The Daily Business Review: The Post-Retail Future: How South Florida’s Aging Strip Malls Are Being Reimagined
South Florida’s aging strip malls are entering a new chapter of reinvention. With traditional retail under pressure from e-commerce and changing consumer behaviors, developers and community leaders are boldly reimagining these once-forgotten corridors into mixed-use, experiential, and community-oriented spaces. In this Daily Business Review article, Becker attorney Jake Schulman explores how these transformations are unfolding— from adaptive reuse and placemaking strategies to legal, zoning, and development hurdles — spotlighting the “post-retail” future in one of the nation’s most dynamic real estate markets.
Click here to read the full article on law.com.
The Post-Retail Future: How South Florida’s Aging Strip Malls Are Being Reimagined
Environmental issues add another degree of complexity, particularly for aging retail properties that may be tainted by previous uses like dry cleaners or auto repair shops. Although Florida’s Brownfields Redevelopment Act (Fla. Stat. Sections 376.77–.88) offers incentives to developers to clean up contaminated properties, the initial site assessment to uncover possible dangers such as groundwater or soil contamination is mandated under ASTM standards.
In adaptive reuse, such issues can delay timetables and inflate costs; for example, the demolition of a mall can expose asbestos or lead, triggering remediation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. Sections 6901 et seq.). South Florida’s unique environmental concerns proximity to wetlands, flood plains, and the Everglades compound the problem further. In coastal South Florida, additional levels of review come into play. Floodplain regulations, sea level rise resiliency policies, and comprehensive plan coastal management requirements all affect feasibility. What may seem like a straightforward redevelopment can therefore become decades of permitting and regulatory compliance.
From a transactional standpoint, the shift from retail to mixed use requires careful title and covenant review. Most aging shopping centers are encumbered by reciprocal easement agreements (REAs) or restrictive covenants that exclude nonretail uses, limit building heights, or grant veto rights over redevelopment to anchor tenants. It typically requires unanimous consent among multiple owners or tenants to kill or amend such agreements.
In the absence of surgical legal intervention, these constraints can derail otherwise feasible projects. Further, lenders accustomed to underwriting stabilized retail centers must be persuaded to assume redevelopment risk. Those transactions are regularly packaged through joint ventures, mezzanine financing, and entitlement contingencies that are complex.
Florida’s Live Local Act has accelerated the trend by unshackling $711 million in state funds for housing developments and closing loopholes that allowed local governments to work around its provisions. The 2025 amendments tightened density calculations and expanded eligibility, making developments like those in Boca Raton and Cutler Bay feasible. Yet critics argue it erodes local control, opening the door to rampant development without the infrastructure to support it. Early results are mixed: While it has created thousands of new units, not all of them are truly “affordable,” and some neighborhoods report overwhelmed resources.
Not all conversions are to housing. Developers are also converting retail to recreational and healthcare purposes: pickleball courts, gyms, outpatient clinics and urgent care centers. These uses leverage visibility, parking, and access that traditional retail sites already possess, while catering to post pandemic demand for health and wellness services. From a legal standpoint, these conversions can be less complex than housing but still require careful analysis of zoning, parking ratios, and healthcare licensure requirements.
With retail’s lingering slump, the question is no longer whether these properties will be redeveloped, but how soon and into what. South Florida is emerging as a test case for the country: can the strip malls of yesterday be transformed into the communities of tomorrow?
Jake Schulman is a member of Becker’s Real Estate Practice in the firm’s Fort Lauderdale office. His practice focuses on transactional commercial and residential real estate, real estate development and finance, as well as a wide range of business transactions and contract matters. He regularly handles closings and title work, ensuring smooth and efficient transactions for clients.
