The Miami Beach Zoning Board of Adjustment voted to approve a modification to a previously granted variance that permits an internal alcoholic‑beverage establishment in an office building on city‑owned land.

Staff said the earlier approval allowed an establishment that required a variance because it is closer than 300 feet to an educational facility and a place of worship. The board heard that the owner is now revising the floor plan to remove a VIP/employee lounge from the licensed area and to rely on an existing bathroom in the office corridor; the result is a lower maximum occupancy and seat count. “That results in a maximum occupancy of 80 persons and 69 seats,” staff said when describing the modification.

Nicholas Rodriguez, representing the master tenant RK Rivani LLC, told the board the change lowers the mobility impact fee tied to bar square footage and reduces the overall impacts previously approved. Rodriguez said the venue will be contained indoors and will not be visible from the exterior; operator agreements name H Wood Group as the intended operator. He also described outreach and letters of support from nearby property owners, Lincoln Marti Day School and the Cuban Hebrew Congregation of Miami.

Board members questioned whether the change was primarily a re‑labeling of space or a practical reduction of service area. Staff noted the draft order contains a condition that selling or serving alcohol in non‑approved parts of the building would constitute a violation that could result in loss of the variance. After discussion, a motion to approve the modification as presented was moved, seconded and passed.

The board’s action keeps the special circumstances that required the original variance under review but modifies the licensed footprint downward; staff said the revised occupancy remains below neighborhood‑impact thresholds in the land development regulations.