To Bring Back Live Music, Miami Beach Eases Permitting for Empty Space

In an attempt to fill vacant commercial spaces along Miami Beach’s popular Lincoln Road and elsewhere in the city, the City Commission last week unanimously approved an ordinance easing the path for restaurants to offer live entertainment.

The temporary ordinance, in effect through the end of 2026, is aimed at “deregulating and streamlining” the permitting process, city officials said. The new rule removes the conditional use permit requirement that bogs down applications to host live music.

To achieve that goal, the ordinance boosts the occupancy threshold to 750 people for restaurants that can offer indoor entertainment without a conditional use permit. The previous limit was 200 seats.

Since Miami Beach emerged as a hub of hipness in the 1990s, the city has tried to balance visitors and nightlife with quality of life for residents. Over the decades, the city cracked down on live entertainment to the extent that owners of restaurants and clubs can scarcely offer live shows.

“The process is very expensive, it’s very lengthy, it’s very bureaucratic,” Miami Beach Commissioner Alex J. Fernandez told Commercial Observer. “All these rules started 30 years ago, and they only grew worse — they only became more bureaucratic and layered upon one another. We started losing some of our most beloved places.”

Fernandez points to the former Van Dyke Cafe, a popular spot on Lincoln Road that offered live music from 1994 through 2019. That venue’s departure was part of a shift in the tenant mix along the pedestrian mall.

“We’ve traditioned away from culture to a more retail-dominant, mall-like vibe,” Fernandez said. “That’s not what defines the city we want to be.”

The ordinance doesn’t create a free-for-all — it does not allow for outdoor entertainment, open-air rooftop venues, or adult entertainment.

Miami Beach’s new rules apply to Lincoln Road between Collins Avenue and Alton Road, Washington Avenue between Fifth Street and Lincoln Road, Collins Avenue between 65th and 75th streets, 71st Street or Normandy Drive between Collins Avenue and Rue Notre Dame, and 41st Street between Alton Road and Pine Tree Drive.

The idea, Fernandez said, is to bring back the sort of offbeat offerings that made Miami Beach popular a generation ago.

“We’ve been the center of gay culture in Florida, but if a venue wanted to have a drag show, that’s difficult, because it’s live entertainment,” he said.

Lyle Stern, president of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District, praised the ordinance. Stern has been striving to boost Lincoln Road’s occupancy rate, which has dipped below 80 percent.

“It immediately eliminates over-regulation and restrictions that have prevented our business community from being competitive,” Stern said in a statement. “Now is the moment to bring the energy of live music back to Miami Beach.”

Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.