Former Toys R Us buildings to reopen as new stores
Plans are underway for
Toys R Us is dead but their buildings that once housed bikes, trains and video games are getting a new life.
Plans are underway for several of the 10 Toys R Us stores that closed across South Florida. One will become a golf superstore, another will become an expanded medical building and a third has a tenant signing paperwork to move in.
The former Plantation store on Broward Boulevard will become a PGA TOUR Superstore in the spring, the second in South Florida. The company has submitted plans to City Hall for its interior renovation, according to city officials.
The store will have six swing simulators, four practice hitting bays, a 1,400-square-foot putting green, and an in-house club making and repair facility. It will also sell equipment, accessories, and apparel and footwear for golf and tennis.
The site was purchased for $7.6 million in October by Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, the legal name for PGA TOUR Superstore, according to Randy Peitsch, the senior vice president of operations of PGA TOUR Superstores.
“South Florida is a really great golf market,” Peitsch said. He said the auction and bankruptcies of Toys R Us buildings and storefront leases were seen as an opportunity to acquire some sites in several states “we’ve been seeking for awhile.” Its other South Florida location is in Delray Beach.
Toys R Us, which struggled to keep up with its competition, filed for bankruptcy in 2017 with plans to reorganize. But after 60 years of operating as a household name toy store, the company closed all its U.S. stores in June as part of its bankruptcy liquidation process.
Coral Springs’ Toys R Us building on Sample Road is also close to a new life.
“They are negotiating terms and hope to have a lease finalized in the next 30 days,” said Kristi J. Bartlett, the Coral Springs director of Economic Development, this week. The tenant hasn’t been announced yet.
New York-based A & G Realty Partners LLC sold a handful of South Florida sites at auction this year, including the Plantation location. The Pembroke Pines Toys R Us site was sold to the South Broward Hospital District, which is the governing body for the Memorial Healthcare System, in August for $10,750,000, according to the company.
Ken Hetlage, executive vice president West Operations Memorial Healthcare System, said Memorial Hospital West sits adjacent to the former toy store, and the new location is expected to become an expanded cancer center.
The hospital is conducting architecture and engineering studies, and construction could begin in 2019.