Miracle Marketplace resurrected -- again

A Coral Gables developer has spent millions on renovations hoping to prove that, for one chronically unsuccessful Miami shopping center, the fourth time's the charm.Most tenants have yet to move into Miracle Marketplace at 3301 Coral Way, but the changes from its earlier incarnations as the Miracle Center and The Village at Paseos are already apparent.New developer Talisman Companies has renovated the much-maligned parking entrance, made the center's walkways open-air and reduced the number of retail floors from five to three to accommodate large anchor stores, which it says will flourish even amid the downturn. What we've created is somewhat of a value center with Marshalls being off-price and Nordstrom Rack being cheaper,'' said Dan Cetina, Talisman's executive vice president. ``People are looking for value. They want to stretch their dollar, and some of these stores are giving that to them.''Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond and Bally Total Fitness are already operating in the space, which is made up of three floors of retail with parking on levels four through seven. And in addition to Nordstrom Rack, now slated for a spring 2010 ribbon-cutting, the Vitamin Shoppe, PetSmart, discount shoe retailer DSW and Sal's Italian Restaurant have all signed leases to begin operating in the coming months.Cetina added that they were hoping to land at least two more eateries for the 10 to 12 percent of the 250,000 square feet in leasable space not yet taken. For now, light purple papering and superlatives of the ''COMING SOON!'' variety serve as stand-ins in the now mostly empty complex.Built in the late 1980s by Miami architecture firm Arquitectonica, the building instantly became a lightning rod for criticism for its avant garde industrial design, with then-Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez terming the structure ''a blob'' shortly before it even opened. Following two failed efforts at retail, the building was remade by a third owner in order to house high-tech firms -- just in time for the dot-com bust to scuttle that business as well.Cetina said increasing population density in nearby neighborhoods and Talisman's focus on big retailers will save the Marketplace from its predecessors' fates. Cetina added that the stores also hoped to draw from more distant areas such as Brickell because of the absence of similar shopping centers nearby.But despite years of renovations, one problem from its past continues to dog the complex: the parking entrance. Though Cetina made a point of noting that Talisman had replaced the steep, ''ski ramp'' parking entrance derided by past visitors with a more gradual spiral ramp, the new entrance has still drawn flack from shoppers. Visitors complained of a narrow entrance and exit between the parking and the top of the new spiral ramp, with one saying it aggravated her claustrophobia.The parking lot is pretty horrible. It gets very narrow at the top,'' said shopper Yanelis Perez. ``I wasn't here before, but I heard it went from bad to bad.''But most shoppers said the parking was improved, if nowhere near perfect, and many nearby residents said they were thrilled at the prospect of shopping close to home rather than driving to shopping centers farther away.Retail analysts Paco Diaz and Boris Kozolchyk are predicting success for the project, citing the stores' location in a market not currently served by similar retailers as a crucial advantage.It is a fantastic location from a demographic point of view,'' said Kozolchyk, an analyst for commercial real estate firm Grubb & Ellis. ``There's very little competition for quite a radius.''But Kozolchyk added that Miracle Marketplace would still have to devise a way to draw shoppers from the third floor nearest the parking to the two stories of retail below, though he added the elevators and escalators there were a step in the right direction.But most shoppers interviewed said the stores' proximity to their homes was more important than their proximity to the parking.The building layout is much better,'' shopper James Bowers said. ``It was a poor design from the start, but I think they've made the best of it.''