Vertical Dadeland Stationmall may not mark area trend J By DANIELLE BECK land left,” he said. “Dadeland Sta- each store. Then you just take an justify it.” not a passing fancy, said Stephen While Dadeland Station, one of tion is a perfect example. Tradi- escalator right to the next level and But for certain circumstances Bittel, president of Terrav.7- South Florida’s first vertical shop- tional-type malls eat up a lot of to the next store.” and areas, vertical construction is Corp., a third-party commer ping centers, has been well re- land and in going vertical you use Although Dadeland Station is so the key to making more out of real estate advisory firm. ceived by shoppers, many retail less land and it has a less dense far faring well and customer re- less, said Jeff Berkowitz, presi- “I don’t believe Dadeland Sta industry experts say they aren’t use.” sponse has been positive, vertical dent of Berkowitz Development yet convinced that this sort of The three-story, 319,000- construction isn’t a trend in the co. tion to be an aberration,” he said. ‘‘I think it will take the consumer design marks the next trend in square-foot Dadeland Station, on making, said Marc Milgram, a part- “They’re not making land any- retail construction. the west si& of between ner with JeEBerkowitz in Florida some time to get comfortable with US-1 more, so you have to go up,” he an unconventional layout, but in Instead of the traditional, hori- Southeast 72nd and 88th streets, Shopping Center Group, which said. “It’s going to be more com- developed Dadeland Station. time the stores will perform like zontal mall structure with stores opened in November and features mon in urban areas. I fully expect they are on the ground level.” laid out side by side, vertical con- five anchor retailers, seven smaller ‘‘I don’t think it will become a that our design will be widely cop- struction is building upward - tenants and six levels of parking. great big trend,” he said. “There ied throughout the US. If I could Mr. Bittel said he predicts verti with large stares atop%eachother Whilemulti-levelretailisn’tnew are very few in the US because in have patented it, I would have.” cal retail construction will becom and accessible from one another in places such as South America, many places they don’t need to be more prevalent in Dade in the com via stairs, escalator or elevator. China andManhattan, it’s still con- done. Vertical centers are built in Because Mr. Milgram and Mr. ing years. Many retail and real estate ex- sidered new to South Florida, Mr. very urban areas that have great Berkowitz took the lead with “You can look at the highly suc perts, such as John Schuenzel of Schuenzel said. sales by existing retailers but not Dadeland Station, it will be less cessful retail pockets and predic Coconut Grove-based Retail Es- “It really does make a lot of the availability of land.” difficult for other retail developers it could happen in about 10 years, tate, say vertical construction sense for us here. People don’t When ample land exists, the first to follow suit, said Joe Corral, he said. “Some of the areas tl makes sense, but usually in in- want to have to walk across a choice usually is to go horizontal, senior associate with CB Com- watch are those like Aventu- stances in which there is no space huge mall parking lot to drop off Mr. Milgram said. mercial. Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, s to go the traditional route. packages in between shopping, “It’s simpler to do a huge project “If something is successful, then conut Grove and the area by MiI- “I think it only works in ceriain especially if it’s very hot or rain- on more acres,” he said. “While the next time it’s easier for the ami International Mall. Retailers areas where the demographics are ing,” he said. “In a vertical mall, verticals can be done and they can next guy,” he said. “Retailers usu- are beginning to get used to being very strong, land prices are driven the parking is covered and it’s be very successful, I don’t think ally follow each other.’’ on the-second floor. I think more up so high and there’s not a lot of very close to the front door of there will be many situations to Vertical retail construction is of that will continue.’