MIAMI—When it comes to Miami retail, its seems the more the merrier. There's pent up demand for discount stories, high-street retail, indoor malls, and more.

It almost seems that if developers build it, shoppers will come. We'll soon find out if that's true as developers of Brickell City Centre, Miami World Center and the American Dream mega mall forge ahead with plans for massive amounts of retail in addition to the many smaller projects coming out of the dirt.

We caught up with Andrew Hellinger, the developer behind River Landing Shops and Residences on the Miami River west of Downtown Miami, to get his thoughts on the most significant trends he is seeing in the retail brick-and-mortar market. He told us, first off, that retail interest in the urban core is clearly strong. You can still read our last interview with him: What's Driving Miami Retail?

“Retailers' goal is to bring their stores into the densely populated urban centers in Miami Dade,” Hellinger says. “As Millennials have begun moving into the urban core seeking a live-work environment, Miami's urban districts are transforming. The downtown and urban core transformation has included housing, retail, dining and offices resulting in neighborhoods that are as vibrant by day as they are at night.”

Hellinger says this transformation is at the heart of River Landing. The Health District's residential daytime population is unsurpassed and underserviced.

From his experience, retailers at River Landing like the fact that the area has a daytime population of nearly 50,000 round-the-clock medical and office professionals, second largest employment in Miami. Yet, he says, there are almost no restaurants, retail and housing to serve them and densely populated residential communities nearby.

“The Health District is within minutes of Downtown Miami and other suburban neighborhoods and is located on the Miami River, enhancing the retailers projected sales,” Hellinger says. “Retailers see the growth and demand in the district, an area which generates nearly $1.9 billion a year in salaries. I anticipate that Miami-Dade County will continue to see the investment in large-scale mixed-used project as urban communities gain more appeal.”