Harry Gross’ G-Holdings has filed a lawsuit against the city of Aventura and the developers of Cassa Residences, seeking to reverse recent zoning changes for a mixed-use project planned near its own development site.
The legal action was brought by an affiliate of New York-based G-Holdings, which claims that the rezoning approved last month for 2770 Northeast 187th Street and 2822-2850 Northeast 187th Street will negatively affect its adjacent Port Aventura condo-hotel project. The Cassa Residences is being developed by Miami Off Center Associates, a partnership between Boca Raton’s The Lojeta Group and a Delaware entity.
Plans for Cassa Residences include a 17-story tower with 208 apartments, 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and a seven-story parking garage. An existing one-story commercial building on the site, mostly leased to Mo’s Bagels & Deli, will remain according to city records.
“We have been engaged in discussions with our neighbor, and we are optimistic we will be able to resolve it,” said Neisen Kasdin, an Akerman attorney representing the G-Holdings affiliate. “The result will be good for their project, for our project and for the city.”
City officials and Michael Marrero, land use lawyer for Cassa Residences, did not respond to requests for comment.
In both its August 8 lawsuit and a separate appeals petition challenging the rezoning decision, G-Holdings argues that the new zoning does not comply with Aventura’s comprehensive development plan. The company contends that these changes adversely impact its plans for Port Aventura at the northwest corner of Northeast 185th Street and Northeast 28th Court.
G-Holdings previously received approvals in 2018 to build Port Aventura—a pair of towers rising up to 17 stories with 121 condos and 167 hotel rooms. Although site plan and permit approvals are in place, construction has yet to begin. Kasdin stated that G-Holdings intends to start building next year. The company acquired its development site in 2015 for $21.6 million.
Before rezoning, Cassa Residences was limited to a commercial building no taller than twelve stories. However, at a July meeting, the Aventura City Commission approved measures allowing an increase in maximum height by five stories (to seventeen), raising permitted residential density from twenty-five units per acre to sixty-nine units per acre. Minimum floor area requirements were also reduced—from nine hundred square feet down to eight hundred or eight hundred fifteen square feet for one-bedroom apartments—according to court filings.
G-Holdings’ lawsuit states it “is aggrieved and adversely affected by the City’s approval,” adding that it “has expended significant resources in developing Port Aventura.”
The suit further alleges that under the new zoning terms, Cassa Residences’ parking garage would block light and air from lower floors of Port Aventura while much of the upper floors would also lose access to light and air due to proximity between buildings.
Additionally, G-Holdings claims that approval of Cassa Residences’ rezoning was contingent on reserving twelve units as part of Aventura’s Hero Housing program—a local initiative providing below-market-rate apartments for teachers and first responders working within city limits.
Kasdin indicated any settlement could involve adjustments both to zoning regulations affecting the site as well as modifications to plans for Cassa Residences itself.
