of the retailers will be up and running at the center’s grand opening, with 85 percent operating by mid-April.

“We left some opportunities open so that we could pick and choose who we want to be here after opening,” says Voegele. “We’re in that exciting last race to the finish. We’re very excited about the environment that we’ve created here. We’re looking forward to opening the doors and giving people the opportunity to enjoy it.”

While opening in the current environment may also not be ideal, Forest City believes the economy in Broward County has attributes that make it more resilient than other areas.

“No part of the world has been unaffected by the economy,” says Voegele. “The diversity of our customer ethnically, as well as the part-time residents that exist really add to the local economy. We are as well positioned to open in the present economy as anyone; we have a product that is going to drive a lot of people with discretionary income.”

The hard economic times haven’t been avoided by Gulfstream Park during the retail center’s development. MEC, the track’s owner, declared bankruptcy in March 2009. While this had no effect on the development of The Village at Gulfstream Park — Forest City’s financing had been in place since 2007 — it will mean an eventual transfer of ownership for Gulfstream Park. As part of the bankruptcy settlement, MEC’s assets, including Gulfstream Park, are expected to be passed to the company’s majority owner, MI Developments.

Forest City is looking forward to February 11, when it plans an all-out, grand opening reminiscent of mall openings for the project. The opening will have a Latin carnival theme with a benefit to the new Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in nearby Hollywood, Florida. But there’s one aspect of the opening that is not so old-fashioned. As a matter of fact, it may be the first time a developer has used social media to aid in the opening of a large-scale center. Forest City began building buzz for the opening earlier by launching a viral video on YouTube, in conjunction with Gulfstream Park, about 3 weeks before the opening. The video uses jockeys to highlight the entertainment aspect of the entire property — racetrack, clubhouse, and shopping center. The jockeys are seen showing off their break-dancing skills in South Florida. The video is also being spread via The Village at Gulfstream Park’s Facebook pages and Twitter handle.

“The video is entertaining and unexpected,” says Nancy McCann, senior vice president - marketing and public relations for Forest City. “It shows that the property is fun, day and night. It’s a forward way of promoting a new development, using the newest marketing tools available.”

The opening is also a highlight of local and national sports and business news coverage in the area. Weeks out, coverage of the center’s job fair was big news in the local and national press, while ESPN’s horseracing coverage had even mentioned the center.

“We have had so much enthusiastic press in the area about the opening, especially about the company’s support of the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, which the partners are honoring with a financial donation,” says McCann. “When you can talk about creating jobs, economic development, community support and a place like this that is so unique, it is a great story to be telling at this time.”

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