Cirque Drops Miami Complex

Cirque du Soleil has scaled back its construction plans in Miami’s South Beach after facing opposition from nightclubs and restaurants.

The performance troupe was planning a $130 million complex that included a nightclub, shops and a celebrity-chef restaurant.

Influential South Florida developer Jorge Perez has pulled out of the project, according to The Miami Herald. Perez’s company, Related Group, withdrew after the proposal shrank, according to a statement.

The complex was to surround the city-owned Jackie Gleason Theater, which is expected to house Cirque du Soleil. The troupe will now propose a more modest remake of the theatre, according to the Herald.

Opposition has come from the public, which balked at its contribution to the project. Restauranteurs and nightclub owners also blanched. The famed human circus attraction originally planned a $150 million development with taxpayers responsible for $100 million of it. The latest version required $85 million in taxpayer money.

City Hall had a closed-door meeting with tourism leaders November 17th,

“What good is it if [Cirque] leeches business away from the entire nightclub comity?” club owner David Wallack wrote to city officials in November. “Cirque du Soleil becomes the big Wal-Mart, putting ‘boutique Mom and Pop restaurants and clubs’ out of business.”

Wallack did not oppose the Jackie Gleason renovation.

The more modest restoration forgoes plans to move the entrance of the theatre to another street, City Manager Jorge Gonzalez told the Herald. He said the new scaled-back version has a better fighting chance politically, and Miami Beach would share in the theatre’s revenues.

Gonzalez did not elaborate on the financial details of the proposal.