Planning board approves Ultra Supper Club at former Yard House with limits on outdoor music

The Miami Beach Planning Board on June 10 approved a Conditional Use Permit for Ultra Supper Club at 1681 Lenox Avenue, the former Yard House site, permitting indoor entertainment and a reduced outdoor seating area under conditions intended to limit noise for nearby residents.

Staff recommended multiple conditions to protect the Palm View neighborhood to the north, and the board approved modified conditions that allow outdoor seating and background music with earlier weekday limits and extended weekend hours. The board required an on-site sound test by planning staff and a sound-limiter setup before a Business Tax Receipt is issued.

The applicant, represented by attorney Monica Enten, proposed a 296-seat venue (263 seats indoors, 33 outdoors), a total occupant load of 566 and an anticipated patron count of about 400. Enten said entertainment would be short performances — “between 8 to 12 minutes” — with five to eight such acts per night, and that entertainment would be strictly indoors.

Neighborhood representatives asked for enforceable, measurable limits. John Courtney, speaking for the Palm Butte Neighborhood Association, urged use of a plainly audible standard and clear accountability if promises are broken: “If the operator is willing to accept accountability to their noise pollution and potentially unruly patrons, then we’re very supportive of the project,” he said.

Annabelle Yopis, executive director of the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District, told the board the BID supported the application as a quality operator that could bring needed business and vibrancy to the area.

Staff’s recommended conditions included limits on outdoor hours, a prohibition on exterior subwoofers, and a requirement that outdoor sound not be plainly audible 100 feet from the property. The board accepted the staff approach but modified weekend outdoor hours to allow outdoor operations until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, with the indoor sound system and any outdoor ambient music to be calibrated on-site by planning staff and a sound consultant before the Business Tax Receipt is issued.

Board members said the reduced overall seating (about 100 fewer seats than the former Yard House) and the required post-opening progress report give neighbors a path to raise concerns if the operation generates problems. The applicant must return for a standard progress report after the venue opens and for a follow-up review once the exterior or third-floor elements are operating, per the conditions.

The motion to approve, as modified by the board, passed in the meeting record. The order requires that outdoor music not be plainly audible 100 feet from the property line and that staff set and test exterior sound settings prior to issuance of the Business Tax Receipt.

The approval carries standard follow-up provisions and a post-opening progress report so the board can assess actual neighborhood impacts once the venue is operating.