Mall for sale is milestone, challenge for Boynton Beach officials, developers | Editorial

Editorials from The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board are the opinions of the Board, not of the Post newsroom.

The Boynton Beach Mall is up for sale. Call it an opportunity that offers potential for new housing in a crowded, commercially developed area that could use an upgrade. It's a major step in a long and ironic process. The mall that helped spur Boynton Beach's "downtown" along Congress Avenue is now being sold as a teardown.

JLL, a national brokerage firm, began marketing the mall as "...a site poised to benefit from the insatiable demand for large-scale residential development." That's been the view of Boynton Beach officials since the city's 2020 zoning change that would allow for up 1,700 new housing units and commercial development on the 91-acre site.

The chance to raze the mall and rebuild on prime property in southern Palm Beach County should attract developers interested in the opportunities — and profits — that come with building a new residential enclave. The challenge for Boynton Beach is to be ready to work with a buyer to ensure that what's built benefits the city and its residents living near the mall site.

All that's needed now is a developer willing to take on on a site that contains several owners, including Christ Fellowship Church, Macy's and a Cinemark movie theater. Still, that shouldn't be a major impediment, as many homeowners appreciate communities that offer amenities, commercial and cultural attractions.

"There's a tremendous shortage [of housing]," Orin Rosenfeld, a commercial real estate broker in Boca Raton, told Post reporter Alexandra Clough. "I'm sure there's a market for new housing within walking distance to everything."

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Change is the operative word in today's marketplace. For any successful mall, it's either adapt or die. New stores, restaurants and mall attractions are essential to keep customers and merchants happy. Malls in Palm Beach County, like anywhere else, undergo changes often. But Boynton Beach Mall proved unable to adapt.

Hobbled by retail competition, safety concerns and online shopping, the once bustling mall is a shadow of its former self, pocked by vacant retail space, amid a lonely sea of empty parking lots. Ideally, razing much of the mall would result in a new enclave of residential and commercial development that would enhance the area. That's been the hope of Boynton Beach officials for almost three years, since the city rezoned the mall to allow for housing and commercial use.

In 2020, Justin Katz, then Boynton Beach's vice mayor, described the mall as an outdated model sitting on “a wasteland of concrete.” At the time, the mall was one-third vacant and its occupancy rate had dropped by 11.6 percent from 2015 to 2019, according to a letter sent on behalf of the mall’s property owners.

Not much has changed. Competing malls in the county siphoned off customers, as did the big box stores and chain restaurants that dot Congress Avenue and line the mall itself. The cheaper rents and easier accessibility that being on the avenue offered only made it harder for the mall to attract and keep tenants.

The mall is currently 94% occupied, according to the JLL offering. However, there are few national retailers and only three major department stores. Most of the other occupants are small clothing outlets, jewelry stores and personal care services, such as beauty and nail salons. It's not the formula for a long and enduring mall operation.

Fortunately, the first pivotal move has occurred. The sale stands to end years of frustration for the 38 year-old mall and opens the door to opportunity. Three years ago, city commissioners mulled the possibilities while discussing an earlier plan for transforming the mall by cutting store space by 40% for new housing, a hotel, offices, a fire station and more. The talk also addressed the need for affordable housing, mass transit options and open space, in addition to the development's impact on local traffic.

Those discussions must resume with more vigor today. At some point, an interested developer will step up, buy the land and submit plans for city approval. What was once hypothetical will become real; the city had better be ready to reshape its future.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Boynton Beach Mall sale brings housing to Palm Beach County Florida