Lauderhill Mall, the aging shopping staple along State Road 7 in Lauderhill, is finally in line for a serious facelift after decades of mostly holding steady. The owner is pushing a plan to transform a big, underused slice on the mall’s south side into mid-rise apartments and new street-front stores, a shift away from the old-school enclosed mall format. If it gets built, the project would join a growing list of South Florida malls being reworked into denser, mixed-use hubs.
What’s Planned
Owner and developer IMC Equity Group has proposed a three-building project that would bring in about 233 apartments and roughly 14,200 square feet of new commercial space, after the Lauderhill City Commission signed off on a special-use exception, as reported by The Real Deal. The concept features one eight-story building and two five-story buildings, along with a clubhouse and ground-floor retail. IMC is expected to finalize a site plan with city staff before trying for construction permits.
The Site and Ownership
According to Broward County property records, Lauderhill Mall Investment, LLC owns the mall complex. The overall parcel measures about 1,202,238 square feet and currently has around 432,512 square feet of building area. The property sits on the west side of State Road 7, north of West Sunrise Boulevard, within a transit-oriented corridor that county planners have already flagged for redevelopment.
History and Context
The shopping center dates back to the 1960s and opened in 1966. It was later described as one of the first malls of its type in the Southeast, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Over the years, pieces of the property have been carved out for self-storage and local restaurants, while much of the interior retail space has thinned as tenants moved out or uses shifted.
Transit and Zoning
County documents show Broward has long used part of the mall site as a transit transfer facility. In 2016, the county approved a ground lease and design for a new transfer hub along State Road 7, which was planned to include multiple bus bays and customer amenities, according to the Broward County commission agenda. Planning materials tied to the south side of the mall also highlight the property’s Development of Regional Impact status and its transit-oriented land-use designations, both of which shape what can be built and how concurrency is handled.
What the Zoning Vote Means…