Red Bird sold for $62M. What’s next for the Miami-Dade shopping center?
Madonna dined here. Twice. Country music’s The Mavericks and made-in-Miami grocer Milam’s Market got early starts at this corner front strip shopping plaza that’s been in the neighborhood bordering Miami and Coral Gables for some 70 years.
Those musicians and that supermarket aren’t alone. Seattle rockers Soundgarden warmed up for their opening New Year’s Eve gig for Guns N’ Roses at a beloved record store at the plaza in 1991.
You may well fill your prescriptions at this Walgreen’s. Buy your smartphone or pay your bill at the AT&T store. Eat New York-style at Apizza Brooklyn. Stock your toolbox at Ace Hardware. Cash your checks at Space Coast Credit Union. Or get your hair done and teeth fixed at mom-and-pop salons and dental offices that dot the 92,000-square-foot Red Bird Shopping Center.
That’s what we know for certain about the past and the current of the space about seven miles from Miami International Airport and about a 15-minute bike ride from the University of Miami campus. But the future is uncertain for Red Bird, a longtime staple for shoppers in the Coral Gables area.
In the fall, Asana Partners, a Charlotte-based real estate development firm, bought the historic shopping center for $62.1 million. The firm has remained tight-lipped about its plans for Red Bird. Marketing director Angelica Merg told the Miami Herald on Wednesday that Asana has “no updates” about the future of the shopping center.
“Red Bird Shopping Center will continue to operate as a retail shopping destination focused on the surrounding neighborhood,” Merg added.
According to county records, the lot is still zoned exclusively for commercial use. County records show no recent permit or rezoning applications for the lot, either.
Red Bird Shopping Center, with its iconic red sign in the parking lot at 5761 Bird Road, is home to a Milam’s Market, Gilbert’s Bakery and the Japanese restaurant Matsuri, along with other national chains and local businesses. The intersection of Bird and Red roads, which is located in unincorporated Miami-Dade County just outside of Coral Gables, is prime real estate and has long been a major retail corridor.
Red Bird history
Opened in the late 1950s, the Red Bird Shopping Center’s early anchors included supermarkets Grand Union and Kwik Chek — later Winn-Dixie. That’s the space that turned into a Piggly Wiggly in the 1970s and where shoppers find Milam’s Market today.
Tax preparer H&R Block; Herff Jones, a jeweler that specializes in custom high school and college class rings; and a Goodyear Tire center once operated at Red Bird.
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According to Milam’s website, the family-owned grocery chain opened its first outlet at Red Bird in 1984 inside the Piggly Wiggly. The green Milam’s Market marquee soon went up on the wall, and five other locations followed, including markets in Pinecrest, Coral Gables, Sunny Isles Beach, Coconut Grove and Miami Springs.
The shopping center was previously owned by local real estate developer The Brandon Company. The firm purchased Red Bird for $6.5 million in 1986.
A music impresario recalls his Red Bird store
Rich Ulloa, founder of the Yesterday & Today Records chain and the independent Y&T music label that released the first recordings of Miami musicians The Mavericks and Mary Karlzen, opened the third outlet of Yesterday & Today at Red Bird Shopping Center in 1991 — 10 years after opening the first Y&T store nearby at 63rd Avenue and Bird Road.
The location coincided with a branch on Ludlam Road in the South Miami area. At the height of Y&T’s success in the early 1990s, there was also a store on South Beach that specialized in dance music, fueling the club scene that once defined Washington Avenue.
The Red Bird store, two doors down from Milam’s and next door to Matsuri, two of the hardiest Red Bird tenants, was special.
“It was like the peak of our store,” Ulloa said. “We grew into that store and had our biggest three years of our life there, and my fondest memories of Y&T. I have fond memories of all the stores, but man, we had a great staff at that location, and we had some of the greatest in-stores. It was just a great sense of community there.”
Bands, local and national, popped in to drop off their latest CDs and cassettes at the Red Bird store. South Florida acts including the Mavericks, Marilyn Manson, The Goods, Nuclear Valdez, Forget the Name and Karlzen promoted their projects from a small stage set up on the shop floor. Some artists even came across the country to try to make themselves known via that Y&T store. Among them: Seattle grunge rockers Soundgarden, California ska band Fishbone, singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield, and ‘90s alt-rockers Toad the Wet Sprocket and Belly.
Y&T staffers used the Red Bird store as a platform to break into the national music business, heading labels and promotion departments at Sony Music, Atlantic and BMG, Ulloa said.
Then there was the time Madonna, in her Erotica Era, popped over to Red Bird Shopping Center in the early 1990s.
“We saw her twice. One time she peeked in,” Ulloa said, laughing. “She used to walk by our store and go in Matsuri.”
Ulloa remembers a staffer crying out, “That’s Madonna! She went into the Japanese restaurant right next door to us!”
Another frequent visitor was “Moonstruck” star Nicolas Cage who once told the Miami Herald he’d always dine at Matsuri whenever he was in town.
The two weren’t the only visitors to Red Bird Shopping Center circa 1992. “We went through Hurricane Andrew at Red Bird,” Ulloa said.
Ulloa closed the Red Bird store to concentrate on music management when business started to tail off in 1995 as mass merchants and box stores like Best Buy began selling CDs at bargain prices. The sole remaining Y&T storefront outlet is a few miles away at 9274 SW 40th St. That one specializes in repopularized vinyl records.
Future speculation
Though the sale of Red Bird closed back in the fall, some real estate brokers are still speculating online about the shopping center’s future. Local broker and content creator Bryan Gorrita posted about Red Bird on Instagram recently. He said he thinks the shopping center may see a revamp under its new ownership, but he doubts it will be redeveloped as a massive multifamily project, as others have predicted.
Commenters under the post weren’t as convinced.
“no one is buying a 62 million dollar (mostly parking lot) to not redevelop it. Luxury condos/apts are coming as soon as they get approval,” one commenter wrote. “Where do I sign to petition against a multifamily development project?” wrote another.
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This story was originally published January 3, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
