Fashion Mall was a three-level shopping mall in Plantation, Florida

Plantation, Florida

Plantation is the name of the following places in the U.S. state of Florida:*Plantation, Florida, a city in Broward County; the largest of the places named "Plantation" in Florida*Plantation, Sarasota County, Florida, a census-designated place...

, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. The mall closed in 2006 following hurricane damage and was to have been remodeled afterward.

History

Fashion Mall opened with Lord and Taylor as an anchor store in 1988. However, Macy's

Macy's

Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...

 opened in time for the busy 1988 Holiday shopping season before the rest of the mall was completed. The mall struggled to attract retail tenants due to competition from Broward Mall

Broward Mall

The Broward Mall, officially known as Westfield Broward, is a one-level shopping mall in Plantation, Florida, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. The mall has recently completed a multi-million-dollar renovation, and is operated and owned by the Westfield Group. The center features 125 retail and...

, located about a block away. The Lord and Taylor store closed in 2003, when the chain exited the state of Florida. After a series of sales, the property was acquired by U.S. Capital Holdings Group in 2004. The Macy's remained open until 2005, when Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma

Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm , thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season...

 caused significant damage to the store; on 26 July 2006, Macy's announced it was permanently closing the Fashion Mall store.

Leadup to closure

After the Macy's closed, the occupancy dwindled to fewer than 20 stores. Adding to the center's woes was an agreement signed by the previous owners with the city of Plantation, agreeing to install upgrades to the mall's fire safety systems. While U.S. Holdings considered plans to redevelop the property, the city pressed to have the upgrades installed, since the deficiencies had been noted since 2003 and nothing had been done to remediate them. After a number of discussions between the city and the owner, the city informed the mall's tenants that they would be required to vacate their locations in the mall by October 15, 2007, and that any occupational licenses held by tenants of the center were revoked.

Redevelopment

On 25 January 2007, U. S. Capital announced their plans to redevelop the mall into a mixed-use project called "321 North" (named for its address on University Drive). The plan calls for a significant portion of the mall structure to be demolished, and the retail portion to be reconfigured to street-front stores. When completed, there will be approximately 525000 square feet (48,774.1 m²) of retail space, more than 300000 square feet (27,870.9 m²) of office space in two new buildings, and approximately 600 residential units. The development will be the first in South Florida to adhere to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....

(LEED) Green Building Rating System, incorporating environmentally-friendly materials and construction techniques. The plans for 321 North never materialized, and the vacant former mall was put up for auction in 2010.