Cultural landmarks around the City of Miami find themselves in limbo. Theaters and community spaces are closed and face expensive repairs. In WLRN's four-part series, Culture of Neglect, we're shining light on what our community leaders are doing — or not doing — to restore these long-standing institutions. The series will run online and on air Monday-Thursday.
For nearly 100 years, the Olympia theater has stood in the heart of downtown Miami. Once a home to silent films and live performances by music legends, like , the storied venue has languished while Miami continues to grow.
The theater, which first opened in 1926, is closed for the majority of the year nowadays. Occasional exhibits like a LEGO-themed “Art of the Brick” showcase in January and a “Van Gogh Experience” in 2023 are few and far between.
The theater’s website is outdated, with posters for events from 2023 and months already past. Even those flyers are for events “taking art to the street,” meaning events hosted outside on Flagler Street and not in the theater itself.
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The City of Miami owns the property and manages it through the Department of Real Estate and Asset Management (DREAM). DREAM leases the theater to Exhibit Hub, the company that puts on the LEGO and Van Gogh events.
Some of the theater's orchestra seats, which have been there for decades, were removed to make space for guests visiting the exhibits, though they remain on site until they can be placed back.
Andrew Frey, director of DREAM, told WLRN the city has intentionally chosen to do infrequent programming because the Olympia is in need of structural repairs.
“It’s safe to occupy. It just doesn’t have a clean bill of health,” Frey said. “So we didn’t want to have more intense usage of the theater putting more wear and tear, and that’s why we rented it out as more of an exhibition area.”
History of damage
A City of Miami unsafe structures inspector issued a “repair or demolish” notice on the city itself for the Olympia theater in August 2018. The outside facade of the building has visible cracks covered by netting, and the entrance is ringed by metal scaffolding.
As part of the Olympia’s 40-year recertification, the city is required to perform repairs. Frey says repairs for the indoor and outdoor portions of the building are currently in the drawing phase at the city’s Office of Capital Improvements.
“There’s some time before the 40-year recertification repairs would be done,” Frey said.
Several local entities have considered buying the Olympia from the city and managing it, but so far they’ve all walked away.
In 2017, developer withdrew its application to buy up and renovate the property after receiving community pushback.
Miami Dade College was approached to take charge of the theater in 2019, but ultimately backed out of the deal. George F. Andrews, Chief of Staff for the college, wrote in a letter to the city that, after doing its due diligence, Miami Dade could not agree to take over.
“After reviewing the current financial condition of both the theater and the apartments and exploring alternative models of managing these two important City assets, we have decided not to pursue a partnership with the City,” Andrews wrote on Sept. 5, 2019.
But there is one group that does want to take the Olympia Theater off the city’s hands.
Gusman family
When Bruce Gusman looks up at the scaffolding and the cracking facade, he shakes his head in disappointment. Bruce’s grandfather, business mogul and philanthropist Maurice Gusman, once owned the Olympia and its nearby offices.
“It just looks like they're piecemealing everything and nothing's going to get done. It just keeps getting worse and worse every time I see it. Every time,” Bruce told WLRN.
Maurice Gusman bought the Olympia property in the 1970s when it was threatened with demolition. He restored the theater with the help of famous Miami architect , and ultimately donated the venue to the City of Miami in 1975.
For many years the theater was known as the “Gusman Center for the Performing Arts,” until it was eventually renamed the “Olympia Theater” once again. The sign at the entrance of the theater that bears the Gusman Center name is currently covered up by a white metal scaffolding.
Bruce Gusman, along with his brother and sister, sued the City of Miami in 2019 to regain control of the theater, believing the city is not doing a good enough job as a steward of the cultural property.
The Gusman siblings claim their grandfather’s deed required that the property be managed by the Miami Parking Authority. When the parking authority ceded control of the Olympia to the city in 2011, they claim it violated the deed and the property should therefore go back to the Gusman family.
The city has fought the Gusmans’ suit, and argues they have no legal standing. It further asserts that the Miami Parking Authority was within its rights to name the city as its successor.
The suit is still pending in circuit court and the Third District Court of Appeals.
Bruce said he has seen politics and mismanagement plague many cultural gems in the city of Miami, and doesn’t want his grandfather’s legacy to be part of that. He wants the theater to be "the heart of downtown" and attract other businesses nearby to revitalize the area that's long been at risk for urban blight.
“When I was a kid, all my grandfather would say to me was that he wanted this theater so that his name would remain in perpetuity,” he said. “That was his claim to fame: that he would be away from this earth, and the theater would continue forever.”
Frey said the city and his department have been good stewards of the Olympia and other cultural properties like the Tower and Manuel Artime theaters. He said there are currently no plans to sell or give away the Olympia to any outside entities.
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