The City of South Miami’s planning board unanimously voted in favor of demolishing the beloved, yet vacant, Sunset Place in order to implement new renovations.
Plans for these renovations include buildings that would house a little over 1,500 residents and a 287-room hotel. The renovations will also feature a 1,300-seat movie theater and 150,000 square feet of shops and dining areas.
The concept behind the redevelopment steers away from its classic podium-and-tower model, and turns towards a vibrant and modern approach. Instead, the design will have slim towers raised on columns, for pedestrian movement to flow seamlessly underneath.
The Shops at Sunset Place has been open since 1999 and was previously the site of The Bakery Centre, which opened in 1986. The Bakery Centre was a retail and office complex that featured a movie theater, and was demolished in 1996.
Now, the shopping center has few vicinities still open, including an AMC movie theater, a Barnes and Noble and a GameTime Arcade.
Students at Miami Palmetto Senior High school no longer look at Sunset Place as a place to frequently visit.
“The last time I remember Sunset being filled with people is probably like 6 years ago, this is because a lot of the shops in Sunset were still up and running and had a lot of activities for families and little kids, but now it’s kind of dead and there’s nothing there,” MPSH sophomore, Kyla Sherry said, who has lived near the shopping center for a majority of her life.
This marks the start of a new era for Sunset Place. Looking at the area itself, Sunset Place was viewed as a good location for a town center by the city of South Miami, and that is the vision behind the new renovations.
“With the renovations happening, I think Sunset will change for the better. It’s going to be adding more shops and things to do, so it won’t be as empty and will start to attract more people the larger it gets,” Sherry said.
The new network of streets, smaller retail units and food and beverage spaces will foster a brighter and livelier community environment, and bring back the vibrance that Sunset Place had once before.
