Lincoln Road Is Getting Its Locals Back

There was a time when Lincoln Road belonged to us.

Not to the tour groups or the flagship stores. To locals. You went for jazz at Van Dyke Cafe, shopped at boutiques where the owner knew your name, and ran into half of South Beach on the walk home.

Jessie Uchuya remembers. Her family has been on Miami Beach for five generations, and she now runs Jessie Boutique a block off the promenade. “When I was growing up, it was very popular and had more local stores,” she says.

Then the rents climbed. At the peak, storefronts on the promenade were asking $150–300 a square foot, numbers only a national chain could carry. The independents closed or moved. The big brands arrived, and when newer neighborhoods like the Design District and Wynwood came calling, plenty of them left too. What remained was a run of dark windows on one of the most famous streets in Florida. Locals stopped going.

Michael Comras watched all of it. The founder of Miami Beach-based Comras Company was deeply involved in the Road’s last boom, and he has spent years convinced the fix was hiding in plain sight: directly behind the promenade, to the north.

“I would say I’ve been thinking about NoLi for 15 years,” Comras says.

Now he is building it. And around it, the small, stubborn, wonderful independent businesses that stayed, plus the new ones betting on what comes next, are making Lincoln Road feel like a neighborhood again. Here is the plan, and here is who to visit right now.

What Is NoLi? Inside the Plan to Bring Lincoln Road Home

NoLi is short for North Lincoln Road, and the name doubles as directions. Comras Company has assembled a cluster of buildings on the north side of Lincoln Road around Meridian Avenue, mostly on the 700 and 800 blocks, plus frontage on North Lincoln Lane, where The Lincoln Eatery already lives. Together they form what Comras calls a “micro district”: about 150,000 square feet, more than 1,700 linear feet of storefront, and room for 40-plus shops, restaurants, and studios.

The company bought the portfolio in November 2025 for a reported $140 million and is putting roughly $30 million more into the redevelopment. Nothing is being torn down. Touzet Studio is leading the design, and the plans cleared both the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board and Design Review Board unanimously.

Why Here, Why Now

Comras is candid about what happened after the Road’s last heyday. “Everybody was jealous of Lincoln Road,” he says. “They wanted one in their own backyard, all around Miami.” The Design District, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and Miami Worldcenter each built a walkable shopping street of their own, and each had something Lincoln Road lacked: someone steering the whole thing.

“It’s very hard when you have a street with 40 different property owners to get everybody on the same page,” he says. Some longtime owners felt no pressure to change. Others bought at the top and were too stretched to fix up their buildings.

NoLi is his answer: enough connected property to curate a block the way a great landlord would, and to finally push the district in the only direction it can go. “I’ve always been talking about how Lincoln Road should grow to the north, because it can’t grow to the south,” he says.

Via NoLi: A Shortcut Worth Lingering In

The centerpiece is Via NoLi, an 18-foot-wide covered paseo that will cut through 723 Lincoln Road, beside the former Forever 21 building (originally Saks Fifth Avenue, Comras notes), and introduce a boutique passage connecting to North Lincoln Lane. He calls it “the first real via on Lincoln Road.”

“You see them all over Europe,” he says. “Of course, you see them in Palm Beach.”

Picture black-and-white striped floors in a nod to Morris Lapidus, the architect who designed the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall; ceiling fans; blade signs; greenery; and boutiques of just 500–700 square feet, with cafes and restaurants feeding in from either end.

The via also fixes a problem most shoppers never noticed. Storefronts on this stretch can run 25 feet wide and 145 feet deep, bowling alleys no small retailer can fill or afford. Most want something closer to 75 feet deep, Comras says. Carve a passage through the middle and those boxes become a row of right-sized shops with a second front door.

North Lincoln Lane: The Street Off the Street

Walk out the back today and you meet dumpsters, FPL transformers, and a lane without sidewalks. It is also the first thing visitors see when they leave the city’s 17th Street garage looking for Lincoln Road. Under the plan, the utilities move inside and the lane becomes a shaded pedestrian promenade with wider sidewalks, canopy trees, and cafe tables, anchored by NoLi Plaza, a fountain courtyard the team describes as an outdoor living room.

“In every great city there’s a great street, like Lincoln Road,” Comras says. “And then there’s always a street off the street.” Melrose Avenue has Melrose Place. SoHo spread from West Broadway to Prince, Spring, and Greene. Lincoln Road, he argues, has been a one-street district for too long.

His measure of success is simple. “You travel around all these European cities, you walk through these little walkways, and you’re like, ‘Oh, look at this,'” he says. “This is what life is all about.”

By Locals, for Locals

Ask Comras who NoLi is for and the answer comes fast. “The idea is really to attract locals for their daily needs,” he says. Tourists will come regardless. What has been missing are reasons for people who live here to show up on a Tuesday.

So the plan leans on what he calls lifestyle uses: large-scale fitness upstairs; hair, nails, facials, and brows; an all-day cafe as the neighborhood’s third space; and restaurants covering morning, afternoon, and evening at different price points. The lane is designed to double as an event space. Think a Fashion Week dinner at one long table for 100.

On the retail side, expect a mix of local, regional, and national names, with the small spaces meant for brands that have “a couple of stores, or a few stores,” not a hundred. And for anyone worried that NoLi means luxury flagships, he could not be clearer.

“I don’t want to do a Design District. We don’t need another Design District,” Comras says. “I think it’s awesome, and I’d love to go over there and visit it. But I also don’t want to be leaving Miami Beach just to get some normal lifestyle needs.”

Tenant names are under wraps for now. Leasing is well underway, he says, and “now it comes down to the curation.”

A 1929 Showroom Comes Back

NoLi is as much restoration as redevelopment. The building that houses IT’SUGAR opened in 1929 as the original Lincoln motor car showroom, Comras says, with tall showroom windows later hidden behind tiled knee walls and a flat facade. In early 2027, his team plans to return the storefront to its original look. On the 700 block, the same treatment is coming to the storefronts running from the former Forever 21 building to Meridian Avenue.

The City Is Building Toward It

NoLi is not happening alone. Miami Beach is rebuilding Meridian Avenue between 17th Street and Lincoln Road with wider sidewalks, new trees, and landscaping. Work began in January 2026, and the city expects to finish by the end of the year. The goal, Comras says, is a “grand entrance” that pulls people from the Convention Center and its coming 800-room Grand Hyatt straight down to Lincoln Road.

Next door, the city is negotiating a deal to put 10 Padel X courts on the roof of the 17th Street garage, which Comras hopes will arrive in 2027.

When You’ll See It

Construction has started. Comras expects the Lincoln Road storefronts to take shape in the first half of 2027 and the North Lincoln Lane improvements to follow around the third quarter, with delivery slated for the end of 2027.

There is no residential piece yet, though Comras would love to see apartments above the shops up and down the street. “The whole notion of being able to wake up, walk downstairs, get a cup of coffee, walk your dog—that’s what’s missing on Lincoln Road,” he says.

Meanwhile, on the Rest of the Road

The momentum is not limited to one block. Uniqlo is set to open at 530 Lincoln Road late this year, Alo is taking the corner at Collins Avenue, and Victoria’s Secret, Brandy Melville, and Hoka have all moved or are moving into new or larger stores, Comras notes. L.A.’s h.wood Group is bringing The Nice Guy to Lincoln and Michigan.

But the news we love most is smaller. Balan’s, the all-day brasserie that first opened on Lincoln Road in 1997, came home to its original address in September. More on that below.

Meet the Independents Already Here

NoLi’s full debut is still ahead, but the neighborhood is hardly starting from scratch. Independent restaurants, boutiques, studios, and cultural institutions have been doing the work for years, some on the promenade and some a block or two off it, where the rents are gentler and the regulars are loyal.

A note on geography: when locals say “Lincoln Road,” they mean the neighborhood, not just the pedestrian mall. We have marked which spots sit on the promenade and which are just off it.

The Lenox Avenue Crew: A Little Community, One Block South

To see what “by locals, for locals” looks like in practice, walk one block south of Lincoln Road to the corner of Lenox Avenue and 16th Street. The Industry Lofts building at 1560 Lenox has quietly filled with independent, owner-run businesses that send clients up and down the stairs to one another.

“It has really good energy because it’s filled with women-owned businesses,” says Jessie Uchuya of Jessie Boutique, on the ground floor, pointing to her neighbors: Skincare by Amy Peterson, Atenaa Beauty Concept, and Reforming Pilates. “We’re a little community, which is really nice. We work together, support one another, and try to do events together.”

Jessie Boutique

Uchuya’s roots on the Beach go back to the early 1900s. She and her grandmother both went to Miami Beach Senior High. She opened her first store in Aventura in 2004, when her daughter was about a year old, and has had a shop on the Beach for about 15 years.

A little over two years ago she moved it from Alton Road to this ground-floor corner, taking over the showroom a childhood friend’s furniture store was leaving. “I chose it because it’s more neighborhood-oriented and easier to access, especially for parking,” she says. “It’s also just off Lincoln Road, so there’s a lot of foot traffic from both tourists and locals.”

Uchuya still does all the buying herself, and she has dressed the same clients for years: “their weddings, their children’s birthday parties, their children’s bar and bat mitzvahs.” It is why she thinks small shops are having a moment. People want, she says, “people who know their names when they walk in.”

She is rooting for the Road’s next chapter, and for more neighbors like her. “I’d love to see more businesses like mine because we work together, support one another, and feed off each other,” she says. “With small businesses, there’s a feeling of community.”

As for her own address, she is staying put. “I have the best of both worlds,” she says.

Jessie Boutique is located at 1560 Lenox Ave., Ste. 101, Miami Beach, FL 33139, one block south of Lincoln Road. For more information, visit their official website.

Skincare by Amy Peterson

One flight up, Amy Peterson has spent more than two decades mastering a highly personalized approach to skincare. Her clinic is built around a simple philosophy: no two complexions are exactly alike, so their treatments should not be either. Peterson and her team dig into the “why” behind each client’s concerns before creating a customized plan, often layering treatments and technologies for more targeted results.

The menu runs from customized laser facials and RF microneedling to Emsculpt NEO body contouring and Ultherapy skin tightening, and the clinic is known for staying ahead of emerging technology, including becoming the first in Miami to offer the LightStim red light bed. Biologique Recherche and Peterson’s own line, Lenox and Sixteenth, named for the corner outside, round out the experience.

Skincare by Amy Peterson is located at 1560 Lenox Ave., Units 201–203, Miami Beach, FL 33139. For more information, visit their official website.

Atenaa Beauty Concept

At Atenaa Beauty Concept, on the third floor, beauty is meant to feel like a ritual, not another appointment to squeeze into your day. The concept comes from founder Viktoriya Winter, a skincare specialist, former beauty educator, and founder of Da Beauty Bar. What began as plans for a second Da Beauty location evolved into something entirely its own: a sanctuary inspired by the warmth of Bali, the textures of Morocco, the golden light of Greece, and the laid-back spirit of Tulum.

“You come to this place where every detail is so beautiful and organized that it’s relaxation for your mind,” she says. “I think it’s totally priceless for women to feel this way.”

Atenaa offers an expansive nail menu plus brows and lashes, makeup and permanent makeup, restorative and sculpting facials, massage, waxing, and sound healing. Its Beauty Concierge brings select services to homes and hotels, and its Priority Access program offers reserved peak-hour appointments and early access to new treatments.

Atenaa Beauty Concept is located at 1560 Lenox Ave., Ste. 304, Miami Beach, FL 33139. For more information, visit their official website.

Reforming Pilates

Rounding out the building’s self-care circuit is Reforming Pilates, a reformer studio whose daily classes are billed as safe but very challenging. Shop, facial, manicure, Pilates: an entire Saturday without moving the car.

Reforming Pilates is located at 1560 Lenox Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139. For more information, visit their official website.

The Dining Destinations

Spris Artisan Pizza

Spris is not simply another restaurant on Lincoln Road. It has been part of the neighborhood for 28 years, and it sits on the very block NoLi is remaking. Founder Graziano Sbroggio grew up in a restaurant family in Treviso, Italy, before moving to Miami Beach and opening Spris in 1998. Conceived as a casual counterpart to the nearby Italian restaurant TiramesU, it centers on authentic Italian pizza from a wood-burning brick oven.

Spris has since expanded beyond the Beach, but the original remains a fixture, and the kind of independent staple that has shaped the promenade for decades.

Spris Artisan Pizza is located at 731 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 700 block. For more information, visit their official website.

The Lincoln Eatery

When The Lincoln Eatery opened in 2019, it brought the food hall movement to Miami Beach. Tucked along North Lincoln Lane, behind the promenade and near the Convention Center, it extended the energy of Lincoln Road beyond its pedestrian core years before anyone called the area NoLi. Now it is part of the redevelopment itself, on the lane Comras is turning into a pedestrian street.

The lineup includes Peruvian flavors at Cilantro 27, Indian street food at Cho:tu, and Caribbean favorites from One Love Jamaica, among others.

The Lincoln Eatery is located at 723 N. Lincoln Ln., Miami Beach, FL 33139, one lane north of the promenade and inside the NoLi footprint.

MILA

MILA, from Riviera Dining Group, has become one of Miami Beach’s defining destinations, and it sits at Lincoln and Meridian, directly across the promenade from NoLi. When it arrived in 2020, it brought a different kind of energy to the neighborhood. Created by founders Gregory and Marine Galy, the sprawling rooftop restaurant was inspired by the couple’s travels and built around the idea of eudaimonia, the happiness that comes with discovery.

The menu blends Mediterranean and Japanese influences into what MILA calls “MediterrAsian” cuisine. The concept has since grown to include a lounge and MILA Omakase, an intimate 10-seat experience.

MILA is located at 1636 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the rooftop at Lincoln Road and Meridian Avenue. For more information, visit their official website.

Balan’s

Here is the comeback story of the season. Balan’s, the all-day brasserie that started in London in 1987, opened its first U.S. location on Lincoln Road in 1997 and spent more than two decades there. In 2021, second-generation owners Jonathan and Keva Balan reinvented the space as the Mediterranean restaurant Issabella’s. This September, they brought Balan’s back to the exact same address.

The return comes with brunch every day until 4 p.m., a daily happy hour, an international dinner menu, and the classics regulars missed, from eggs Benedict to fish and chips. An independent restaurant coming home to the spot where its Miami story began nearly 30 years ago? That is the Lincoln Road we are rooting for.

Balan’s is located at 1022 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 1000 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Rosinella

Rosinella is named for a real person. Tonino Doino and his family opened the trattoria in March 1997 and named it for his mother, who spent her mornings in the kitchen making the gnocchi, ravioli, and lasagna. Nearly 30 years later, it bills itself as the only family-owned restaurant on Lincoln Road. Look for the green awning, and order the homemade gnocchi.

Rosinella is located at 525 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 500 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Osteria da Fortunata

Osteria da Fortunata may be relatively new to Lincoln Road, but its story stretches back more than a century. The family-run restaurant traces its roots to 1921, when Fortunata began cooking for workers in the Lazio countryside before opening an osteria near Rome. The family eventually brought the concept into the heart of the city, where it became known for preserving classic Roman cooking from one generation to the next.

That legacy reached Lincoln Road in 2023. The restaurant was designed as an extension of the original rather than a reinvention, right down to the sfogline shaping fresh pasta by hand in full view of diners.

Osteria da Fortunata is located at 607 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 600 block. For more information, visit their official website.

The Lobster Shack

A few doors down, The Lobster Shack brings a taste of coastal New England to the heart of Miami Beach. The casual spot specializes in lobster rolls and shellfish, from the classic chilled roll to warm buttered and Cajun versions, alongside Maine lobster, oysters, crab cakes, and lobster bisque. Whether you stop in for a quick roll or make a meal of oysters and a whole lobster, it is an unfussy place for a seafood fix.

The Lobster Shack is located at 613 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 600 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza

Long before Mister O1 became one of Miami’s most recognizable pizza names, it was a small, hidden pizzeria just off Lincoln Road. Chef Renato Viola grew up in Southern Italy and began apprenticing with pizza makers at 11. His talent brought him to Miami Beach on an O-1 visa, a designation reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability and the inspiration for the name.

Viola opened the original in 2014, tucked inside an office building on Michigan Avenue with little visibility from the street. It built its following by word of mouth. Mister O1 has since expanded far beyond Miami Beach, but this is where it started.

Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza is located at 1680 Michigan Ave., Ste. 101, Miami Beach, FL 33139, just north of Lincoln Road. For more information, visit their official website.

The Taco Stand

The Taco Stand’s story starts with the street food of Tijuana, where founders Julian Hakim and Aram Baloyan found inspiration in the taco stands and flavors of the Baja Peninsula. They opened the first Taco Stand in San Diego’s La Jolla in 2013 and grew from there. Miami came next, with Wynwood, then Little Havana, then Lincoln Road in 2025.

Expect handmade corn tortillas, al pastor, Baja fish tacos, and late hours.

The Taco Stand is located at 1211 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the stretch of Lincoln Road west of Alton Road, past the pedestrian promenade. For more information, visit their official website.

Honorable Mention: Ice Cream Factory (Formerly The Frieze)

Save room. If you grew up on the Beach, you grew up on The Frieze. The scoop shop made its own ice cream and sorbet just off Lincoln Road for nearly four decades before closing in June 2024, and the outcry was immediate. Three months later, original owners Robert and Lisa Warren came out of retirement to reopen it with new partners, a new name, and the original recipes. The neon “open” sign is back in the window.

Ice Cream Factory is located at 1626 Michigan Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on Michigan Avenue just south of the promenade. For more information, visit their official website.

Local Boutiques

Looking for Jessie Boutique? It is in the Lenox Avenue section above.

Na Lei Boho Clothier

For founder and Miami Beach resident Sheena Goldhagen, Na Lei Boho Clothier’s move into a permanent storefront was a natural progression. Goldhagen built a following through pop-ups at the Lincoln Road Antique Market, introducing shoppers to her globally inspired approach to resort wear, then turned that momentum into her first flagship: 270 square feet on Meridian Avenue, steps from the NoLi block.

It is the kind of place people love to call a hidden gem, a label Goldhagen would happily retire. “When people say hidden gem, I’m like, I don’t want to be hidden,” she says. “Tell everyone.”

The intimate boutique reflects Goldhagen’s personal approach to fashion, with limited-edition pieces and collaborations inspired by Bali, Tulum, Turkey, and Miami. The racks lean on painted linen, bamboo linen, and hemp. The name draws from the Hawaiian tradition of nā lei, worn by ancient Hawaiians to beautify and distinguish themselves.

Na Lei Boho Clothier is located at 1650 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on Meridian Avenue just north of the promenade. For more information, visit their official website.

Dog Bar

A longtime institution on Euclid Avenue, a few steps south of the promenade, Dog Bar has been catering to Miami Beach’s four-legged residents since the mid-1990s. Founded by Michele and Steven Cohen, the independent pet boutique built its reputation on a simple idea: give pets the same attention to quality, wellness, and, naturally, style that their humans expect. Nearly three decades later, it is still doing exactly that, with health-focused foods, knowledgeable guidance, grooming and wellness services, and a wide assortment of collars, toys, apparel, and birthday cakes.

Dog Bar is located at 1627 Euclid Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139, just south of Lincoln Road at Lincoln Lane South. For more information, visit their official website.

SEE Eyewear

Eyewear gets a little more personality at SEE, the independently owned optical brand founded by Richard Golden in 1998. Built on the idea that glasses should feel more like a fashion accessory than a necessity, SEE skips the usual designer labels in favor of its own limited-run frames, with bold shapes, unexpected colors, and styles you are unlikely to spot everywhere else.

SEE Eyewear is located at 921 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 900 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Liliana Montoya Swim

For Colombian designer Liliana Montoya, swimwear has always been personal. Raised in Medellín, she learned to sew from her aunt and grandmother before studying fashion design and marketing and launching her namesake label in 2006. She built the business from a small workspace inside her mother’s apartment in Colombia into an international swimwear brand.

A former model, Montoya describes her designs as extensions of her personality, her “babies,” each infused with the Latin American craftsmanship and tropical influences of her Medellín roots. Nearly two decades in, she is still the designer, the marketer, the model, and the one welcoming clients at the Lincoln Road boutique she has run for more than four years.

That is by design. “They’re able to get to know who’s the person that is behind the brand,” she says. “It’s about that connection.”

Montoya keeps her runs small on purpose. Her Gaia collection, inspired by Mother Earth, is reversible and built to be worn several ways, so one bikini packs like four. “It’s not about having an amount of product that is massive,” she says. “It’s more about having quality in small quantities.”

She also gives floor space to fellow independent designers, from bags handmade in Oaxaca with recycled materials to jewelry from Colombia. “I know how challenging it is to create and to have your own store,” she says.

Her hope for the Road sounds a lot like ours. “It’s not only about shopping,” Montoya says. “It’s about connection and getting to know all the locals here on Lincoln Road.”

Liliana Montoya Swim is located at 1113 Lincoln Rd., Store #6, Miami Beach, FL 33139, at the promenade’s west end near Alton Road. For more information, visit their official website.

Habitat Hyett

Habitat Hyett is the product of founder and longtime Miami Beach resident Kyle Hyett’s years spent sourcing, collecting, and developing unique pieces. What began as a creative pursuit evolved into a highly personal shop where Hyett still oversees every item that comes through the door, from curated vintage clothing to distinctive home goods and objects.

Even the checkout counter has a story: it was built with pieces salvaged from the iconic Delano hotel. It is a fitting detail for a store built around finding value in things with a past.

Habitat Hyett is located at 441 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 400 block at the east end. For more information, visit their official website.

The One Who Travels

A few doors away, The One Who Travels brings a colorful, globally inspired point of view to jewelry that feels more like wearable art. At the heart of the Latin American concept store is Guatemalan designer Edgar Navarro, whose namesake line blends his cultural heritage with a bold, contemporary aesthetic. Working closely with artisan communities in Guatemala, Navarro creates handmade pieces rooted in traditional craftsmanship, from oversized pendants and layered necklaces to statement jewelry set with natural stones.

The boutique shares its home with sister brand Life Center yoga (see Wellness, below), so you can browse before or after class.

The One Who Travels is located at 437 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 400 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Lincoln Road’s Arts and Culture

Romero Britto Fine Art Gallery

If one artist is synonymous with South Beach, it is Romero Britto, and few names have been on Lincoln Road longer. The Brazilian-born painter moved to Miami in 1988, landed an Absolut Vodka campaign a year later, and opened his gallery, Britto Central, at 818 Lincoln Road in 1994. It stayed at that address for more than two decades.

In 2016 the gallery moved three blocks west to its current home. That makes more than three decades on the Road, through every boom and every stretch of empty storefronts this story describes. The bold colors, hearts, and stripes of what Britto calls the Happy Art Movement now turn up everywhere from the Dolphins’ stadium to the Miami Children’s Museum, but this is the flagship, with original paintings, sculptures, limited editions, and collectibles.

Romero Britto Fine Art Gallery is located at 1102 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, at the promenade’s west end. For more information, visit their official website.

Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre

A Lincoln Road landmark since 1935, the Colony Theatre brings a dose of old-school Miami Beach glamour to the promenade. The restored Art Deco theater is the home stage of Miami New Drama, an award-winning company known for original productions and stories that reflect the cultures and communities of South Florida. Even if you are not catching a show, the building is worth a look.

Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre is located at 1040 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade at Lenox Avenue. For more information, visit their official website.

Oolite Arts

Long before Lincoln Road became the destination it is today, Oolite Arts was helping bring the promenade back to life. Founded in 1984 as ArtCenter/South Florida, the nonprofit turned vacant storefronts along the Road into studios for local artists, a move now credited with helping spark the area’s revitalization. Sound familiar? Today, Oolite continues that legacy with artist studios, rotating exhibitions, classes, and public programming.

Oolite Arts is located at 924 Lincoln Rd., 2nd Floor, Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 900 block. For more information, visit their official website.

New World Center

One block north of Lincoln Road, the New World Center brings a strikingly modern counterpoint to Miami Beach’s Art Deco surroundings. Designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2011, the concert hall houses the New World Symphony, an orchestral academy preparing the next generation of classical musicians. Whether you are there for the music, the architecture, or an evening on the lawn, it is one of the city’s most distinctive cultural destinations.

New World Center is located at 500 17th St., Miami Beach, FL 33139, one block north of the promenade. For more information, visit their official website.

TASCHEN

Part bookstore, part gallery, the Lincoln Road TASCHEN is one of only three in the U.S. Designed by Philippe Starck and housed within the landmark Herzog & de Meuron building, the store pairs oversized art, fashion, and photography books with floor-to-ceiling murals and a hand-poured terrazzo floor made with stones native to South Florida. It is one of the most fun stores to explore on Lincoln Road.

TASCHEN is located at 1117 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, at the promenade’s west end. For more information, visit their official website.

Wellness, Beauty, and Self-Care

Looking for Skincare by Amy Peterson and Atenaa Beauty Concept? Both are in the Lenox Avenue section above.

Sean Donaldson Hair

The namesake salon on Meridian Avenue has become a Miami hair institution, a place clients have been following for years. If Miami had an award for “Best Blowout to Close a Deal,” Sean Donaldson would take it. The salon is known for precision cuts, natural color, and sleek styling that somehow survives Miami humidity. It also happens to sit on the stretch of Meridian the city is rebuilding as the new front door to Lincoln Road.

Sean Donaldson Hair is located at 1674 Meridian Ave., Ste. 100, Miami Beach, FL 33139, on Meridian Avenue just north of the promenade. For more information, visit their official website.

Spa e

For more than two decades, Spa e has been a go-to for luxury wellness in Miami Beach. Tucked behind the courtyard at 630 Lincoln, the spa is a longtime local favorite for facials, massages, body treatments, and beauty services. While plenty has changed around Lincoln Road, Spa e has stayed refreshingly consistent: personal, unfussy, and very good at making you forget you are in the middle of South Beach.

Spa e is located at 630 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 600 block. For more information, visit their official website.

SKIN House of Beauty

A sister-owned facial studio and head spa, SKIN House of Beauty was built on the idea that you should not have to choose between a facial that feels like a treat and one that actually does something. Owner and aesthetician Stephanie Rivera spent years honing her craft before setting out with her sister to create the studio she could not find herself: one where luxury, education, and results-driven skincare live under one roof.

SKIN House of Beauty is located at 407 Lincoln Rd., Ste. 9A, Miami Beach, FL 33139, in the 407 building on the promenade’s 400 block. For more information, visit their official website.

Life Center Yoga

For a more grounded take on Miami’s wellness scene, Life Center is all about making the practice feel approachable and community-driven. Its Miami Beach roots go back to 2006, when internationally recognized teachers Kino MacGregor and Tim Feldmann founded Miami Life Center around traditional Ashtanga practice, study, and community. Today the Lincoln Road studio, which shares its space with The One Who Travels, welcomes longtime yogis and anyone who just needs to slow down and reset.

Life Center Yoga is located at 437 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach, FL 33139, on the promenade’s 400 block. For more information, visit their official website.

What’s Next for Lincoln Road?

Work is underway behind the storefronts, the first pieces of NoLi should come into view by mid-2027, delivery is slated for the end of 2027, and the tenant list will fill in over the coming months. Comras knows the window is open. Space is nearly impossible to find in the Design District, Brickell, or Coconut Grove, he points out, and brands are looking at the Beach again.

“It’s a matter of timing now,” he says. “So now we have to just deliver the goods.”

What the Road looks like a few years from now will depend on who moves in and how locals respond. But the blueprint is already here, in a pizza oven that has been burning since 1998, a brasserie that came home, and a building on Lenox where the shop owners send each other customers. Smaller storefronts. More local owners. More reasons to stay awhile.

We will be walking the site with Comras as it takes shape. Stay tuned.

Jamie Honowitz contributed to this article.