Miami Design District Expanding

Sou Fujimoto, the Tokyo architect who was selected this year to design the Serpentine Gallery pavilion in London, has created a facade for a 15,200-square-foot mixed-use retail building in the Miami Design District’s Palm Court.

The design, in the burgeoning luxury retail development, will debut in 2014, the same year VMSD’s International Retail Design Conference returns to Miami Beach.

According to Women’s Wear Daily, Fujimoto’s facade encompasses the building’s first and second floor arcades and creates a structural waterfall pedestrians can walk under.

The development is owned by Miami Design District Associates, a partnership between Dacra Realty Inc. and L Real Estate, a global real estate development fund focused on luxury retail-driven mixed-use projects in which LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is a minority investor.

Among the Design District’s retail tenants are Hermès, Agnona, Berluti, Cartier, Céline, Christian Louboutin, Dior Homme, Emilio Pucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Maison Martin Margiela and Marni.

The next phase of tenants, reports WWD, will include Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Harry Winston, Hublot, IWC, Loewe, Longchamp, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Panerai, Parmigiani, Piaget, Rick Owens, Rolex, Tag Heuer, Tiffany & Co., Tod’s, Vacheron Constantin, Valentino and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Craig Robins of Dacra said 50 stores will open in fall 2014, with 60 bowing in 2015. “Sales have been very strong already, even though we don’t have critical mass,” he said.

Women’s Wear says luxury retailers view the district as an alternative to the Bal Harbour Shops, which has been enforcing a radius restriction clause that prohibits tenants from opening stores within 20 miles of the mall.