Miami Worldcenter Inks New Retail Leases with Free People, Santander Bank & The Spot Barbershop

MIAMI, FL – May 20, 2024 – Three new retail concepts are coming to Miami Worldcenter – the $6 billion, 27-acre mixed-use development transforming the heart of Downtown Miami. The development’s ownership group has completed leases with specialty lifestyle brand Free People, Spanish financial institution Santander Bank, and South Florida chain The Spot Barbershop. All three locations are expected to open over the next twelve months.

 

• Set to open in late 2024, Free People will occupy over 3,000 square feet of space at 851 NE 2nd Avenue, Unit #D-137, along Miami Worldcenter’s Paseo Promenade, one of the development’s main retail-lined pedestrian walkways. Free People is a global women’s lifestyle brand, defined by creativity, curiosity, and adventure, with offerings in unique apparel, intimate wear, shoes and accessories, and beauty and wellness.

 

• Set to open in early 2025, Santander Bank will occupy about 4,000 square feet of space at 150 NE 8th Street, Unit #F-145. Santander Bank, N.A. is one of the country’s largest retail and commercial banks, with $102 billion in assets. With its corporate offices in Boston, the Bank’s more than 5,100 employees and more than 1.8 million customers are principally located in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. The Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE: SAN), and is recognized as one of the world’s most admired companies by Fortune Magazine in 2024, with approximately 165 million customers in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.

 

• Set to open in late 2024, The Spot Barbershop will occupy more than 1,700 square feet of space at 851 NE 2nd Avenue, Unit #D-124, joining Free People along the Paseo Promenade. Established in 2001, The Spot has been a South Florida staple combining upscale grooming services and experiences tailored to the modern gentleman for over two decades and has since expanded to over 25 locations across Florida. The new location at Miami Worldcenter will mark its third shop in Downtown Miami. The Miami-influenced barbershop features its signature industrial décor, classic bar, soft lighting, and comfortable seating, creating a haven for patrons to relax and indulge while awaiting their modern and contemporary haircuts.

 

As one of the largest privately owned and developed urban real estate developments in Florida, Miami Worldcenter, which is currently coming alive in phases, features a diverse mix of residential, commercial and hospitality uses complemented by a total of 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and entertainment space. Approximately 95% of the development’s retail space is now leased as of May 2024 and tenants are actively building out their spaces for opening.

 

Miami Worldcenter is being developed by master developers Miami Worldcenter Associates, led by Managing Partners Art Falcone and Nitin Motwani, in partnership with CIM Group.

 

"In welcoming our new retail tenants to Miami Worldcenter, we're not just expanding our offerings, we're shaping the future of downtown Miami. Each addition enhances our vibrant urban landscape, fostering economic growth and community engagement, and solidifying our position as a premier destination for residents and visitors alike,” said Nitin Motwani, Managing Partner of Miami Worldcenter Associates.

 

Free People, Santander Bank and The Spot Barbershop will join a growing roster of newly opened tenants and hospitality destinations at Miami Worldcenter, including three new food and beverage options by Ariete Hospitality Group’s Michelin-star-rated Chef Michael Beltran - Brasserie Laurel, Chug’s Express, and El Vecino Cigar & Cocktail Bar; storefronts for national retail brands lululemon, Sephora, and Ray-Ban; a Lucky Strike bowling & entertainment center; and a Lucid Motors luxury electric vehicle showroom and service center. Also now open is the affordable luxury citizenM Miami Worldcenter hotel.

 

Announced tenants set to open this year include an exceptional lineup of restaurants including local favorite JUVIA, Villa One Tequila Gardens rooftop restaurant and bar co-owned by celebrities Nick Jonas and John Varvatos, Chicago’s Maple & Ash, the New York-famous Italian restaurant Serafina, Sweet Paris Creperie & Café, Earls Kitchen + Bar, Sixty Vines, coffee shop giant Starbucks, and a dual-concept location for BurgerFi/Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza & Wings; along with dining and entertainment concept Sports & Social; a permanent location for the world-famous Museum of Ice Cream; and other nationally recognized favorites including The Container Store, Club Studio, Savage X Fenty, and Posman Books.

 

Retail leasing at Miami Worldcenter is led by CIM Group and Miami-based The Comras Company. CIM Group is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender, and developer. The Comras Company is a leading, boutique real estate firm providing retail leasing, asset sales, consulting, and development advisory services throughout South Florida.

 

“We are achieving our retail vision for Miami Worldcenter as a destination for all with classic retailers, new boutiques, and an array of dining and daily needs services, set in a distinctive environment of articulated, meandering streets and open plazas,” said Shaul Kuba, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group.

 

Miami Worldcenter will include nearly 11,000 residential units with a mix of luxury condominiums and market-rate apartments. Completed residential projects include Paramount Miami Worldcenter, a 569-unit signature luxury condominium tower; CAOBA, a 444-unit market-rate apartment tower; and Bezel Miami, a 434-unit luxury rental tower.

 

Construction is now underway at New York-based developer Lalezarian’s 52-story Miami World Tower 1, which will comprise 550 multifamily apartment units; at Royal Palm Companies’ Legacy Hotel & Residences, a 50-story mixed-use tower with 310 branded residences atop a hotel and 50,000 square feet of medical office space; at the second phase of Caoba, which encompasses a 40-story tower with 420 multifamily apartments; at The Crosby, a 450-unit turn-key condominium by Related Group and Merrimac Ventures; at 600 Miami Worldcenter, a 579-unit fully furnished condominium by Aria Development Group and Merrimac Ventures; and at JEM Private Residences, a 67-story mixed use luxury residential tower with 259 condos and about 500 apartment units by New York-based developer Naftali Group.

 

Planned developments include three additional residential towers developed by Lalezarian with another 2,000 multifamily units; a two-tower mixed-use residential and commercial development by Abbhi Capital; a three-tower mixed-use residential project by The Witkoff Group; a mixed-use residential and hotel development by Falcone Group; and two 63-story towers by Lynd Group with roughly 550 apartments and 550 condos.

 

Complementing Miami Worldcenter’s retail streets will be World Square, a 20,000-square-foot outdoor public plaza and park. Designed as a central gathering place, World Square will serve as the heartbeat of the development featuring an abundance of open space, shade trees, and oversized, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks lined with dining, entertainment, and retail concepts.

 

Miami Worldcenter’s $5 million public art initiative – curated by international art dealer Jeffrey Deitch and Miami-based curatorial collective PRIMARY – transforms the streets and buildings of the 27-acre ‘city within a city’ into a permanent outdoor art museum. Now complete, the program features a variety of contemporary and modern art works – in the form of large-scale murals, paintings, and sculptures – created by globally acclaimed artists including Nina Chanel Abney, Woody De Othello, Viktor El-Saieh, Nick Cave, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Hernan Bas, Serge Toussaint, Zadok Ben-David and Franz Ackermann.

 

Miami Worldcenter occupies 10 city blocks within walking distance of Museum Park, home to Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Frost Museum of Science; the newly renamed home of the Miami Heat, the Kaseya Center; the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts; and Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus. It is also adjacent to Brightline’s MiamiCentral station, which offers direct train service from Downtown Miami to Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach and Orlando, together with access to Tri-Rail, the Metromover, and the Metrorail – making Miami Worldcenter the largest and most connected transit-oriented development in Florida.

 

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ABOUT MIAMI WORLDCENTER

Miami Worldcenter is a new $6 billion mixed-use destination in the heart of Downtown Miami. As one of the largest private urban real estate developments underway in the United States, the project occupies 27 acres spanning ten city blocks and offers world-class retail, hospitality, commercial and residential uses. Several phases of the project have already been completed and occupied, including three residential towers, a significant portion of the retail component, and a citizenM hotel.

 

Miami Worldcenter Associates serves as the master developer for the overall mixed-use development, led by Managing Partners Art Falcone and Nitin Motwani, in partnership with CIM Group, a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer. Together they have assembled a best-in-class development team that is currently transforming the urban core of Miami into one of the country’s largest mixed-use destinations. Learn more at www.miamiworldcenter.com.