Sawgrass, Dadeland, Aventura and other South Florida malls closing due to coronavirus
Sawgrass Mills, Dadeland and Aventura malls, among others, closed as of 7 p.m. Wednesday due to the spread of the coronavirus, the malls’ owner, Simon Property Group, announced Wednesday.
Simon, the nation’s largest owner of shopping malls and the owner of over 20 Florida malls and outlets, said all of its malls and premium outlets will be closed until March 29.
“The health and safety of our shoppers, retailers and employees is of paramount importance and we are taking this step to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our communities,” David Simon, Simon’s chairman, chief executive and president, said in a statement.
The South Florida malls and outlets that will be affected include Aventura, Coral Square, Dadeland, Florida Keys Outlet Marketplace, Miami International, Sawgrass Mills, The Colonnade Outlets, The Falls and the Town Center in Boca Raton.
While Aventura Mall closed on Wednesday, a mall executive said late Wednesday it does not know when it will reopen. Simon is a minority owner of the mall; Turnberry is the majority owner. Some restaurants at the mall are still open for take-out and delivery.
The City of Sunrise commission passed a resolution Wednesday morning that ordered Sawgrass Mills Mall, 12801 W. Sunrise Blvd., to shut down starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Sawgrass Mills, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, gets more than 30 million visitors a year, second only to the Orlando theme parks in terms of visitor numbers in the state.
The malls’ closures follow the announcements by several large department stores that they are temporarily closing their stores to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney — which anchor the Simon malls — have announced they are temporarily closing their stores over the next two weeks.
In addition, other mall mainstays — Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Sephora — have said they are temporarily closing their stores due to the virus.
The retailers are keeping open their online sites.
Brickell City Centre also announced Wednesday that it was closing from Thursday through March 25, at minimum. The mall said certain common areas will remain open to allow access to the restaurants, which are providing takeout and delivery orders.
President Donald Trump said Monday that gatherings should be no larger than 10 people, leading many South Florida municipalities to shut down beaches during spring break and order the closure of dine-in restaurants, bars, gyms and other high-traffic areas.
As of Wednesday, Florida reported it had 328 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, spiking from 216 cases on Tuesday.
Correction: This story has been updated with new information learned about Aventura Mall’s closing.
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 4:17 PM.
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