Company signs lease for former Hollywood Fashion Mall
By Karen-Janine Cohen
Business Writer
April 11, 2003
After several false starts, the former Hollywood Fashion Mall, almost a decade vacant,
may finally open.
Millennium Development Enterprises, a Weston-based company, said it has signed a 60-year
lease for the property at Hollywood Boulevard and State Road 441, owned by Hollywood Fashion Mall Inc. The company will pay $35 million
over 10 years and has an option to buy the property for $33 million after 10 years.
About 50 percent of the almost 1 million-square-foot property, to be called "The
Millennium ... Hollywood's City Place," will be devoted to individual small retailers selling from booths and kiosks. The remaining
space will be dedicated to attractions, such as a carousel.
Millennium expects to spend about $9 million over the next two years to renovate the
space, said Ignacio Martinez, Millennium chairman. It is also planning a 35,000-square-foot farmer's market.
"Mainly our concept is to create a destination," said Martinez, whose family
owns three flea markets in Caracas, Venezuela.
Attorney Roy Oppenheim, who represented Millennium in the deal, said that it will be
a more upscale version of the typical indoor flea market. "It will be somewhat nicer than what is known as a flea market," he
said.
The deal has been brewing for several years. According to Oppenheim, Millennium came
a-wooing for the mall more than 18 months back. But Hollywood Fashion Mall Inc. preferred Festival Market Place, which runs the Festival
Flea Market in Pompano Beach. But that deal failed, and Oppenheim said that Hollywood Fashion Mall Inc. recently got in touch with Millennium,
and the principals finalized the project in less than 10 days.
Daniel Shooster, Festival Market Place chief operating officer, said Thursday that despite
ongoing negotiations with the owners, a deal could not be struck.
"We worked on it for quite a while," he said. "I will say the city of
Hollywood was terrific to work with and deserve to be noted and credited for that. It just didn't come together as a Festival Market Place,
and we set some high standards for that."
The property began life in the 1970s as an upscale shopping destination anchored by
Jordan Marsh and Burdines department stores. Hollywood Fashion Mall Inc. bought the property in the early '90s.
Its attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Karen-Janine Cohen can be reached at kjcohen@sun-sentinel.com
or 954-356-4668.
Copyright (c) 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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