Stiles Corp's Wilton Manors Retail Overhaul Clears First Reading

Stiles Corp’s revised plan for the Shoppes of Wilton Manors, now 89 condominium units in a four to six story building alongside street-front retail, cleared its first reading before the Wilton Manors City Commission on August 25. Ordinance No. 2026-018 rezones the 2200-2292 Wilton Drive parcel to Planned Unit Development M and, notably, folds final site plan approval into the same measure, while the plan keeps the tenanted retail building along Wilton Drive standing for renovation rather than demolition.

Why it matters

The move is a case study in retrofitting occupied retail rather than clearing it. Stiles inherited a previously approved, more intensive plan for the site, a 252-unit rental tower called Wilma on the Drive with a seven-story building and six-story parking garage, when it bought the shopping center for $27.6 million in December 2024. Rather than build that out, Stiles scaled back to 89 units and structured the project so only the parcel’s underused east-side building comes down. “Our existing tenants have expressed excitement for the re-imagined Shoppes of Wilton Manors,” the company said in an August 21 statement. For mid-size developers holding aging strip centers with paying tenants, keeping cash flow intact during a redevelopment is often the difference between a deal that pencils and one that does not.

The numbers

The current application, filed under Z 25-02 and SP 25-05, calls for 89 units and 18,620 square feet of commercial space, according to the city’s own pending-applications list. Wilton Manors’ Planning and Zoning Board approved the project June 16, 2026, ahead of the August 25 first reading. That reading is a procedural step, not final adoption. An earlier version of the plan, floated in February, had proposed 82 apartments; the project has since been revised to the 89-unit condominium format now before the commission.

What’s next

A second reading of Ordinance No. 2026-018 still has to happen, along with commission approval of a release and appeal of flex units tied to the 2024 Wilma allocation, a new flex and redevelopment unit allocation, and a developer’s agreement. The city’s project ledger does not yet list a date for the second reading. South Florida developers sitting on aging, partially leased retail centers have a live template to watch: a scaled-back unit count and a building-by-building demolition plan that leaves paying tenants in place.