Continental Real Estate Companies (CREC), one of Florida’s largest commercial real estate services firms, has been selected by joint venture partners Flagler and AMB Property Corporation as the exclusive leasing and marketing agent for The Shops at Beacon Lakes, a new 45-acre retail development planned for west Miami-Dade County. News of the leasing assignment signals that the project’s development team is prepared to begin aggressively marketing the property to prospective tenants. This marks a bright spot in a retail sector that saw new project completions fall by nearly 50% nationwide in 2009, with only 70 million square-feet of retail product slated to deliver in 2010, the lowest level on record, according to national industry research.

Upon completion, The Shops at Beacon Lakes will consist of up to 470,000 square-feet of build-to-suit retail development near the intersection of the Florida Turnpike and the Dolphin Expressway (836). The 45 acre parcel, which is fully-entitled and approved for big box retail development, will be the first major retail project to take shape in South Florida’s burgeoning West Miami-Dade submarket in more than two years. The shovel-ready property has already been outfitted with new access roads, such as the 836 Extension and NW 137th Ave., also known as Beacon Lakes Blvd.