---
title: "Charter School Inks 56K-SF Lease in Retail Center Near Miami Suburb"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/d4b867bc-aba5-4d2b-b310-f7e194d344be
source: "Commercial Observer"
original_url: https://commercialobserver.com/2026/10/bridgeprep-academy-california-club-shopping-center/
author: "Julia Echikson"
category: "Gym & HVLP"
industry: "Fitness"
segment: "Gym & HVLP"
published: 2026-10-09T20:50:00.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:19:14.823Z
image: https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/10/California-Club-Shopping-Center-Miami-FL-RF-GettyImages-2199513591-WEB.jpg?quality=80&w=1200
---

# Charter School Inks 56K-SF Lease in Retail Center Near Miami Suburb

**TL;DR:** BridgePrep Academy signed a 56,000-square-foot lease at the California Club Shopping Center in Miami-Dade County to open another location. The charter school network has 19 locations across Florida and faced challenges in finding a suitable property due to high demand for grade schools in South Florida.

*By Julia Echikson, originally published in Commercial Observer on 2026-10-09. [Read the original](https://commercialobserver.com/2026/10/bridgeprep-academy-california-club-shopping-center/).*

## Story

Charter school network **BridgePrep Academy** will open another location, this time inside a shopping center in Miami-Dade County.

The school operator, which has 19 locations across Florida, signed a 56,000-square-foot lease at the open-air **California Club Shopping Center** in Ives Estates, near Aventura, 15 miles north of Downtown Miami.

The 273,050-square-foot property, owned by **RK Centers**, sits west of Interstate 95 at **750 Ives Dairy Road**. Other tenants at California Club include **Planet Fitness**, **Five Below** and **Burlington**.

**Waterways Preparatory Academy @ Kropp Annex**, part of the public **Dade County School District**, previously leased BridgePrep’s new space up until at least last year.

“Miami doesn’t have a surplus of properties that work for educational operators,” **CBRE**’s **Scott Goldstein**, who represented the tenant alongside **Keith Edelman**, said in a statement. “We moved quickly.”

Some of the challenges include the lack of available properties that have the correct code and layout. Demand for grade schools, mostly for private ones, has skyrocketed in South Florida since the onset of the pandemic, when a slew of new-market companies opened offices and their employees moved in tow.

To fix the issue, billionaire developer **Stephen Ross** is donating $100 million to **Pine Crest School**, a private school with locations in Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, to open another in West Palm Beach, *Bloomberg* reported.

Another billionaire, **Jeff Greene**, has spent $50 million to build **The Greene School**, also in West Palm Beach, the *Wall Street Journal* reported.

## Entities

- Education (sector)
- Planet Fitness (company)
- education (topic)
- Commercial Observer (publication)
- CBRE (company)
- lease agreement (topic)
- Julia Echikson (person)
- Stephen Ross (person)
- school expansion (topic)
- retail center (topic)
- Five Below (company)
- Burlington (company)

---
Originally reported by Julia Echikson, Commercial Observer (https://commercialobserver.com/2026/10/bridgeprep-academy-california-club-shopping-center/). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/d4b867bc-aba5-4d2b-b310-f7e194d344be).