Now, the Fort Lauderdale-based commercial developer, picked last year as a Developer of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, considers the market too weak to command the asking price. The corporation is exploring options to refinance the property and two affiliated outparcels.

"Considering the fluctuation in market and the current interest rates, we are looking at the prospect of refinancing and holding the project," Robert Breslau, president of Stiles Retail Group, tells GlobeSt.com. "But it is still our primary intent to sell." The pending decision comes as the developer negotiates with what might be considered a strong hand.

Besides an obvious leasing success, Breslau says, the project might be one of the last large retail projects allowed in this fast-growing residential area because of concurrency restrictions written into the state's Growth Management Act.

But demand from national retailers, such as Ross, Sports Authority, TJ Maxx, Officemax and Bally's Health & Fitness, came so quickly the company is developing a third outparcel as a 19,517-sf strip center for Steak & Shake, Vitamin World and other local shops. That new strip is 50% preleased before ground-breaking. Local rents range from $18.50 per sf to $26 per sf.

National tenants now account for 65% of the total leaseable space inside the mall on the southeast corner of Pines Boulevard and Hiatus Road. The property is producing about $2.9 million in net annual operating income. "Our initial strategy on that property is to market it on the strategic strength of the rent rolls," Breslau adds. "All the anchors and local tenants are now open and doing well. It's in a position where we can demonstrate a stable rent roll."

But the high card may be the exclusivity of a mall that draws from a residential population of about 281,820 within a five-mile radius. "We believe it's going to be the last major retail center in the Pembroke Pines market, given the concurrency issues, which was one of the real challenges in developing the site," Breslau says. "Pines Boulevard, a major east-west artery, is so far over capacity now it will be extremely difficult in the future to meet concurrency on that stretch of road."

But then there just aren't a whole lot of vacant commercial properties available at all in Pembroke Pines, the state's 10th largest city, David Frank, the city's growth management director, tells GlobeSt.com. In fact, Frank can count those properties on one hand.

"The main concurrency issue is traffic," Frank says. "I don't know how much you know about concurrency in Florida, but traffic concurrency is a bear." Those properties that have vested rights attached to the plats, however, might face less of a test.

"Some of the centers are vested through platting, but it's still a very complicated thing with that," says Frank. "As they say, the devil is in the details."

Instant Insights /

Stiles Weighs Refinancing and Holding Fully-Leased Boulevard Square Asset

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