Mixed-Use Project to Feature Eatery Co-Owned by NFL Quarterback Drew Brees

A 47-acre, mixed-use development northwest of Miami that includes a restaurant co-owned by a professional football quarterback is close to completion with the opening this month of a 387-unit apartment building.

The first residents are moving into Pines Garden at City Center at 10400 City Center Blvd. in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Monthly rents for one-, two- and three-bedroom units range between $1,645 and $2,845. The apartments are part of Pines City Center, a two-phased village that also includes 300,000 square feet of retail with such tenants as Publix, Outback Steakhouse, UFC Gym and boating supply chain West Marine. The center, being built by the Terra real estate firm, is next to a 3,500-seat convention hall.

Pines Garden and 150,000 square feet of retail are part of the second phase of construction. Retail tenants that have signed leases include Hobby Lobby and Walk-On’s Bistreaux & Bar, a restaurant co-owned by NFL quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.

Pines City Center, about 90% preleased and valued between $250 million and $300 million, is expected to be finished this year, according to Terra President David Martin.

Pembrokes Pines is in Broward County about 20 miles east of the Florida Everglades, a protected area that limits western development in Broward. Because it is sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, Broward is one of the most land-restricted counties in the country. Developers either have to focus on smaller, infill projects or knock down existing properties and rebuild, analysts say.

Pembroke Pines, incorporated in 1960, grew dramatically in the years after the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew hit southern Miami-Dade County in 1992. Miami-Dade residents devastated by the storm flocked north to Broward. Now with more than 172,000 residents, Pembroke Pines is the second-largest city in the county behind Fort Lauderdale.

Southwest Broward is seeing most of the county’s new retail construction, CoStar analyst Elinor Avant Gutierrez told brokers and other real estate professionals during a presentation Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale. Southwest Broward’s retail vacancy rate is 2.32%, well below the 10-year average of 4.55%, CoStar data shows.

Martin said in an interview the project offers a fresh retail experience for consumers in an area where many of the shopping centers were built in the 1990s and 2000s. With landlords across the country re-imagining centers to attract clients who are shopping more online, it is important to bring lifestyle tenants with staying power to Pines City Center, Martin said.

“We’ve curated the center with uses that have a resilient business model,” he said.

In December, TA Realty, a Boston-based institutional investor, bought the first phase for $80 million. The second phase was not part of the sale, and Martin said Terra is deciding whether to hold that portion of the property long term.

Amenities at Pines Garden at City Center include a two-story clubhouse, a coworking lounge and coffee bar and a dog park.

A steady supply of apartments has led to “volatile” vacancies in Pembroke Pines/Miramar, according to the latest report from CoStar Market Analytics . But millennials – young professionals ages 20 to 34 – make up about 20% of the population, and the area has the second-highest median income in the metropolitan area behind Weston/Davie.

“With solid demographic drivers in place, it is expected that vacancy will likely retreat back towards the historical average over the forecast,” the report stated.