Inside Rise, Decline, And Reset Of The Shops At Sunset Place, South Miami, FL - Demolition Next

Quick facts

Official name	The Shops at Sunset Place
Former uses on the site	Riviera Theatre (1926 to 1927), Holsum Bakery (1934 to 1982), Bakery Centre (1986 to 1996)
Location	South Miami, Florida
Address	5701 Sunset Drive, at U.S. 1 (South Dixie Highway) and Red Road (SW 57th Avenue)
Coordinates	25.7049° N, 80.2862° W
Opened	December 18, 1998, with a grand opening in January 1999
Owner	Midtown Opportunities (Midtown Development), since late 2020
Category	Open-air shopping mall, approved for full redevelopment
Retail size	514,000 sq ft
Key features	24-screen AMC with IMAX (closed 2020), Splitsville, GameWorks then GameTime
Transit	Across U.S. 1 from the South Miami Metrorail station
Most recent change	Demolition scheduled for Q1 2026 to build the "Sunset Place" mixed-use district

The Shops at Sunset Place: 1999 opening and early problems

The Shops at Sunset Place is an open-air shopping mall in South Miami, Florida, at U.S. 1 and Red Road, across from the South Miami Metrorail station and just south of the University of Miami.

It opened to the public on December 18, 1998, and held its grand opening in January 1999.

The developers planned it as a destination mall built around an all-day visit. It opened with 514,000 sq ft of retail and entertainment space.

Shops at Sunset Place in South Miami, FL

The largest tenant was a 24-screen AMC multiplex with an IMAX, about 92,000 sq ft per the South Florida Business Journal.

Early tenants included Virgin Megastore, GameWorks, FAO Schwarz, Barnes & Noble, Gap, Banana Republic, Urban Outfitters, and Esprit.

Construction cost about $150 million, with more than $6 million set aside for architectural effects.

The main plaza had a large artificial banyan tree, and a central water feature spilled over painted cement rocks and plastic ivy.

Wilderness Grill used staged effects such as fake lightning and rain. Some critics called the look "the Heart of Shopping Mall Darkness."

Parking failed right away. The garage held about 1,800 spaces and filled quickly.

Drivers reported waits of around 45 minutes to park and similar delays to leave. Nearby homeowners complained about cars spilling onto local streets and lawns.

City officials also flagged access to the Metrorail parking lot across U.S. 1, which required crossing six lanes of traffic.

Riviera Theatre, 1926 to 1927

The Riviera Theatre stood on this corner first. Brothers Harold and Robert Dorn, who had moved from Chicago in 1910 and worked in fruit farming and real estate during the Florida land boom, built it.

Architects L.R. Patterson and E.R. Robertson of Robertson & Patterson designed the building in Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Moorish styles.

It was steel and concrete and seated about 1,000 people. The exterior had a wide stairway to arched entrances, decorative carvings and coat-of-arms details, and a barrel-tile hip roof.

Inside, the auditorium ceilings rose to about 37 feet with hand-painted beams.

A gently sloping floor led to the stage, columns lined the aisles, and a large Wurlitzer organ, described as the largest south of Atlanta, had pipes on both sides of the stage.

Organist Gilbert Edwards played at the opening.

The Riviera opened on September 4, 1926. The first film was Universal's "Her Big Night," starring Laura La Plante.

On September 18, 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane struck South Florida. The theater took minor damage, but the storm wrecked the regional economy.

Electric power took weeks to restore, attendance dropped as residents struggled, and the theater closed in 1927, about a year after it opened.

Shops at Sunset Place — "The Shops At Sunset Place" by Phillip Pessar is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Holsum Bakery on the site, 1934 to 1982

In 1934, Fuchs Baking Company bought the vacant Riviera Theatre and turned it into a bakery that made Holsum Bread, known locally as the Holsum Bakery.

The company had operated since the early 1910s from Homestead.

The conversion required major interior changes, but the open stairway and arched entrances stayed, so the building still read as the old theater from the street.

The bakery became the most durable use the property ever had. At full capacity it could make about 10,000 loaves per hour.

Distribution ran across South Florida and reached Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other Latin American markets.

The smell of fresh bread carried through the neighborhood for decades.

Around 1940, Holsum added a holiday tradition.

Each season the facade carried elaborate themed Christmas displays that drew thousands of spectators, and postcards of the scenes circulated from at least 1948 through the 1950s.

Holsum operated here until 1982, when it moved northwest to Medley to expand, ending nearly fifty years of baking on the site.

Bakery Centre, 1986 to 1996

After Holsum left, the property was bought for a retail project that kept a nod to the site in its name.

The Bakery Centre opened in 1986 on the former bakery site, a five-level complex of offices and retail that included the AMC Bakery Centre 7 multiplex, bringing a cinema back to the corner.

It never became a stable shopping destination. It lacked major anchor tenants and never drew enough steady traffic to hold its tenant mix. Vacancies and turnover ran through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The Bakery Centre was demolished in 1996, with the parking garage left standing, and the cleared site was used to build The Shops at Sunset Place.

The New York Times reported the demolition in December 1996.

The Shops at Sunset Place in the 2000s

In the early 2000s, Sunset Place worked as a regular gathering place for teenagers and college students.

It offered long interior walks, food and seating, and a dense block of entertainment that kept people on site for hours.

The 24-screen AMC drew crowds for new releases. Barnes & Noble was an easy place to spend an afternoon.

Virgin Megastore anchored music and media, and its early run included a grand-opening appearance by Ricky Martin that drew lines before dawn.

University of Miami students reached the mall easily. The free Hurry 'Canes Shuttle stopped at Sunset Place, and stores promoted UM discounts.

Buffalo Wild Wings tied one promotion to Hurricanes football, giving away free wings when the team's defense forced fourth-down punts during home games.

The lineup mixed retail and entertainment. GameWorks ran a large arcade. Gap, Urban Outfitters, Victoria's Secret, and Forever 21 filled the mid-market shopping mix.

In 2008, Splitsville Luxury Lanes and Dinner Lounge opened, adding bowling, food, and drinks that extended evening activity past the movie theater.

Decline and inward-facing design, late 2000s to 2010s

By the late 2000s, Sunset Place was losing shoppers and tenants. The layout faced inward, organized around interior corridors and plazas.

From the street, much of the structure showed a large concrete wall with few outward storefronts.

That design cut visibility from U.S. 1 and the surrounding streets and discouraged walk-in shopping.

At the same time, more buying moved online, and newer projects in the region used open-air formats with storefronts facing the sidewalk.

As foot traffic fell, the distance between the building and its surroundings became harder to ignore.

Competition grew. Dolphin Mall became a stronger draw in the Miami market by the mid-2000s.

By 2014, Sunset Place housed the Miami area's only GameTime location, which replaced the original GameWorks arcade. By the 2020s, vacancy and wear were obvious.

Some visitors described dirty walls, stairs, and floors and called the property "cursed." University of Miami students reported shopping at Shops at Merrick Park instead, or skipping Sunset Place entirely.

2015 sale and the stalled redevelopment plan

In October 2015, Simon Property Group sold Sunset Place for about $110 million, per the Miami Herald.

The buyer was a joint venture led by Federal Realty Investment Trust, with Grass River Property and the Comras Company.

The new owners proposed a major redevelopment: less retail, added offices, and demolition of a large part of the mall to make room for apartments and a hotel, with retail turned outward to face the streets.

The plan never reached construction.

By 2019, the property was reported at 62 percent leased, with average base rent around $17 per sq ft. In March 2019, Yumbrella opened as a 6,500 sq ft food hall inside the mall.

2020 closures and the ownership change

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the mall hard. The AMC theater closed, and GameTime and Splitsville closed as well. In June 2020, the owners reported the property's carrying value at about $113 million.

In September 2020, Federal Realty defaulted on a $61 million nonrecourse CMBS loan when it matured, then chose to exit.

Midtown Opportunities acquired Sunset Place for $65.5 million, a $44.5 million loss for the sellers per RE Business Online.

The deal closed at the end of 2020 and was recorded in early 2021.

Heatherwick Studio redesign and the street-grid plan

After buying the property, Midtown dropped the idea of renovating in stages and moved to full demolition and a new design.

The team visited New York City, took an interest in Heatherwick Studio's work, including "Little Island," and hired the London firm for the South Miami site.

The design replaces the enclosed mall with an extension of the surrounding street grid: a network of smaller streets and lanes through the site, lined with smaller retail and food-and-beverage spaces that open directly to the street.

Thomas Heatherwick described the goal as getting rid of the sterile atmosphere of the old mall and bringing back streets.

The massing uses slim residential towers raised on columns, which opens up circulation at ground level.

Heatherwick Studio is master planner and lead designer, ODP Architecture & Design is executive architect, and local firm Zyscovich is involved in the mixed-use work.

The approved 2024 redevelopment and demolition timeline

On October 15, 2024, the South Miami City Commission unanimously approved a redevelopment plan branded "Sunset Place." The plan divides the 10.1-acre parcel into four zones: Sunset Zone, Village, Central, and the US-1 Gateway.

The approved program totals about 1.47 million sq ft. It includes 1,513 residential units and a 287-room hotel, in seven towers ranging from 12 to 33 stories.

Retail is planned at 140,500 sq ft, with roughly three-quarters for restaurants and dining.

Office space is planned at 50,900 sq ft. The plan adds a 1,300-seat theater for movies and performing arts.

Public open space totals 3.4 acres of plazas, gardens, and pedestrian areas. Parking is planned at 2,418 spaces in below-grade and structured facilities, with the existing garage kept in use.

As a condition of approval, Midtown must reach a property value of $300 million by 2034 or risk losing approval for the tallest towers.

Demolition of the current mall was scheduled for the first quarter of 2026, pending final permits and condo pre-sales, with condo sales expected to begin before demolition.

The first phase, targeted for 2029, covers new streets, public-realm work, a residential condominium tower, and the hotel.

Full buildout is projected for 2035, with pop-ups, temporary installations, and public spaces planned during construction.

Timeline of the Sunset Place site

1926: The Riviera Theatre opens on September 4 and closes in 1927 after the Great Miami Hurricane.
1934: Fuchs Baking Company converts the theater into the Holsum Bakery.
1982: Holsum moves to Medley, ending baking on the site.
1986: The Bakery Centre opens with a 7-screen AMC multiplex.
1996: The Bakery Centre is demolished, with the garage left standing.
1998: The Shops at Sunset Place opens on December 18, with a grand opening in January 1999.
2008: Splitsville Luxury Lanes and Dinner Lounge opens.
2015: Simon Property Group sells the mall for $110 million to a Federal Realty-led venture.
2019: The property is reported at 62 percent leased; Yumbrella food hall opens.
2020: The AMC, GameTime, and Splitsville close during the pandemic; Federal Realty defaults on a $61 million loan.
2020 to 2021: Midtown Opportunities acquires the mall for $65.5 million.
2024: South Miami approves the "Sunset Place" redevelopment on October 15.
2026: Demolition scheduled for the first quarter.
2029: First phase targeted, with streets, a condo tower, and the hotel.
2035: Full buildout projected.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Shops at Sunset Place?
It is an open-air shopping mall in South Miami, Florida, that opened on December 18, 1998. It is approved for full demolition and redevelopment into a mixed-use district.

Where is The Shops at Sunset Place?
It is at 5701 Sunset Drive, where U.S. 1 meets Red Road in South Miami, across U.S. 1 from the South Miami Metrorail station and just south of the University of Miami.

When did The Shops at Sunset Place open?
It opened to the public on December 18, 1998, with a grand opening in January 1999.

Who owns The Shops at Sunset Place?
Midtown Opportunities (Midtown Development) has owned it since late 2020, after buying it for $65.5 million from a venture led by Federal Realty Investment Trust.

Why did The Shops at Sunset Place decline?
Its inward-facing design hid storefronts from the street, online shopping grew, open-air competitors opened nearby, and the 2020 pandemic closed its anchor tenants.

Is The Shops at Sunset Place being demolished?
Yes. South Miami approved demolition and redevelopment on October 15, 2024, with demolition scheduled for the first quarter of 2026, pending permits and condo pre-sales. The original parking garage is set to remain.

What will replace The Shops at Sunset Place?
A mixed-use district called "Sunset Place," with 1,513 residences, a 287-room hotel, seven towers of 12 to 33 stories, 140,500 sq ft of retail, a 1,300-seat theater, and 2,418 parking spaces, designed by Heatherwick Studio. Full buildout is projected for 2035.

What was on the site before the mall?
The Riviera Theatre (1926 to 1927), then the Holsum Bakery (1934 to 1982), then the Bakery Centre (1986 to 1996).