This old Miami mall is getting a modern mega entertainment center.
Sometimes you spend hours at the mall and get home without any purchases. And mall owners are perfectly happy to see you leave empty-handed. That’s because you likely dropped dime on-site and are lighter of pocket as you engaged in retailtainment.
“Retailtainment” is a term coined in the shopping mall industry to describe the trend of combining entertainment “lifestyle” venues like contemporary arcades that include the latest video games, bowling alleys, racing tracks and dining areas or mega fitness centers that resemble resorts and placing them alongside traditional mall stores.
Miami International Mall, a nearly 42-year-old, 1.1 million-square-foot shopping center in Doral, seizes that growing market with the addition of Elev8 Fun. When the community hub is completed in early 2025, says mall management team Simon Property Group, Elev8 Fun will fill 110,000 square feet with more than 100 arcade games, 12 bowling lanes, a go-kart track, mini-golf, a fitness center and full-service restaurant.
Elev8 Fun takes over space that once operated as a Kohl’s department store. Simon did not give an exact opening date.
Elev8 Fun owner David Goldfarb, who also owns Xtreme Action Park in Fort Lauderdale, told the Miami Herald he chose the western Miami mall for its high traffic location, its tenant mix and its familiar face in the neighborhood. The mall has been on Northwest 107th Avenue since 1982.
“The Miami International Mall has been a legacy shopping mall-destination for decades in the western Miami community and continues to serve as a major shopping hub for the growing trade area,” he said. “The consumer spending trends and demographics are conducive to a family entertainment center.”
Simon’s pursuit of Elev8 follows other South Florida malls’ additions over the last five years. These include the 93-foot glass and steel “Aventura Slide Tower” designed by German sculptor Carsten Höller that opened at Aventura Mall in 2019.