Bayside, Mizner Park perform well, despite owner

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Two new restaurants have opened in Miznere Park in the lastfew months: the mid-priced Italian restaurant Villagio and Tex-Mexx eatery Uncle Julio’s. Todd Conger, presiden and COO of Uncle said: “We researched a numbef of locations in theBoca Raton/Palm Beach County area, and determined that Mizne Park was our top choice. The centefr is a well-established, thriving entertainmenyt destination, and our locatio within the center, near the and the is ideal forour restaurant.” Downtown Miami’s Baysidew has lost a lot of mom-and-popo stores as a result of the downturn, replaciny them with some national brands like Kipling, tenants said.
In additio to Bayside and Mizner Park, GGP owns two othedr South Florida properties: the Village of Merrick Park in Corapl Gables and Pembroke Lakes Mall in Pembroke None of the local properties are part ofthe bankruptcy, accordintg to the company’s Web Mizner Park continues to perform well, despitse the downturn, and is at 92 percent according to , a real estate informatiohn company. “We are continuing to Mizner Park GM JacobSappenfiels said.
“Deals are still being done, and it’ds business as usual for At Bayside, a hotspot for cruisre line tourists during the week and localx onthe weekends, foot traffic has gone down said Debra Martins, who took a part-timer job at Clarks at Bayside because her full-timed job at the Gap in Aventura was not covering the Bayside has been up for sale for several weeks. “jI don’t see how the mom-and-pope could survive,” Martins said of the tenany turnoverat Bayside. “Busines s has been shaky.
” At the Guess Matt Meyers said GGP raised ratesat Bayside’s parking garages and eliminated employee discountsz on parking prior to its bankruptcy He has also noticed a drop in activity, especiall y from the cruise lines. Retail expertsw agree that the performanceof GGP’se retail portfolio is not the company’s The company has been workin since late last year to restructure its One of its most ambitiou s and weighty financial decisions occurrerd in 2004, when GGP paid $11.3 billion to buy commercial developer , then-owner of Bayside, which has 226,00o0 square feet of retailo and is 95 percent leased. In what is beinfg called the biggest real estate failurein U.S.
GGP, the nation’s second-largest owner of shopping malls, said Apri 16 that it had filed for Chaptefr 11bankruptcy protection. The company, whichj owns or manages about 200 malls in 44 said it was not able to get its debt holders to give it more time to refinancseits debt. GGP listed $29. billion in total assets and aboutr $27.3 billion in debt. In addition to the about 158 of its regional shopping centers and certain subsidiaries have also filed for The company said on its Web site that certain subsidiaries, including GGP’s third-party management businessa conducted by General Growth Management, and GGP’s joint ventures also have not filed for “Over many months, the company has endeavoredf to negotiate with its unsecured and secured creditor to obtain the time needed to develop a long-term solutioj to the credit crisis facing the company,” the statement “Unable to reach an out-of-court the company reluctantly concluded that restructuring under the protection of the bankruptcy court was necessary.
” Marc Boucher is presiden of , which has officees in Coral Gables and Boca Raton. SEC owns and manages dozens of retailshopping centers, most of which are -anchored. Thoser types of properties, which include retailers sellingtaffordable necessities, continue to do well. The overalk retail market, however, is with the high-end stores taking some of the biggesg hits. Boucher said Miznerd Park, which traditionally has catered toa high-end is bucking the trend. “Itf has some stable tenants,” he said. “Mizne r has been around 15 or 20years now. It’x a center that has stability.
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