FYI Miami: July 8, 2021

Below are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

DOWNTOWN EMPTIES: One-fifth of all retail space in downtown Miami is now vacant, according to a report of retail throughout the county released last week by Colliers. The downtown market has more than 3.3 million square feet of retail in 74 separate buildings, and during the second quarter landlords managed to rent only 4,482 square feet more than were vacated. The weakness in the market comes as Flagler Street, downtown’s main shopping street, is undergoing major long-term renovations that are likely to block or impede some shopping. The average direct asking rental rate downtown for retail was $55.13 per square foot at the end of June, less than $58.19 in Brickell, $64.06 in Wynwood and the Design District combined and well below $82 in Miami Beach among central business district markets. Meanwhile, the report says 300,000 more square feet of retail are under construction downtown. 

KENDALL RULES RETAIL: Miami-Dade’s largest market for retail space by far, Kendall, with more than 18.8 million square feet of retail space in 368 buildings, has a total percentage vacancy barely a fourth as high as downtown Miami’s The Kendall vacancy rate is 5.2%, as a net of 63,373 square feet of retail were filled during the second quarter of this year, according to figures from Colliers. Rental rates in Kendall retail average $31.40 per square foot. Among suburban retail markets the 39 buildings in Coconut Grove had the largest vacancy percentage, 9/1%, as the market absorbed 69,499 net square feet in the second quarter despite new completion of 80,000 square feet. Retail rents in the Grove averaged $41.95, Colliers’ figures show.

FLAGLER IN THE FALL: “If we have more people visiting downtown Miami, more businesses are going to open and going to start to serve the residents,” says Manolo Reyes, commissioner and chairman of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA). The DDA agreed that more festivals and events is a great way to get people downtown. The first event to be held, even while construction is altering Flagler Street, is the “Miami Masquerade,” created by the Urban Impact Lab. It’s to be a celebration on Nov. 1 combining Halloween and Dia de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Dia de Meurtos is a Mexican celebration of color and affirming life and is not meant to be scary because it’s a celebration welcoming back their dead, said the Urban Impact Lab. The festival will combine cultures for a fun, lively celebration rather than one that sounds dark, according to Marta Viciedo, co-founder of Urban Impact Lab. This first Flagler street festival is meant to lure people downtown, not to look haunted and frightening, the DDA said.