Miracle Center

The Miracle Center shopping mall in Miami, Florida opened in March 1989.

It is located on Coral Way, just a few blocks east of Douglas Road (S.W. 37 Ave.) in Coral Gables

It had no anchor stores, but it had several popular stores like Gap, JW, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, and Limited Express. It also featured restaurants Chili's and TGI Friday's. There was also a movie theater, an arcade, a Brentano's bookstore and a Spec's music store. At one point, there was also a nightclub called "Club One", which was on the third floor.

There were three floors of stores,along with a large parking garage within the building. The first floor was slightly underground and this was where Spec's, Chili's and Friday's was located. The Miracle Center was formerly the home of the Miami Youth Museum (now called Miami Children's Museum, and now located on Watson Island).

According to a former employee of the movie theater:

"The ground floor of the theater was located on the mall's middle level, and housed the twin box offices, a small lobby mainly used to display the posters of current and upcoming releases, and the main theater manager office. Patrons had a choice of either an elevator or escalator to transport them up the second level, which housed the concession stand and ten auditoriums that were extended across two long hallways. The third level housed the general manager's office and another smaller office, along with the concession items storage room on one end of the structure; and the popcorn storage room, employee uniform room, utility room, and the enormous projectionist facilities along the other end of the structure." [http://cinematreasures.org/theater/20045/]

The mall was a popular spot, particularly with the teenagers of the early 1990s. At some point later in the 1990s, the mall seemed to get less traffic and changed its name to Paseos. Friday's, Chili's and Spec's left and the first floor was completely dedicated to a tropical marketplace. The new idea didn't seem to catch on and the mall closed down.

Today, the mall is completely gutted except for a Bally's---originally called Scandinavian---which has always been located at the site. There have been a few plans for redeveloping the site,bringing the Miracle Center back to what it used to be, but none have flourished.