• Miami Herald, Tuesday, January 9, 2007 12 PM

It had to happen. After decades of urban and suburban sprawl, with baby boomers' nests increasingly emptying and with young, single professionals spurring the suburbs they grew up in, the city's allure is back.

The trend of combining stores, restaurants, condos and offices is all the rage, with national retailers rushing into areas they once avoided. In Miami alone, there's almost 1.5 million square feet of retail space under construction, and 5.7 million square feet proposed, despite a slowdown in the condo market. If all gets built and filled with tenants, that would be more than 26 times Miami's existing retail space.

Joining Target, which is opening today at a mixed-use development called Midtown Miami, are Circuit City, Linens 'N Things and Marshalls, all scheduled to open by next month. Two other proposed big-box developments in the downtown area, City Square and Bayview Market, could move the market from void to glut.

In South Beach, Fifth & Alton, a three-level development with six levels of parking, is moving forward. Tenants are expected to include Best Buy, Staples and Publix.

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