Lennar, the national homebuilder, is the buyer of the Boynton Beach Mall, according to an official familiar with the transaction.
In an Oct. 20 interview, Leo Abdella, Christ Fellowship Church's director of real estate operations, confirmed that Lennar is the mall's buyer. Abdella said the church will work closely with the venerable home builder.
Christ Fellowship Church owns a location at the mall property but is not part of the mall's sale.
"We're really excited about this renovation and this new purchase. Lennar is a great company," Abdella said. "They are the right organization, and we plan on working with them."
Boynton Beach Mall owner Washington Prime Group on Oct. 19 said the mall is being sold and will close on Jan. 15.
The Boynton Beach
Mall is expected to be redeveloped into residences, particularly townhouses, with some commercial properties built there as well.
But the redevelopment of the 41-year-old mall will not affect Christ Fellowship's church, which is in a former Dillard's department store on the west side of the mall.
Christ Fellowship bought the former Dillard's store space and adjacent parking lot for $4.6 million in 2012. Inside the former store, the church built a two-story facility, including a sanctuary.
Lennar officials did not respond to inquiries for comment.
Lennar is Florida's No. 1 homebuilder based on permit activity, according to HB Weekly, an industry site.
Currently, Lennar is building homes in communities such as Arden in Loxahatchee, the Estates at Lotis Wellington in Wellington and Whitmore Estates in Lake Worth Beach.
The company is known to be more looking for more sites throughout the county.
The Boynton Beach Mall, on the west side of North Congress Avenue and just north of Old Boynton Road, is a rare redevelopment find in central Palm Beach County. That's because other cities along the coast are running out of land.
But the property also is complicated because Christ Fellowship and Cinemark theaters own their own properties at or next to the mall. Therefore any real estate developer wishing to transform the aged mall and vast parking lots would need to build around the church and theater, and work with both entities.
A Cinemark spokesperson said on Oct. 20 that the company also will continue to operate its theater there, despite the mall's pending redevelopment.
Mall's pending sale marks end of an era
The Boynton Beach Mall's pending sale marks the end of a once-bustling center.
The mall opened its doors in 1985 with former retail giants like Burdines, JCPenney, Jordan Marsh and Lord & Taylor.
A Macy's opened in 1989, Mervyns replaced Lord & Taylor in 1991 and a Sears replaced Jordan Marsh in 1992. Dillard's came into the picture in 1997 to replace Mervyns.
When the Boynton Beach mall first opened, it was almost the only retail destination along the fledgling Congress Avenue corridor, and its presence helped pushed residential and commercial developments in the area.
But following a 1996 shooting in the mall that left one man dead, the mall began to decline. Not only did patrons raise concerns about safety, but the mall also was hard hit by competition from other shopping centers, as well as the rise of online shopping.
At one time, the Boynton Beach Mall had more than 135 stores. But as stores closed, the mall's owners replaced them with local retailers and mom-and-pop stores.
City moved to allow homes, other uses on mall land
In 2020, the city of Boynton Beach approved a rezoning of the Boynton Beach Mall to suburban mixed-use, which would allow up to 20 housing units per acre, plus commercial uses.
Other allowed zoning uses for the mall property include office buildings, a medical and university campus and even a sports complex.
At the time the property was rezoned in 2020, the goal was to rid the city of"a wasteland of concrete," former Vice Mayor Justin Katz said at one meeting.
The 91-acre mall is expected to become the site of at least 1,700 housing units at a time when real-estate developers are eager to find any bit of dirt in Palm Beach County for new homes.
Following years of declining foot traffic and the closure of major retailers, Washington Prime Group put the mall up for sale in 2011, then relisted as a teardown in 2023.
Today, the mall's website lists more than 80 retailers, but a number of them are for personal-care services, such as nails and salons, as well as jewelry and shoe stores.
A few national retailers, such as Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, remained.
Sears closed in 2019, and Macy's closed in 2023. A second Dillard's store is now Dillard's Clearance.
Washington Prime Group said all mall tenants will close by Jan. 15. But Washington Prime Group referred questions about the mall's last remaining department store, JCPenney, to the company.
In an Oct. 20- email, a JCPenney spokesperson would not specify how long the store would be at the site.
"Our JCPenney store at the Boynton Beach Mall remains open to the public, and we look forward to continuing to serve our customers," the spokesperson said, without elaboration.
Why Christ Fellowship built a church at an aging mall
Christ Fellowship is a non-denominational church based in Palm Beach Gardens. The church has 12 campuses in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Abdella said back in 2012, when the church first bought the Dillard's department store in Boynton Beach, some people wondered why a church would want to buy land at an aged shopping mall.
But Abdella said even 14 years ago, he knew the site would remain an important gathering spot.
He was right. When Christ Fellowship first moved into the space, the Boynton Beach church had about 1,000 worshipers. Today, the church counts about 5,000 weekly worshipers, including 4,000 on Sunday, he said.
"It takes a village to raise a family, and every village needs a church," Abdella said. "We want to be that church."
Abdella said the church will serve any new housing community built on the mall property. Although the shopping center had its glory days, "now it's time for a transformation," Abdella said.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. X: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Top national homebuilder is buyer of Boynton Beach Mall | Exclusive
