A 56,000-square-foot lease just signed at California Club Shopping Center in Ives Estates will bring BridgePrep Academy into the open-air retail center by the 2027-2028 academic year, filling a space once occupied by a public school program and landing the charter network its latest foothold in Miami-Dade County.
A Fast Lease Near Aventura
The deal, first reported by Commercial Observer, places the tuition-free charter operator inside a 273,050-square-foot shopping center at 750 Ives Dairy Road, about 15 miles north of downtown Miami and just west of Interstate 95. CBRE's Scott Goldstein and Keith Edelman represented BridgePrep Academy in the transaction. RK Centers owns the center. Goldstein said in a statement that Miami does not have a surplus of properties that work for educational operators, adding that CBRE and Edelman moved quickly to secure the space.
The space previously housed Waterways Preparatory Academy @ Kropp Annex, a program within the Miami-Dade County Public Schools system. California Club's existing retail lineup includes Planet Fitness, Five Below, and Burlington, and the center is configured with 207,311 square feet of retail space alongside 70,135 square feet of office and flex space. The Winn-Dixie supermarket that once anchored the plaza closed in May as part of a statewide transition following Aldi's acquisition of Southeastern Grocers, a shift Hoodline covered earlier this year, with Aldi retaining more than 160 Florida Winn-Dixie sites for conversion while shedding larger footprints.
Part of a Broader Expansion Push
BridgePrep Academy now operates 19 locations across Florida, per Commercial Observer. Just over a week before locking in the Ives Estates space, the network leased 31,841 square feet at Royal Plaza shopping center in Royal Palm Beach, with Cresa and Katz & Associates representing the parties in that deal, according to the South Florida Business Journal. Together, the two leases point to a rapid expansion strategy into South Florida retail strip centers.
The tuition-free network emphasizes bilingual education with an extended Spanish-language program. Behind the scenes, BridgePrep contracts its operational, financial, and real estate management to Coral Gables-based S.M.A.R.T. Management LLC, an educational service provider that charges a 10% fee based on full-time equivalent student revenues, according to the Florida Auditor General. Under that structure, independent non-profit charter boards retain legal oversight while delegating campus logistics, HR, and facility acquisitions to the management firm.
Retail Centers Become Education Hubs Amid Enrollment Shifts
The timing lines up with a wider surge in South Florida grade-school demand that Commercial Observer traces back to the onset of the pandemic. That demand has also fueled major private investment: Stephen Ross is donating $100 million, per Bloomberg, to help Pine Crest School open another campus in West Palm Beach, adding to its existing locations in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, while Jeff Greene has spent $50 million, per the Wall Street Journal, building The Greene School, also in West Palm Beach.
Statewide, public charter school enrollment hit a record 408,481 students across more than 739 schools during the 2025-2026 academic year, according to the Florida Department of Education. That growth is unfolding even as Miami-Dade County Public Schools saw traditional enrollment fall by roughly 15,000 students entering the 2026-2027 school year, a drop Axios reports has pushed district officials to reassess more than two dozen campuses, with possible changes under consideration and lower birth rates, rising living costs, and reduced international immigration cited as contributing factors.
State Funding Rules Favor Charter Growth
Florida law requires school districts to share local voter-approved capital outlay tax dollars proportionally with charter schools, according to the National Association of Public Charter Schools, which says access to district buildings for charter schools could be improved. The state additionally provides charter schools with per-pupil capital facilities funding of $614 for the 2024-2025 school year, on top of the enrollment tailwinds already pushing operators toward commercial space.
Private-school vouchers are also part of Miami-Dade County's education-funding landscape. Traditional districts still rely on local property taxes, a dynamic that continues to shape how commercial landlords like RK Centers decide which tenants fill the gaps left behind by shrinking national retailers.
