Sometimes we simply take things for granted and are so surprised when they change. That was how we felt upon learning that the Lincoln Theater on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach had been sold to a developer.
The developer’s plans are to convert the 38,000 square foot Lincoln into high-end shopping since that location can offer a tenant some of the largest frontage on the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall available.
For the past 22 years the theater has been a 704-seat performance and administrative offices for the New World Symphony. The Symphony is now in the process of building a completely new $154 million facility just behind the Lincoln and will no longer need the space by 2011 when it plans to move into its new facilities.
The Lincoln opened in 1936 and closed in the early 1980s. It sat vacant for years until it was leased in by the New World Symphony in 1988.
We sincerely hope the City of Miami Beach’s Historic preservation laws are firmly adhered to when it comes time to start tearing out walls in the Lincoln. And we can only hope the marquee stays just like it is today…Lincoln Road just wouldn’t be the same without it…
