A bright spot for the market, however, is that a total of 425,000 square feet of the vacant space are soon to be occupied, which would raise the overall vacancy to 90.8% once those retailers open their doors.

“The outlook is positive for the Broward County (retail) market due to the large amount of 'coming soon' space, only a few recent deliveries and a considerable number of active developments,” the report states.

In the first quarter, four centers were delivered: Publix in Hollywood, Pembroke Center and Sheridan Village in Pembroke Pines and the Riverbend Marketplace in Fort Lauderdale, that combined totaled 225,000 square feet.

There are currently nine retail centers under development that range in size from 30,000 square feet to 320,000 square feet. The retail space in the pipeline totals approximately 1 million square feet.

In a definitive sign of property owners responding to the changing retail market, Avison Young notes that there are currently 26 retail centers in Broward County in various stages of redevelopment that account for approximately 3.3 million square feet of space. Removing these properties from the retail inventory would increase the county's occupancy rate to 91.8%.

While retail analysts continue to postulate the impact of the Winn-Dixie bankruptcy and its store closings, as well as Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods', the fact remains that Publix is the “gorilla” in the grocery market, Avison Young states in the report.

In a separate report strictly on Publix's impact on the Broward County grocery sector, Avison Young notes that Publix anchors 47% of all grocery-anchored shopping centers in Broward County. The 22 other grocers combined barely exceed the total store count of Publix in Broward County (Publix-82, all other-91).

Several other data points bolster Publix's dominance of the grocery market in Broward County—14% or 1 in 10 shopping centers over 20,000 square feet are anchored by the grocer. Publix-anchored shopping centers total nearly 10.4 million square feet of gross leasable space.

At the end of the first quarter, the 82 Publix-anchored shopping centers in Broward sported an occupancy rate of 93.0%; up slightly from the 92.9% rate posted a year earlier.

Recently, Publix vacated space in the Young Circle Shopping Center for larger space across the street in Hollywood. In addition, Terra Group's 200,000-square-foot Pembroke Pines development is nearing completion with a Publix as well as a theater, upscale restaurants and other retails scheduled to open soon.