Robert Rivani has expanded his real estate holdings on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road by purchasing the historic Lincoln Theatre building for $37 million. The property, located at 551 Lincoln Road, is currently anchored by fashion retailer H&M.
The transaction was brokered by Danny Finkle and Evan Lahr of JLL. The seller, an affiliate of Savitar Realty Advisors led by Clifford Stein, previously acquired the building in 2010 for $21.5 million. H&M signed a lease for 35,240 square feet at the location in 2012, following the relocation of the New World Symphony to its current venue nearby.
Other tenants occupying space in the nearly fully leased building include Swatch and Tapelia Spanish Cuisine.
Lincoln Theatre was designed by architect Thomas Lamb and completed in 1936. It operated as a cinema until the 1980s before being purchased by the New World Symphony for $1.4 million in 1988. The symphony used it as a performance venue for over twenty years.
The newly acquired property is situated about two blocks east of another Rivani-owned asset: The Rivani at 1691 Michigan Avenue. This seven-story mixed-use building recently secured Playboy as its penthouse tenant under a ten-year lease covering 20,000 square feet. Playboy plans to relocate its headquarters from Los Angeles once approximately $40 million in renovations are finished next year.
Rivani’s firm bought both the Michigan Avenue building and its ground lease last year for $62.5 million—significantly less than its previous sale price of $109.2 million recorded in 2016—with the land remaining owned by the city of Miami Beach.
Planned upgrades to The Rivani include concierge service, a fitness center, spa facilities, a Japanese restaurant, and a speakeasy.
In recent months, Rivani sold two commercial spaces within Brickell mixed-use projects—leased to Gekko Japanese steakhouse and RosaNegra Miami Mexican restaurant—for $38.2 million combined. Earlier this year he also sold a commercial property leased to Catch seafood restaurant in South of Fifth for $28.2 million.
