The Falls (mall)
 The main storefront area | |
 | |
| Location | Kendall, Florida |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 1980 |
| Developer | Taubman Centers |
| Management | Simon Property Group |
| Owner | GM Pension Trust, Simon Property Group, & Farallon Cap. Mgt. |
| No. of stores and services | 100+ [1] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 |
| Total retail floor area | 821,000 ft² |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Website | [2] |
The Falls is an open-air shopping mall in Kendall, Florida. The mall has over 100 upscale stores; its anchor stores are Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Regal Entertainment Group, and is currently managed and partially owned by the Simon Property Group.
History
The Falls opened in 1980 as an upscale, open-air plaza. As its name implies, the center is designed around a lushly-landscaped man-made lagoon featuring numerous pools, waterfalls and bridges accented with modern sculpture pieces and decorative lighting. In 1984 the first anchor store, Bloomingdale's, was added, bringing the center to 450,000 ft². Bloomingdale's closed temporarily in September 1992 after the store was severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew, but it later re-opened in late 1993. Macy's opened a store in 1996 during an expansion that doubled the size of the shopping center. The center features an iconic tower sign on the southwestern corner of South Dixie Highway and S.W. 136th Street (Howard Drive). The success of the center has led to the surrounding Howard, Briar Bay and Colonial Palms neighborhoods to be encompassed by the generic "The Falls" name.
The center was sold in December 1997 to Taubman Centers, which transferred ownership in 1998 to the GM Pension Trust. Taubman continued to manage the center until 2004, when the GM Pension Trust sold a half-interest in The Falls to The Mills Corporation, which also assumed management. In 2007, Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management acquired The Mills and subsequently assumed management of The Falls.
