Forest City celebrated the grand opening of The Village at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Feb. 11.

The vibrant, outdoor retail center features walkable streets, beautiful palm trees and new experiences you won’t find anywhere else.

You can learn more about The Village at Gulfstream Park by visiting the center’s Web site, following the center on Twitter, or becoming a fan on Facebook.

The center, featuring enticing boutique shops, crave-worthy restaurants, outdoor cafés and the biggest names in modern home décor, held a job fair to fill hundreds of positions at the center’s shops and restaurants.

The job fair was the top story on the local news as television crews descended on the center to report on the event, even interviewing job applicants live from the event. The event was also featured in numerous periodicals, including the Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Business Journal, South Florida Sun-Times and Palm Beach Post. It was also attended by photographers from the Associated Press and Getty Images, whose images appeared in a national trend story on job creation.

As you read this, attendees have already been hired and tenants are getting ready to open on Feb. 11.

This successful event was more than two years in the making, according to Forest City Commercial Development Associate Stephanie Dorsey, who coordinated the event as part of a broader initiative with local governments and agencies.

“In the initial stages of The Village at Gulfstream Park, the City of Hallandale made it known they’d like to work together to make sure there were opportunities for local residents, so as part of our Company’s commitment to Community Involvement and Diversity and Inclusion, we partnered on this program,” Dorsey said.

Working with the City, the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Urban League of Broward County and Sheridan Technical School, the program offered three-hour workshops for local residents, training them in resume writing, customer service and other necessary skills. Over 400 graduates of those workshops earned a certificate and the chance to participate in a job fair late last year, in addition to exclusive access to the first hour of last week’s job fair.

“Twenty-six of our tenants participated in the fair, and the success stories are already coming in,” Dorsey said. “So we’re thrilled to help connect local residents with jobs here at The Village of Gulfstream Park.”

Located near Miami, The Village at Gulfstream Park is part of a vibrant, diverse area. The grand opening of the center is a great opportunity to make sure local residents shared in the opportunities and excitement of the center.

“Through our training program, we helped ensure we had a talented, diverse and local workforce at The Village at Gulfstream Park,” Dorsey said. “When you have local residents working at your center, it really becomes their own.”

She added, “It’s another great example of how our Core Values help us create value at Forest City.”