Festival Flea Market {courtesy Sunny.org}.
By Kevin Deutsch
Municipal records show that Festival Flea Market, a Pompano Beach staple for more than 35 years, could be torn down to make way for new development.
According to a land-use amendment application filed with the city, the flea market’s owner, Festival Real Estate LLC, is seeking approval to demolish the building at 2900 W. Sample Sample Road and sell it to an industrial developer.
Under the plan, the 23.8-acre flea market site would be replaced with about 773,000 square feet of industrial space.
In its application, Festival Real Estate said that “trends in the retail sector have changed dramatically due to the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
“Before COVID-19, consumers were shifting to online shopping, and that trend was magnified due to COVID-19,” the applicants wrote. “The impacts of COVID-19 will likely impact the way people shop well into the future, which will continue to reduce the need for brick and mortar stores as people continue to do much of their shopping online. This trend toward online shopping has increased the demand for industrial warehouse space. The [flea market] property provides an ideal location for the redevelopment of an existing commercial space to industrial warehouse space.”
Among its selling points, the property is located on a major east-west thoroughfare with access to Florida’s Turnpike, Interstate-95, and the Sawgrass Expressway, the application states.
“This access will increase the efficiency and speed of delivery of goods to customers and also provides efficiency in the delivery of goods to businesses located in the industrial warehouse space,” the applicants wrote.
Pompano Beach’s Development Review Committee will consider the flea market owner’s application at a March 16 meeting, records show. The proposal would also have to receive approval from city and county commissioners.
A detailed plan for the site has not yet been submitted, records show.
Festival Flea Market boasts a quarter-mile-long stretch of more than 250 shops, including fragrance outlets, cosmetics stores, shoe stores, clothing stores, jewelry stores, home furnishing stores, etc.
Built in 1986, the property was an outlet mall before becoming a European-style market.
Got News? Send it to Margate Talk.
Author Profile
Latest entries
NewsJanuary 16, 2025Community Raises Money for Families of 3 People Killed in Margate Crash
NewsJanuary 15, 20253 Killed in Late-Night Margate Crash; Police Seek Information
NewsDecember 15, 2024Deputies Fatally Shoot Margate Man After Police Chase
NewsNovember 23, 2024Margate Commissioner Arlene Schwartz Tapped as City’s New Mayor
