Lincoln Road on the rise again? Seven new shops and restaurants set to open by early 2020
Vacancies plagued Lincoln Road for years. Now, a different story is taking place.
Seven new retailers and restaurants will join Miami Beach’s outdoor mall with openings happening from December through early 2020, including BoneFly, Yoyoso, Moonlighter Makerspace, Lobster Shack, Olé Olé Steakhouse and Gelato Go.
Others opened shop in November, including Brooklyn-based sneaker shop Greats and the bar Zeke’s Roadhouse.
The nine recently signed leases push the occupancy rate of the total 250 storefronts to 82%, according to Tim Schmand, executive director of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District.
“Retail trends ebb and flow. For years, Lincoln Road was on that ebb. Now, it’s rising. An opportunity came up to open a pop-up shop and we took advantage of it,” Ryan Babenzien, CEO of Greats, said.
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Each incoming retailer and restaurant offers a distinct experience:
▪ The New York-based Museum of Illusions will open in December at the 33,724-square-foot storefront at 536 Lincoln Rd. The museum has locations in over 15 locations and provides visitors with interactive, Instagram-worthy showcases.
▪ The designer dog brand BoneFly will open a 1,554-square-foot store at 918 Lincoln Rd. The brand, known for adding Swarovski crystals to leashes, harnesses and collars, will open in early 2020.
▪ Founded in 2014, the Chinese brand Yoyoso will open a flagship store at 1119 Lincoln Rd. in early 2020. The company operates 1,200 stores in over 36 countries and sells a range of products, including accessories and grooming products. It will take over 5,600 square feet.
▪ The non-profit Moonlighter Makerspace will open at the Miami Beach Convention Center at 1661 Pennsylvania Ave. in the first quarter of 2020, swapping Wynwood for Miami Beach. It will lease 6,719 square feet of the retail space on the ground floor from the City of Miami Beach. The Miami-based creative co-working center with educational Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics amenities signed a three-year lease with an option to renew for another two years.
“Lincoln Road and Miami Beach have always had a warm spot in our hearts. It is dense with culture, arts and community,” wrote Tom Pupo, co-founder of Moonlighter Makerspace, over email. “We always felt that our makerspace would be truly at home here, and now with our new partnership with the City of Miami Beach, we are finally able to make that happen.”
▪ The seafood restaurant Lobster Shack will open in 2020 at 613 Lincoln Rd.
▪ The owners behind Lincoln Road’s Tapelia will add another restaurant called Olé Olé Steakhouse at 626 Lincoln Rd. The restaurant will take a slice of the 53,943-square-foot commercial center in 2020.
▪ Gelato Go will offer pastries, coffee and a variety of gelato flavors, including pistachio and truffles come 2020. It will open at 609 Lincoln Rd.
Some of the incoming owners see Lincoln Road as the place to test concepts and, with an array of international visitors, learn who is buying. Greats, launched online in 2013, is selling from a pop-up store at 663 Lincoln Road for the next four months.
“It’s not just financial,” Babenzein said. “We want to see who goes and if we should open in Latin America. It’s that type of insight that you can’t learn from online.”
Greats may stay longer should “the market respond,” Babenzein said.
“People think of digital brands as only digital but that’s not true,” Babenzein said. “We’re finding a lot of success on our retail store.”
More retailers that launched online are opening storefronts on Lincoln Road, including the mattress store Casper, said Schmand. He said, “We are also experiencing that clicks-to-bricks trend, where retailers are opening a place for their customers to touch, smell and feel their products.”
The forthcoming $67 million Lincoln Road streetscape project by Brooklyn-based James Corner Field Operations is also attracting new tenants, Schmand said.
Lyle Stern, Lincoln Road BID board member and president of Koniver Stern Group, a Miami Beach real estate agency that leases commercial spaces across Miami, including on Lincoln Road, wrote by email, “After 30 years since the last renovation Lincoln Road is in need of transforming into a newer and better version of itself.”
“With the new James Corner Plan soon coming into fruition,” Thelma Deutsch, owner of Zeke’s Road House and a Lincoln Road BID board member wrote over email. “Lincoln Road will become even more exceptional with more retail, restaurants, arts, culture, and entertainment. I’m very excited for the future of Lincoln Road.”
Deutsch reopened her cash-only bar at 625 Lincoln Road after operating the business at the same location during the 90s’. The bar is known for its 180 varieties of beer all priced at $5 and its $4 hot dogs. After seeing locals migrating to the Design District, Brickell and Wynwood, she is intent on drawing residents back.
“I decided to re-open Zeke’s Roadhouse, because I wanted to bring locals back to Lincoln Road,” Deutsch said. “The way I set up Zeke’s, we have a huge beer garden outside, people can relax and have fun without feeling like they are in a touristy destination.”
Activity on Lincoln Road dropped in the 2000s after a decade of strong shopping activity during the 90s. With increasing rent, chains soon replaced mom-and-pop shops. A decrease in rent in recent years is drawing an array of tenants. Landowners are now asking prices of $250 per square foot, according to Cushman & Wakefield. City of Miami Beach commissioners continue to brainstorm and support plans, from art programming to streetscape renovations, to draw foot traffic.
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 4:30 AM.
