MIAMI—When retailers don't resign leases, shopping centers can be left scrambling to backfill vacancies. Even with a healthy South Florida retail market, it can be painful to lose a lease.

That's just what happened at Palm Beach's Shoppes at City Centre in North Palm Beach when it lost Winn-Dixie. When the grocery anchore didn't re-sign at the renovated 110,000-square-foot shopping center, its leasing agent, CREC, started hunting for just the right lessee to fill the vacant retail box space with a marquee brand that would strengthen the tenant mix. The result: Doris Italian Market & Bakery is leasing 22,300 square feet at the retail center.

CREC co-director of leasing Steven Henenfeld, along with leasing associate Ariel Bernstein, represented the shopping center's ownership. This will become Doris Italian Market's sixth store in South Florida. Shoppes at City Centre is centrally located in the southwest quadrant of PGA Boulevard and US 1. As its name suggests, the City Centre office complex is next to Shoppes at City Centre.