On the evening of November 5, a time capsule goes into the ground at Founders Circle, 9650 Collins Avenue. It is sealed for 2046, the year Bal Harbour turns 100. Bal Harbour Shops sits a few numbers up Collins at 9700. The center opened in 1965 and is now building its largest addition yet, on its bay side. Out on the water, the Village is rebuilding the historic jetty, and the beach has new sand.
Nearly every landmark from the Village's first two decades is being rebuilt at the same time.
The plan was laid down long before the anniversaries
The Village's own history of Bal Harbour shows how much of what residents use today was decided early, and on purpose:
- 1929. Miami Beach Heights, a Detroit development company led by Robert Graham with associates Carl Fisher and Walter O. Briggs, buys the raw land. The company hires the planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates to lay out the community.
- 1941. Development stops for World War II, and the land is leased to the U.S. military for $1 a year.
- August 1946. Bal Harbour Village is incorporated. The working name "Bay Harbour" gives way to "Bal," built from "bay" and "Atlantic" to name both shores.
- December 1946. The Kenilworth-by-the-Sea opens as the Village's first hotel, with ten stories and 160 rooms.
- 1957. Stanley Whitman buys 16 acres that had been planned for a gas station and a grocery store, intending to build an open-air luxury mall.
- 1965. Bal Harbour Shops opens with 30 tenants. Whitman persuades Stanley Marcus to open his first Neiman Marcus outside Texas.
The anniversary projects line up with that timeline. The renewed monument honors the founders, the shoreline work returns to the beach the hotels were built for, and the Shops expansion builds on the land Whitman bought in 1957.
Founders Circle gets a new face and a new name
Founders Circle was first dedicated in 1990 to honor the people who shaped the Village. For the 80th, the monument has been renewed, and the Founders Circle Re-Dedication Ceremony unveils it on November 5 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Village describes the evening this way:
"The ceremony will also look toward the future with the sealing and burial of an 80th Anniversary time capsule, to be opened in 2046 as Bal Harbour celebrates its Centennial."
The ceremony also adds a name. Rabbi Sholom D. Lipskar will join those recognized for significant contributions to Bal Harbour. The Village Council took up a resolution authorizing the addition to the plaque at its September 15 meeting. The ceremony is open to Bal Harbour residents, and the Village's events line is 305.993.7444.
The ceremony comes four days after the 80th Anniversary Celebration, which the Village scheduled for November 1 at Bal Harbour Waterfront Park, 18 Bal Bay Drive. It was planned as a residents-only, adults-only evening with cocktail attire. The gala looked back over 80 years. The capsule is addressed to whoever opens it in 2046.
The shoreline the hotels were built for
The Village's early fame came from the beach. Its history page lists the beachfront resorts by name, among them the Sea View, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. That same stretch of sand has now been restored. The Village's capital projects page lists beach renourishment as complete, with more than 200,000 cubic yards of beach-quality sand placed along the eroded shoreline.
At the south end, the Village is working on a larger project. Its Harbourfront Park and jetty project is a phased reconstruction of the historic jetty and waterfront. The plan covers seawall and hardscape work, higher cutwalk areas, guardrails, turtle-friendly lighting and ADA features. The Village set construction to begin in 2025 and expects completion in 2027. The rebuilt jetty, like the renewed monument, will probably still be in place when the time capsule comes out of the ground.
The beach is also the setting for a weekend market. The Market at Bal Harbour, run with Florida Fresh Market, began its fifth season with dates at Bal Harbour Beach South scheduled for October 31 and November 1, with artisanal goods on the sand from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Shops grow toward the bay
The biggest anniversary-year project is private. In 1965, Bal Harbour Shops opened with 30 tenants. When Whitman Family Development closed a $740 million loan with Blackstone in December 2024, the center covered about 500,000 square feet and was 98% leased across 110 tenants, according to Traded. The first phase of the West Shops expansion adds about 200,000 square feet on the west side of the property, toward Biscayne Bay. That is roughly 40% more space than the center had at the time of the loan. Traded's August 28 report said the phase was targeted to open in the third quarter of 2026. Renderings are credited to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Traded described the tenant reshuffle in detail. Several stores are new, some are getting bigger, and a long list is moving within the center:
| What is happening | Stores named |
|---|---|
| First time at Bal Harbour Shops | L'Agence, TOTEME, Peserico |
| Expanding in their current spaces | Prada, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Brioni |
| Moving to new spaces within the center | Akris, Isaia, Graff, Bottega Veneta, Zegna, Zimmermann, The Webster, David Yurman, Etro |
Two of the new names are already open. TOTEME opened its first Miami store at Bal Harbour Shops on July 1, in Unit 269, as FashionNetwork reported. Peserico's boutique, also covered by FashionNetwork, has also opened. The center lists it at Suite 262. The center's store directory also lists lululemon as a new store on Level 3 of the East Shops.
Traded's report also covered a separate proposal for the same site, with 600 residential units and a 70-room boutique hotel. That proposal remains in litigation between the developer and the Village, with the Florida Attorney General supporting the developer. The retail expansion is going ahead on its own track.
A new set of tables at 9700 Collins
The Shops' restaurants have changed as quickly as its stores. Three changes this year account for most of it.
Slim's Steakhouse. Stephen Starr's steakhouse opened on March 17 in the former Makoto space on Level 3.
China Grill. Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill reopened on June 9 in the former Le Zoo space, with hours running until midnight. Miami New Times included it in its list of June openings.
Hillstone. Hillstone closed permanently on August 10 after 11 years at the center, Miami New Times reported.
Slim's and China Grill both opened in spaces earlier restaurants had left. That fits a center that, according to Traded, Whitman has described as full with a waiting list.
The rest of the anniversary month
Beyond the anniversary events, the Village calendar for November includes:
- November 5, 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. BH Living & Learning featuring The Super Agers at Bal Harbour Waterfront Park, a talk about people who stay physically, cognitively and emotionally healthy well into later life.
- November 15, 9 a.m. to noon. The Bal Harbour Police Legacy Foundation's Thanksgiving basket-packing at Waterfront Park, where volunteers prepare baskets for local families in need.
When the time capsule is opened in 2046, the jetty, the beach, the Founders Circle monument and the bayside wing of the Shops will all date from this anniversary season.
Every landmark in this post shapes daily life in the Village, from Collins Avenue to the jetty. If you would like to talk about how these changes affect a residence you own here or are considering, Karla Abaunza and Jorge Escasena at Luxury Living Realty are glad to share what they are seeing on the ground. Contact Us.
