MIAMI—South Florida's retail landscape just keeps getting hotter. From Kendall to Downtown Miami to Brickell and beyond, the region's retail landscape is performing stronger than most metros in the United States and shows no signs of slowing down in the near term.

“This year promises to deliver continued growth for South Florida's retail landscape,” Rafael Romero, vice president with CREC's Retail Division, tells GlobeSt.com. “At the forefront will be the further development of destination, 'live-work-play' retail projects. The dynamic mix of these lifestyle properties, drawing a stronger demand for enhanced fitness, entertainment and dining options within one project, eliminates the need for consumers to travel outside a given submarket to find unique experiences.”

As Romero sees it, these “placemakers” are a successful product emerging across South Florida. According to CBRE, placemaking is a much-discussed topic that—like “omnichannel,” “the Internet of Things,” and other ongoing trends—has become a talking point without necessarily having acquired an agreed-upon definition. CBRE offers a simple definition of placemaking: an effort to draw people to a place by creating compelling reasons for them to visit.