More glitter for downtown’s Flagler area? Jewelers are linking up with Time Century
Downtown’s longtime jewelry hub, the Seybold building, has a rival.
Aspiring to become the city’s epicenter for jewelry, owners of the Time Century Jewelry Center — formerly known as Metro Mall Miami — owners say they have leased nearly half of their retail space during amid a $50 million renovation that began this month.
The New York-based development and investment firm Time Century Holdings has signed 45 tenants since launching its leasing office in 2019, according to the firm’s co-managing director Daniel Deutsch. The 95-year-old building will have four floors for retailers and wholesalers and an additional four floors of offices at 1 NE First St. It has enough capacity for about a hundred jewelers.
Time Century will be the first U.S. foothold for some of its jewelers, including Turkish brand MarkaLed, Deutsch said, and a familiar setting to others, including some which are moving from other downtown quarters.
Time Century Holdings launched construction in early February. On Friday, it secured a $23.6 million construction loan from City National Bank. It will cover the rest of the $50 million construction budget through its own equity.
“The growth of Downtown Miami is like no other city right now. Many developers have invested in the downtown area to create luxury residences, office buildings,” Deutsch said. “We believed from the get go that [Time Century] would attract people because we are housing many jewelers under one building.”
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The project is delayed by a year due to Covid-19, Deutsch said. Renovations are anticipated to be completed by the second quarter of 2022.
“We had different contractors who couldn’t come onto the job site,” Deutsch said. “It slowed us down in the beginning.”
Time Century Holdings bought Metro Mall Miami for $15 million in February 2020. Other developers are renovating existing buildings in Downtown Miami with plans to breathe new life into the area, including Mana with his Flagler Village and Stambul with converting a historic Walgreens into an eatery and office building.
Downtown Miami is receiving and seeing new construction, including the Brightline station and the 27-acre Miami Worldcenter. The area has attracted new office tenants, including Blackstone.
The changes are anticipated to fill Downtown Miami’s remaining vacant shops, said Mika Mattingly, a Colliers International Urban Core Division broker. According to Colliers’ Miami-Dade fourth quarter 2020 retail report, Downtown Miami had 3.3 million square feet of retail space and 21.3% vacancy rate, remaining steady from the third quarter which had 21.5% vacancy rate.
“A lot is shuttered but nothing is ready to rent. We haven’t done as much leasing. Until more opens up,” she said, “it’s going to be a progression.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
