BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
A group of Miami Beach real estate investors will close next week on the purchase of the Lincoln Theatre, with plans to convert the historic building into retail stores.
An affiliate of Savitar Realty Advisors of Miami Beach is buying the building from the New World Symphony, which is in the process of constructing its new home designed by architect Frank Gehry. Terms of the deal for the 38,000-square-foot property on Lincoln Road Mall were not disclosed.
Savitar Realty Advisors, a Miami Beach real estate investment and management company, is led by Clifford Stein, president and chief executive. Partnering with Stein on the deal are Lyle Stern and Bruce Koniver of Koniver Stern Group, who will handle the retail leasing for the site.
``Lincoln Road is one of the world's most unique retail areas,'' Stein said. ``To have a major piece of property that is almost a half a block and has a landmark identity is very unusual. It's one of the only properties that can give a tenant 20,000 square feet of Lincoln Road frontage.''
The New World Symphony will continue to present concerts at the Lincoln Theatre until January 2011. Proceeds from the sale will be used by New World toward the construction of its new facility.
Stein's plans call for converting the four-floor building into three floors and eliminating the theater, while maintaining the architectural features of the historic building built in 1935. The renovated theater would become home to as many as four retail shops and restaurants, with a potential opening in 2012 or 2013.
What made the building an attractive investment is the success of Lincoln Road as a major retail corridor. While most retail sales across the country declined in 2009 because of the recession, industry sources say many retailers on Lincoln Road still managed to grow their businesses. Some of the top tenants ring up sales of more than $1,000 a square foot.
But a lack of space has made it difficult for larger tenants to find a suitable location with spaces larger than 5,000 square feet.
``This gives us the opportunity to talk to tenants that had absolutely no way to enter the market before,'' Stern said. ``We have a list of important tenants that we would like to introduce to the market or to North America.''
As part of the renovation, the site will be redesigned to allow retailers to face on Lincoln Lane and interact with the New World Symphony's new home located directly behind the existing theater.
The goal is to create a new city center, including a new parking garage and a park.
``Twenty-one years ago, the New World Symphony led the revival of Lincoln Road by choosing the Lincoln Theatre for its home,'' Neisen Kasdin, chairman of the New World Symphony Board of Trustees, said in a statement. ``We anticipate the opening of our new iconic campus and the city's adjacent park and parking garage will have a profound impact on Miami Beach.''
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