Business is booming in the Riverdale Village Retail Center. At the height of the pandemic, more than 300,000 square feet of retail space sat vacant.
"Going through the pandemic, working with our leasing team out in West Palm Beach, we put together a plan on how to bring in new prospects and it worked amazingly," said Ryan Burke, senior property manager for Centrecorp Management Services. "Now, we are down to around 40,000 square feet of vacancy."
The old Sears building, which has sat vacant for the past seven years, has new life. Schneiderman's Furniture recently opened a 136,000 square foot showroom. The old JCPenney building is being converted into five different tenant spaces. One space will house a large national grocer and another will be home to Sierra Trading, an outdoors store. Also, Burlington Coat is moving into the old Bed, Bath and Beyond space.
As for the smaller store fronts in Riverdale Village, PROSE Nails and Crumbl Cookies both recently opened and the management team hopes to lure in a few more.
"So that's phase two now that we've filled the big boxes is getting those smaller ones to come in, as we move on past the pandemic that will be a lot easier for those type of tenants to expand and open in the new areas," Burke said.
As for the unnamed grocery store that is expected to open at the end of the year, several published reports indicate it will be an Amazon Fresh. But official confirmation is still hard to come by.
"It is not up for us to announce but they will announce it when the time is right," Burke said.