Miami officials are moving to turn over control of one of the city’s signature cultural and architectural treasures, the historic but run-down Olympia Theater on Flagler Street downtown, to a Little Havana charter school closely affiliated with a politically influential for-profit charter operator.
News of the plan, which was developed by city administrators but has not been publicly vetted or discussed, has provoked considerable consternation in political, downtown, cultural and preservation circles.
It surfaced only in recent days when the city published its agenda for Thursday’s commission meeting. The agenda lists a public hearing for the “transfer” of the 1926 theater to the Sports Leadership Arts Management public charter school, also known as SLAM.
The proposed transfer, according to a convoluted city resolution describing the deal, appears to be a gift of the Olympia’s 10-story building in exchange for an unspecified commitment by SLAM to renovate it for use as a school. Many details are murky, including whether the theater would remain a public venue.
That process would happen without the formal bids or public referendum typically required for disposition of city property. That’s because the SLAM academy is legally a public school, though run privately, which clears the way for the city to cede property to it. The plan does require a yes vote from at least four of the five city commissioners.
While SLAM, perhaps best know for its use of rapper Pitbull as its public face, is a non-profit corporation, it’s managed by Academica, a hugely lucrative for-profit charter-school operator.
Academica has been dogged by criticism that it and its affiliates have employed influential politicians who help pass laws benefiting its bottom line by funneling taxpayer money into publicly funded charter schools, which then pay fees for its services and use of their properties. An Academica affiliate is listed in Miami-Dade County property records as the owner of SLAM’s building in Little Havana.
SLAM president Alex Tamargo responded to a request from the Miami Herald for an interview after the deadline for this story to post online. In a lengthy email, Tamargo said Academica does not manage the school but provides it “support and services.”
According to SLAM’s website, Academica provides: “Facilities, finance, staffing and human resource coordination, as well as bookkeeping, budgeting, regulatory compliance and financial forecasting.”
Tamargo also said broadly that SLAM would seek to preserve the theater for public use, though his statement suggests that exactly what that will mean remains to be worked out. The school intends to make educational use of the portion of the complex formerly used for affordable housing,. he said.
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“SLAM is looking forward to providing sorely needed space for students in the building next to the Olympia Theater while collaborating with other various non-profit organizations to preserve the Theater for the Miami community,” he wrote. “That is part of the commitment SLAM has agreed to undertake.”
A spokeswoman for Academica did not respond to an email requesting an interview.
The details of the proposed Olympia deal in public documents are hazy. But a complicated resolution to be voted on by commissioners outlines a plan that would obligate SLAM to fully restore and repair the long-neglected landmark for use as a downtown charter school. The resolution lists two other big charter school chain operators, Somerset Academy and Mater Academy, as partners with SLAM in the downtown school, though again without detailing their precise roles. The website for Mater’s Hialeah academy lists Tamargo as school principal.
Academica and Somerset were both founded by entrepreneur Fernando Zulueta, who serves as Academica’s CEO.
The resolution contains no details about the cost of those repairs, but lists an extensive worklist that includes full exterior restoration, repair of damage to the interior from water intrusion, replacement of the building’s roof, windows and doors, and repairs of air-conditioning, electrical and fire alarm systems.
The document doesn’t say how the non-profit SLAM would raise the required money, or precisely how SLAM would utilize the 10-story building and its large and famously elaborate auditorium, which recalls a Moorish garden in Spain with a soaring ceiling overhead that replicates a night sky with twinkling stars and passing clouds.
The resolution says the city “anticipates” that Miami Dade College would help design an education program for use of the Olympia and make use of the facilities for cultural events, but it provides no indication of an agreement with or commitment from the college. An MDC spokeswoman did not respond to a voicemail message on Wednesday from the Herald requesting comment.
The resolution does specify that any transfer of the property is contingent on resolution on a pair of pending lawsuits by the heirs of Maurice Gusman, the entrepreneur and philanthropist who bought the Olympia in 1975 to save it from demolition and donated it to the Miami Parking Authority because he did not trust city politicians to preserve and manage it.
Citing mismanagement and alleged violations of the terms of the donation, the Gusman family has been trying to wrest back control for years and has asked the courts for damages and compensation. An attorney for the family declined a Miami Herald request for an interview.
Beside the theater auditorium and ground-floor retail spaces, the building complex includes several floors above that had been occupied for decades by affordable-housing apartments. Those are now vacant. The Miami-Dade County appraiser’s office lists the market value of the property at over $6 million, although that may be a significant undervaluation.
Typically, a deal to sell or cede public property would require a formal and detailed underlying agreement and appraisals of its value. No such documents have been released so far.
The theater’s design and its longtime and once-prominent role in downtown cultural life has led many to regard it as Miami’s Carnegie Hall, the crown jewel of the city’s theaters.
Preservationists and figures in downtown and cultural circles were puzzled and shocked by the city plan as word began circulating this week. Some are asking commissioners to defer a vote on the plan to allow time for public scrutiny and debate.
Christine Rupp, executive director of Dade Heritage Trust, a Miami preservation group, said there has been no time for public examination of the plan, which raises numerous critical unanswered questions, including exactly how SLAM would use the theater, whether it would provide public programming and performances, and who would ensure that any restoration meets the required high standards.
“The deferral is requested to allow for public input and professional opinions as to the use of the Olympia Theater for purely educational purposes, as it is primarily a cultural facility, and to address the necessity of well-regarded historic preservation professionals (architect, contractor, restoration specialist) being involved in the preservation/restoration of the property,” a statement released on Wednesday by the trust says.
Giving the theater away could relieve the city of a significant financial and managerial burden.
Sources with knowledge of the Olympia building say it requires some $30 million to $40 million in structural and other extensive repair work under plans developed by prominent Miami preservation architect Richard Heisenbottle, who was hired for the job by the city, which owns and operates the theater. Those plans are now under review by the city building department for permits.
The city’s stewardship of the theater has long come under fire from preservationists and cultural and downtown figures who say it has neglected, underused and mismanaged the unique landmark for years.
The theater, which occupies a prominent corner on East Flagler, was long a linchpin of downtown’s life and economy. The Miami Film Festival returned to the theater this year for a few days after an absence of many years, but it has otherwise been dark since an exhibitor that staged a Van Gogh immersive-art show at the theater closed it nearly two years ago. Even before that, the city had put on only occasional shows or performances.
The building’s terracotta brick facade has been crumbling and surrounded by scaffolding for many years. There are structural issues on the inside as well, and the building needs a new roof. It has failed to pass required recertification inspections, though it remains safe to use with some safeguards. The affordable apartments upstairs were cheaply built and must be ripped out.
The Olympia was designed and built as a spectacular “atmospheric” silent-movie palace, but in time became a cherished venue for live performances by legendary stars such as the Marx Brothers and Elvis Presley, who gave 15 sold-out concerts on its stage in 1956.
Gusman, who bought the theater for some $2 million to save it from demolition, expressly did not donate it directly to the city because he did not trust its politicians to properly preserve and manage it. Instead, he gave it to the quasi-independent Miami Parking Authority, whose leadership at the time he trusted.
In 1984, the theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It’s also legally designated by the city as a protected historic and architectural landmark, meaning it cannot be torn down or significantly altered. The theater has been renovated at least twice — once when Gusman bought it, and once under MPA management, when Heisenbottle, the preservation architect, oversaw an extensive interior and facade restoration.
In subsequent years, renamed after Gusman, the theater was the city’s only performing arts venue. It served as the home of the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and hosted performances by Luciano Pavarotti, Jimmy Buffet and The Police, among many others.
But the operator brought in to program the theater began having trouble booking acts and filling seats amid an economic slump downtown and competition from new or renovated venues, including the Arsht Center and the Fillmore Miami Beach. A short-lived foundation formed to revive the Olympia by former Hialeah mayor and “Real Housewives” husband Herman Echevarria, foundered when he died suddenly of a heart attack in 2016.
The MPA, saying it wasn’t equipped to run a cultural facility, eventually turned the theater over to the city, prompting the ongoing litigation from the Gusman heirs.
Revenue further dried up when the 30-year deal for affordable housing upstairs ended and the operator pulled out, leaving behind a warren of tiny, obsolete studio apartments that the city could not decide what to do with. Plans for conversion of the upstairs into a boutique hotel never advanced, while the city put off renovations and repairs.
A request for bids from potential operators recently failed to attract a single application.
Former Miami commissioner Ken Russell was among the first to raise concerns publicly over the city plan to give the theater to SLAM with a social media post after he noticed the public hearing listed on the commission agenda.
Russell, who represented downtown Miami, said he finds it inconceivable that a charter high school would be the right institution to make the right use of a theater as important and architecturally significant as the Olympia is to Miami, and he blames the city for failing in its responsibility to ensure its viability.
“It dropped my jaw. There is no way that a charter school can do justice to what Miami deserves for a cultural asset of this kind,” Russell said. “For the city to just throw in the towel and give it away to an inappropriate partner is simply irresponsible.
“We cannot let go of this jewel. It’s just wrong, and I hope the commission sees through it and puts the brakes to it.”
If the city does transfer the theater to the school, some preservationists say they hope that it includes ironclad guarantees that proper renovations are funded and completed and that the Olympia will be also programmed for public cultural performances. The resolution language does say that the city can reclaim control of the property if “all necessary” repairs are not carried out within five years.
In a statement released through a spokeswoman in response to a Herald query, also after posting deadline, Russell’s successor as commissioner, Damian Pardo, noted that Thursday’s hearing is the first of two required readings of the proposal, which allows a month for public review and “community engagement” before any final vote.
“The Olympia Theater is a treasured gem in our community, and I’m encouraged by the idea of restoring it to its glory and returning it to public use,” he said in an email. “While there are still details to consider, I am supportive of any outcome that preserves this historic space, opens it up for community benefit, activates the area and promotes educational and cultural programming.“
