Paris’ Celeb Fave L’Avenue Bistro to Open at Bal Harbour Shops

L’Avenue, a famed Parisian bistro popular among celebrities, is slated to open at Bal Harbour Shops, the luxury mall north of Miami Beach. 

The upscale French eatery signed a lease on the ground floor of the three-story property, according to public filings. The documents suggest L’Avenue will replace Carpaccio, an Italian restaurant that has operated at the Bal Harbour Shops since 1994. 

The original L’Avenue, situated on Paris’ swanky Avenue Montaigne shopping street, remains one of the city’s hottest reservations, drawing a clientele that includes Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Rihanna. The U.S. basketball team, including Steph Curry and LeBron James, partied at the establishment, after winning gold at the Olympics this summer. 

The Bal Harbour Shops location will mark L’Avenue’s second outpost stateside. In 2019, the concept, owned by Alex Denis and Jean-Louis Costes, opened a restaurant inside Saks Fifth Avenue‘s flagship department store in New York City, which was designed by famed architect Philippe Starck. 

At the open-air Bal Harbour Shops, L’Avenue will join another storied Parisian establishment. Last year, Lapérouse signed a lease at the 511,000-square-foot mall, though the lounge has yet to open. 

Other shake-ups at the Bal Harbour Shops include Brunello Cucinelli’s expansion. The luxury Italian fashion brand, best known for its cashmere, is adding a second floor to its boutique on the first floor, which opened in 2011. 

L’Agence, a mid-tier fashion brand, signed a lease on the second floor. Public documents suggest the L.A.-based brand will replace swimwear brand Vilebrequin. 

These moves come as the Bal Harbour Shops owner, Whitman Family Development, races to finish a 250,000-square-foot expansion. Just this week, it secured an additional $190 million in construction financing from private equity giant Blackstone, upping the total debt to $740 million.

The fourth-generation family-owned company is also embroiled in litigation over a separate expansion with the Bal Harbour municipal government. The proposal — which utilizes the Live Local Act, a Florida law that provides developers sweeping powers to get projects approved if they set aside 40 percent of apartments as workforce housing for minimum of 30 years — would add 45,700 square feet of additional retail space, a 70-room hotel and 528 units to the 18-acre property.

Representatives for the Whitman Family Development did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Representatives for L’Avenue could not be reached for comment.

Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.