MIAMI—Developers of mixed-use communities across the country have had to get extra creative in order to engage residents and visitors in a safe way as COVID-19 concerns continue. Those ideas have ranged from expanded outdoor dining to new amenities, and according to a source, we might even see holiday activities and performances popping up in new ways.
Codina Partners, for example, who are the developers of Downtown Doral, a 250-acre mixed-use community in Miami-Dade county, have partnered with the Miami City Ballet to bring George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker to the Downtown Doral Park for outdoor performances.
With indoor performances cancelled across the country, South Florida’s warm weather provided the unique opportunity for mixed-use developers and for companies to reimagine the arts and experiential retail.
But Codina Partners isn’t the only developer leveraging arts and entertainment for unique and safe community gatherings. As GlobeSt.com previously reported, over in Texas, the owner of the mixed-use development, Lionstone Investments, is collaborating with Dallas-based Rebees, Sugar Land-based Planned Community Developers and the city of Sugar Land to evolve the Square into a retail destination designed for the next era of retail.
The new Square will increase public programming to further activate communal spaces, enrich the walking environment and add new merchants. “This redesign will create dynamic and flexible spaces for a diversity of uses and users to interact safely,” said Tom Paterson, COO at Lionstone.