“When the Toys ‘R’ Us on SW 117th Avenue shut its doors in June 2018, nobody imagined it would take eight years — and one of the world’s most recognizable car brands — to bring it back to life.”
According to a report by the Miami Herald, Tesla has officially signed a lease for the former Toys ‘R’ Us building at 8789 SW 117th Ave. in Kendall. The space clocks in at 45,255 square feet, making it one of the largest Tesla facilities in South Florida, combining both a full showroom and a service center under one roof.
The location is expected to open in late 2026, sitting just across the street from the Palms at Town & Country shopping center — a stone’s throw from where families once walked the aisles hunting for action figures and board games.
The facts at a glance
Why this is a big deal for Kendall
Kendall is one of Miami-Dade’s largest and most densely populated suburban communities, home to hundreds of thousands of residents who commute daily across the sprawling highway grid of Kendall Drive and the Palmetto Expressway.
Despite that density, Tesla’s presence here has historically been limited to the Dadeland Mall showroom — a retail-only space with no service capabilities.
The new facility changes that entirely. A full service center means Kendall Tesla owners — and there are a lot of them — will no longer need to drive up to Doral or across town for repairs and maintenance. That’s a meaningful quality-of-life upgrade for the neighborhood’s growing EV community.
“Tesla expanding into Kendall signals that EV adoption in South Florida’s suburbs has hit a tipping point. When a brand like this plants a 45,000 sq ft flag in your neighborhood, it’s not just a store — it’s a statement.”
A neighborhood ghost gets a new identity
For Kendall locals, the Toys ‘R’ Us on SW 117th Ave. carries a certain kind of nostalgia. It was a neighborhood landmark for a generation of kids — the place where birthday lists were made and holiday mornings were planned. When the chain collapsed in 2018, that building became one of those hollow reminders of how fast retail was changing.
Nearly eight years of vacancy later, the building is about to have its second act. Tesla doesn’t open service centers casually. Each one represents a calculated bet on a community’s EV growth trajectory. Signing a lease in Kendall in 2026 says a lot about where the brand sees this neighborhood heading.
Part of a broader South Florida expansion
The Kendall location isn’t Tesla’s only South Florida move. The company already operates the Dadeland Mall showroom at 7535 N. Kendall Dr. and the Miami Design District location, along with presences in Aventura and Doral. The new standalone facility is notable because it’s the first in the area built specifically to handle both sales and service at scale — a sign that the customer base here has matured well past early adopter territory.
The Miami Herald, which first reported the lease signing, noted that the Kendall development is part of a broader wave of retail investment hitting Miami-Dade and Broward counties — Tesla’s move being watched closely as evidence that South Florida’s suburban EV market is coming fully into its own.
What to watch next
With a late 2026 opening target, construction and fit-out of the former Toys ‘R’ Us space will likely begin in the coming months. For Kendall’s EV owners, it’s a welcome development that’s been a long time coming. For everyone else, it’s a front-row seat to watching one of the world’s most recognized brands bet big on your neighborhood.
– Nestor Andre