Fort Lauderdale becomes a shopping haven. What’s driving the city’s thriving retail scene?

Las Olas Shopping Featured in Miami Herald Republished: Miami Herald | By Rebecca San Juan – Published June 9, 2023 9:30 AM

Downtown Fort Lauderdale’s shopping and restaurant scene is in full bloom, boasting its lowest retail real estate vacancy rate in 10 years.

It’s a sign business owners are placing confident bets on South Florida tourism and the state’s population growth, real estate experts said.

Of the city’s 612,000 square feet of retail space along Las Olas Boulevard and Federal Highway, only 18,972 square feet, or 3.1%, remains unleased, according to data from the Las Olas Association, CoStar Group and the quarterly Colliers 2023 Downtown Fort Lauderdale retail market report.

Over the last decade, the city’s urban center has recorded retail vacancy rates as high as 9.8% in 2013, and a prior low of 5.5% in 2022.

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