The Gardens Mall is a high-end regional shopping center in Palm Beach Gardens, part of the larger South Florida area in Palm Beach County.
It is located at 3101 PGA Boulevard, at the corner of PGA Boulevard and Alternate A1A, with easy access from Interstate 95 via the PGA Boulevard exit.
The mall serves as the main luxury shopping destination for Palm Beach Gardens, North Palm Beach, Jupiter, Juno Beach, and nearby North County communities.
It opened in the fall of 1988 and was the largest shopping mall in Florida at that time. Over the past four decades, it has kept its strong position as an upscale retail center in the region.
One Hundred Thousand People Showed Up
About 100,000 people showed up on opening day in fall 1988 at a new mall located at 3101 PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens.
Traffic clogged the area for around two miles, and officials set up a special zone to control it. Only four years earlier, the location had been undeveloped scrubland with palmettos.
The opening was staged as a large attraction. Robin Leach led the event. Betty Boop was there, and a 70-foot inflatable Spider-Man was part of the parade.
A marching band performed, confetti filled the air, and inside there were fashion shows, a live black panther named Taboo, and a performance by George Benson.
The night before, 112 out of 140 stores were ready to open, with crews working up to the last minute.
At the time, Interstate 95 stopped at PGA Boulevard until it was extended north about 10 months before the opening.
Macy's, Burdines, and Sears were the original anchor stores. Saks Fifth Avenue had already planned to open within a few years.
Bloomingdale's opened roughly two years later, after delays caused by a corporate takeover battle.
The Gardens Mall Grew Out of a 400-acre Scrubland Regional Center
The Palm Beach Gardens City Council approved the project framework on February 16, 1984, as part of a Regional Center Development of Regional Impact.
The concept was broad: retail, office, hotel, residential, cinema, open space, and community uses within a single development zone.
By November 15, 1984, the council had approved the "Regional Shopping Mall" plan and rezoned the site as a planned unit development.
They set a maximum size of 1.2 million square feet of gross leasable area, with a height cap of 65 feet and parking at 5 spaces per 1,000 square feet.
On May 15, 1986, an amendment added up to 190,000 more square feet and raised the allowable height in the grand courtyard area to 80 feet.
The project's original name was "The Gardens of the Palm Beaches." It was later shortened to The Gardens Mall.
The Forbes Company developed the mall as the centerpiece of Palm Beach Gardens' commercial district. At opening, it was widely described as the largest shopping mall in Florida.
North County had grown slowly through most of the 1980s, and the mall triggered a new wave of residential and commercial development around it.
What had been carved out of roughly 400 acres of scrub land became the commercial anchor of a city that was still defining itself.
A 2004 Redevelopment Plan That Reshaped the Anchor Lineup
When Federated Department Stores consolidated Burdines and Macy's in Florida, one of the mall's three original anchor spaces went dark.
The Forbes Company filled it with Nordstrom.
On March 31, 2004, Nordstrom signed a letter of intent to open an approximately 144,000-square-foot full-line store at The Gardens Mall, targeting spring 2006.
Palm Beach Gardens approved the broader redevelopment on August 19, 2004.
Beyond the Nordstrom space, the approval covered a 90,000-square-foot expansion for Macy's, a 35,000-square-foot expansion for Saks Fifth Avenue, an additional 32,000 square feet of general mall stores, and a reduction in the parking ratio from 5 spaces to 4.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet.
The dining wing had been expanding in parallel. P.F. Chang's and Brio Tuscan Grille together added 10,900 square feet on February 7, 2002.
Brio's footprint was enlarged again on March 20, 2003. Nordstrom opened its full-line store in 2006, two years after the letter of intent and on the schedule it had set.
The Visual Overhaul and the Shifting Tenant Mix
The original neon and aqua were gone by the late 2010s, replaced with a quieter palette. The water features were rebuilt.
The Forbes family leadership had a clear rule about the common areas: no kiosks, nothing that made the place feel like a flea market.
P.F. Chang's and Brio Tuscan Grille were in by 2003. Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant arrived in 2017.
Tap 42 and Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar got city signage approvals in 2024 and 2023, respectively. Shake Shack and California Pizza Kitchen filled out the rest.
Aritzia, Chanel Fragrance and Beauty, Garage, and Alo Yoga came in on the retail side. The mall never went the outlet route. Art and natural landscaping stayed in the common areas through every round of changes.
The Sears-Dick's Sublease Fight That Lasted for Years
In 1987, a year before the mall opened, Forbes entered into a sublease with Sears for one of the anchor parcels.
The deal was a 30-year sublease with four optional 10-year extensions, provided Sears remained in operation and not in default.
The underlying retail agreements required Sears to operate as a department store for the first twenty years; after that, the permitted use broadened to general retail and service purposes.
The fight began when Sears started negotiating with Dick's Sporting Goods in 2011 to sublease part of its two-story store.
The city of Palm Beach Gardens responded by adopting a resolution requiring both city approval and mall-owner approval before any anchor tenant could subdivide its space.
Sears challenged the resolution in court.
In 2017, the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled the city's resolution unconstitutional, finding that nothing in the governing agreements required Sears to seek Forbes' approval before subleasing one floor to Dick's.
Dick's submitted development plans in 2018 for signage and entrance changes with Sears' sign-off. Redevelopment still did not move forward.
A separate round of litigation began in 2019. In an earlier phase of the dispute, the city was ordered to pay legal fees.
The parcel sat physically underused and legally frozen for years.
Sears Closure Led to New Redevelopment Filing
The Sears store closed in late February 2024, ending a 36-year run as one of the mall's original anchors. Transform Operating Stores LLC, which holds the lease, still has decades left on its sublease agreement.
A legal fight over how the space could be used went on long enough that the store itself became less important.
On June 27, 2025, a redevelopment plan was submitted to the city of Palm Beach Gardens.
It calls for a 140,000-square-foot, two-story Dick's House of Sport, plus an outdoor sports field of about 18,000 to 19,000 square feet and around 47,000 square feet of added retail space.
The southern expansion is intended for Arhaus, while the northern section would become additional indoor tenant space. The plan would add about 61,500 square feet, bringing the mall to roughly 1,451,500 square feet.
The Dick's House of Sport format is built around interactive features. These include rock-climbing walls, HitTrax batting cages, Trackman golf simulators, and virtual reality sports setups.
The outdoor field is meant for clinics, camps, fitness classes, community events, and athlete appearances, not just for testing products.
Dick's House of Sport Approval Still Pending
The city set the proposal for a Development Review Committee meeting on August 26, 2025.
As of April 2026, dates for both the Planning and Zoning Advisory Board hearing and the City Council review have not been scheduled.
Leasing activity continued during that time. Boll and Branch opened in May 2025, YETI in June, and Tecovas in August.
Louis Vuitton expanded its store, while Bath & Body Works reopened after a renovation. Another group followed: Gorjana and Venchi are listed as open, and J.Crew and Faherty are listed as coming soon.
Taubman Centers owns a 48.5 percent share acquired in 2019, alongside The Forbes Company as lead owner and manager. The four current anchors are Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, and Macy's.
The former Sears space has remained empty since February 2024, and the City Council vote required to move the redevelopment forward still does not have a set date.
Notable Milestones
February 16, 1984 - Palm Beach Gardens approves the broader Regional Center Development of Regional Impact for the future mall area
November 15, 1984 - The city approves the Regional Shopping Mall plan and rezones the site for development
May 15, 1986 - The city approves an amendment expanding the mall's allowable size to about 1.39 million square feet
Fall 1988 - The Gardens Mall opens in Palm Beach Gardens with Macy's, Burdines, and Sears as original anchors
Early 1990s - Saks Fifth Avenue joins the mall, strengthening its upscale department store lineup
1990 - Bloomingdale's opens after being delayed during the mall's initial launch period
February 7, 2002 - The city approves P.F. Chang's and Brio Tuscan Grille at the mall
March 20, 2003 - The city approves an increase in the size of Brio
August 19, 2004 - Palm Beach Gardens approves the Nordstrom project, Macy's expansion, Saks expansion, and additional mall space
2006 - Nordstrom opens at The Gardens Mall in the former Burdines space
2017 - The city approves Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant
Late February 2024 - Sears closes after 36 years at the mall
2024 - The city approves signage for Tap 42 and Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar
June 27, 2025 - A redevelopment application is submitted for the former Sears site with Dick's House of Sport and new retail space
August 26, 2025 - The Dick's House of Sport redevelopment proposal is scheduled for Development Review Committee review
April 2026 - The former Sears redevelopment plan remains under city review, with later hearing dates still not set
