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Miami Herald
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Is the Olympia Theater giveaway a done deal? Miami officials sure act like it
Monday night, the city of Miami held the first of three so-called 'community meetings' to unveil its backroom deal with Academica, the politically connected charter school giant poised to take over the historic Olympia Theater. What unfolded wasn't a forum — it was a coronation, a staged performance in which the public was cast as silent observers. From the outset, it was clear: This was not a conversation. It was a declaration. City officials and Academica executives spoke with the entitlement of a done deal. No artistic vision. No competitive process. No public mandate. Just the quiet conversion of Miami's most iconic cultural landmark into a taxpayer-funded playground for a charter empire. Under Gov. Ron DeSantis's budget, Florida charter schools receive $9,130 in public funds for each enrolled student. Academica's proposed SLAM school would enroll over 1,000 students — more than $9 million a year handed to a private operator occupying a city-owned theater rent-free. Yet they claim the plan uses 'zero public funding.' Public assets are very much in play. The city owns the air rights to the Olympia — undeveloped vertical space valued in the tens of millions of dollars. These rights exist because the building is historically protected and can't be replaced with luxury towers. Under city code, these Transferable Development Rights (TDRs) can only be sold to fund restoration of the building itself. Public dollars should and must be spent on the Olympia. To claim otherwise is false. Public comment at the meeting was a farce. Questions were screened, answers vague and the presentation bloated with self-congratulation. One attendee asked about traffic — thousands of students being dropped off daily in a congested downtown core. Officials waved it off with talk of 'public transit.' As if Miami's transit system is on par with New York's. It's not. When asked why the deal was being rushed, Academica said they needed to get it done before the school year starts. Never mind that renovations haven't begun and won't be completed for over a year. The rush isn't about students. It's about locking down the property before political terms expire and scrutiny intensifies. The city manager pointed to a failed 2022 RFP (Request for Proposal) as justification, claiming no serious proposals were received. What he didn't say: The RFP was designed to fail. It demanded a $40 million restoration at the proposer's sole expense — plus rent — on a building they would never own. Unsurprisingly, no one applied. Now compare that to what Academica gets: full control, no rent, no cultural obligations and millions in state funding. Had those terms been offered transparently, developers would have lined up around the block. In fact, I submitted a serious proposal with preservation architect Richard Heisenbottle. We offered a boutique hotel, jazz club, rooftop speakeasy and a programming team with experience at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and New York City Center. No handouts — just vision, stewardship, and revenue. The city never replied. Academica's proposed 'Theater Programming Plan' includes LED walls, a SiriusXM affiliate, Verizon Innovation Lab and Telemundo Academy. It's not a vision for a historic landmark. It's a sandbox for vocational branding. For 16 years, the city has starved the Olympia — not for lack of funds or ideas, but for lack of will. Now, with months left in office, they're handing it off — not to cultural stewards, but to a for-profit school chain. This is not redevelopment. It's abandonment wrapped in the language of progress. The Olympia Theater is not a vacant lot. It is Miami's Carnegie Hall. Its fate should not be decided behind closed doors. It demands vision, transparency and public trust. The outcome of these public meetings should be the realization that the only ethical way forward is a transparent procurement process — one that is fair to all interested parties and that maintains city ownership of one of its most treasured assets. Orlando Alonso is a Cuban-American concert pianist, conductor and arts entrepreneur. He is leading a civic coalition to preserve and reimagine the historic Olympia Theater as a world-class cultural center.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Save the Olympia: Miami's most historic theater is at risk
The Olympia Theater is about to be given away by the Miami city commission this Thursday — quietly, with no input from cultural or downtown stakeholders, no public discussion of the options and certainly no transparent, charter-mandated procurement process. Instead of restoring one of Miami's most iconic historic landmarks, the city is preparing to hand it over to a charter school company. This isn't a cultural plan. It's a shortcut. And it risks permanently losing a civic treasure that generations have fought to preserve. I'm a Miami-based Cuban American who has spent my career building ambitious, sustainable arts institutions. I'm a Juilliard-trained pianist and co-founder of Le Poisson Rouge in New York, a venue that helped redefine what a performance space can be. I've launched orchestras, programmed world-class venues and transformed historic properties into financially viable, artistically vibrant centers of culture. Over the past several years, I've turned that focus to the Olympia. I've developed a comprehensive proposal for a full revival of the theater and surrounding property — a plan that includes a boutique hotel, a rooftop jazz venue, a cultural ground-floor bar and a dynamic, year-round performance program in the theater itself. This isn't just conceptual. It has institutional backing. Howard Herring, president of the New World Symphony — one of Miami's most respected cultural leaders — formally endorsed the proposal and offered support to help bring it to life. I've also consulted with leading preservation experts, including architect Richard Heisenbottle, to ensure the plan honors the theater's historic integrity. The Olympia Theater opened in 1926 as a silent movie theater, one of several along East Flagler Street. It is the only one that remains. The theater features famed opera hall architect John Eberson's Moorish/ Mediterranean Revival style. Throughout its long history, where it has also been known as the Gusman Center, the venue has served as a movie theater, concert venue and performing arts center known for its simulated night sky, complete with clouds and twinkling stars. It also achieved fame as the first air-conditioned building in the South. In 2022, when the city finally issued a Request for Proposals, it was structurally designed to fail: no financial incentives, no alignment with historic tax credits, no public-private partnership. A $50 million restoration with zero city support. Not surprisingly, no viable proposals came in. What followed was silence. The city made no effort to revise or reissue the RFP, and no transparent process has followed. Now, without meaningful public engagement or competitive evaluation, the Olympia is on track to be handed off for non-cultural use. Let's be clear: a charter school may be valuable in the right location—but it is not a strategy to preserve a historic theater. The Olympia is not a vacant building in search of purpose. It is an irreplaceable public asset. And bypassing cultural stakeholders to quietly repurpose it is a serious breach of public trust. So I am preparing a new proposal — a bid that meets the legal thresholds but also meets the moment. Because this theater still has a future. But only if we treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Miami deserves better. Cities that preserve their cultural landmarks build civic pride and lasting value. Cities that cast them aside become poorer — for generations. The Olympia can still be saved. But only if the public insists on transparency, vision and a commitment to cultural legacy. I've seen what's possible. And I'm not giving up on what this theater could be for Miami. Orlando Alonso is a concert pianist, conductor, and arts entrepreneur who has led international cultural projects and revitalization efforts in New York and Miami.
