South Florida Mall Winds Down

Palm Beach Mall’s future looks bleak now that Simon Property Group has declined to dispute a $53.2-million foreclosure. The 1.2-million-square-foot retail property goes up for auction March 4, according to this report from the South Florida Business Journal.

Whether the 42-year-old shopping mall will remain a mall in the usual sense is questionable. It has already lost one of its three remaining anchors, the rest of it has gone dark and reviving it in its current form is doubtful in this economy.

Burger King: Help Needed

Miami-based Burger King Corp. thought it would be enough to offer a double cheeseburger for $1, thinking we would all flock there for more meat than their nearest fast-food competitors. Even though that helped boost its second-quarter profits, the chain managed to tork off its franchisees in the process.

You know something’s wrong when comics start jabbing at your restaurants, as The Onion did recently. And the prospect of being able to buy a beer with your next Whopper drew about the same reaction as Apple’s new iPad.

Amendment 4 Showdown at UF

The University of Florida, normally recognized as the home of football and basketball champions, will be the venue for a key real estate debate this month. A leading expert on growth management will host a discussion on Amendment 4 on Wednesday, Feb. 10 at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service on the Gainesville campus.

Bob Rhodes, Florida’s former growth management administrator, will lead the discussion of Amendment 4, which he calls the “elephant in the growth management policy room.” The referendum on the November ballot would require approval of all local government comprehensive plans and plan amendments by voters before becoming effective, part of a wider direct democracy movement that gives citizens a larger say in land use planning.

Train’s A-Comin’, Now What?

The excitement over Florida’s new high-speed rail line might be greater … if we hadn’t heard about it so many times before. President Barack Obama brought the state $1.25 billion as a down payment Thursday, and now we find ourselves asking, “What do we do now?”

That big chunk of stimulus funding, while much appreciated, is only the beginning of a long process that has good intentions (job creation, reduced dependence on cars and so forth) but is going to get expensive in the long run. Nobody really knows how much of the 84-mile line between Tampa and Orlando can be covered by Obama’s oversized check, and it doesn’t even factor in the even longer track proposed to Miami.

Florida Must Change, And More

As my e-mail inbox fills up almost as fast as I can read everything, there are some items that are too good to put aside. Here are a few examples:
• Sean Snaith’s latest commentary in the University of Central Florida’s latest state and metro forecast makes a point many of us might have missed during the ongoing recession: Florida has long depended on population growth to fuel our economy, and now that wellspring appears to be drying up.

“The state was succeeding despite itself,” says Snaith, director of UCF’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness. “Then the housing boom went bust and population not only stopped robustly growing, it actually started to decline.”

Rebuilding Cypress Gardens

Anyone who has visited Winter Haven’s Cypress Gardens over the past several decades has fond memories of water-skiing shows, Southern belles and acres of lush landscaping. Unfortunately, all of that hasn’t been enough to attract newer generations of Florida tourists, especially with Walt Disney World just up the road in Lake Buena Vista.

And so the state’s oldest theme park, dating back to 1936, closes one history book and opens another with Thursday’s introduction of Legoland Florida, a new theme-park based on the popular building blocks. British-based Merlin Entertainments Group paid $22.3 million for the 150-acre property, which changed ownership several times in recent years but has been dormant since last fall.

NMHC Conference Aftermath

A few interesting odds and ends from the National Multi Housing Council’s apartment strategies conference and annual meeting last week in Boca Raton:

• GDP growth over the next several quarters is expected to resemble the signal bars on a cell phone, according to Tony Pierson, managing director of portfolio management with Hartford, CT-based Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers. “We may be headed out of the Great Recession, if we’re not already,” Pierson told the NMHC audience.

Opening the History Book

Want to learn how commercial real estate in the Orlando market got to where it is today? Mark your calendar for the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 28.

The local chapter of NAIOP will host “The History of Commercial Real Estate in Central Florida” at the History Center, 65 E. Central Blvd. Doug Irmscher of Duke Realty Corp. will moderate the discussion, with participants including Jim Brown, Ted Bywater, Larry Church, Woody Coley, Sandy Dann, Bill Donegan, Charles Gray, Trevor Hall Jr., Thomas Kohler, George Livingston and Egerton van den Berg.

The program is scheduled from 3-5 p.m., followed by a cocktail reception. The cost is $45 for NAIOP members or $65 for non-members. For more details, call NAIOP Central Florida at (407) 227-7461.

Coverage Switches Gears, Vehicles

The latest issue of Real Estate Florida is now available online. It is also the last, but there is good news behind the change.

Features in the magazine’s final issue include a profile of Orlando-based CNL Financial Group, a rundown of the state’s Women of Influence in commercial real estate and a market spotlight of Fort Lauderdale. There’s also a quick read on CRE news in the Sunshine State and some thoughts on the importance of reading more.

My, How Malls Have Changed

Indoor shopping malls were once considered the most upscale places to shop in any city. But as the national economy has turned, so has the selection of tenants.

One such mall in Tampa, Westfield Brandon, has gotten quite a bit of publicity lately for leasing space to a tattoo parlor. (Check out this video report from WFLA-TV.) Mall management says it’s in response to changing and meeting customer demands. I’m not quite convinced.