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4 -story hotel in Sunny Isles Beach, the Golden Strand in 1946 and the first two -story motel in the United States, the Ocean Palm that opened in 19476, With the influx of both visitors and permanent residents, particularly on weekends, the attention to the spiritual needs of the people became more apparent. In 1957, through a pilot project conducted by the Board of American Missions of the Lutheran Church, it became clear that the Lutherans in the area of "Motel Row" were underserved, That same year the roughly triangular lot at the intersection of 179th Drive; 178th Street, Atlantic Boulevard and 178th Drive was purchased at a cost of sixty thousand dollars. The congregation's name was changed from Miami Beach United Lutheran Church of the Epiphany to Sunny Isles Epiphany Lutheran Church. On November 1, 1962 ground was broken for the construction of the Sunny Isles Epiphany Lutheran Church designed by local architect William Conrad Kreidt. The structure is designed in a Mid - Century Modern style, a breathtaking contemporary expression that left behind the historicist styles that were immediately recognizable as places of worship. The church property consists of a main sanctuary with a portico7 running across the front, a cultural center, and a small building functioning as a connector between the two,8 The church was dedicated on February 23, 1964 costing $ 190,000 with an additional freestanding memorial tower terminating in a cross, built at a cost of $18,500.9 The first pastor of the church was the Reverend J. Bender Miller, who served the church for seven years until his retirement in 1971.10 A Transition The east side of that stretch of Al A (Collins Avenue) just north of the City of Golden Beach beginning at NE 163rd Street, called "Sunny Isles" was booming after World War ll. Its pioneering waterfront motels helped to create the "post card" image of Florida, Motels were designed with theatrical abandon; a phoenix rising on the Thunderbird Motel; life -size concrete camels and Bedouins in white robes at The Sahara; a fiberglass Sphinx at The Suez; a leaping prospector at The Golden Nugget, and flamboyant mermaids serving as supports for the porte - cochere of The Blue Mist Motel." " Motel Row" was booming during the 1950s, but eventually the strip lost its glamour; the motels could not compete with the luxury high - rise hotels built in other parts of Metropolitan -Dade County; the beach was 6 Richard C. Schulman, City Historian, "The History of Sunny Isles/ Sunny Isles Beach" n.d. p.10- 11 A portico is defined as a covered walkway, often leading to the main entrance of a building, consisting of a roof supported by columns or pillars consisting of a roof supported by columns or pillars. s The connector building and community center are not proposed for designation. 9 "Sunny Isles Lutheran... Something Unique," The Miami News, 2 February1964, 10 Reverend Bender Miller, Ex- Lutheran Minister (obituary) The Miami Herald, 21 November 1987, p.3C " "For Sunny Isles' Motels, A Kitschy Sun is Setting" The Miami Herald. 5 August 2001, p. 1A 8