An El Portal homeowner is seeking to overturn the controversial approval of Barrington Brothers’ next multifamily project in the village.
Jerilyn Kobrick sued El Portal and an affiliate of Miami-based Barrington, led by Arthur and Ken Barrington, that owns the 1-acre development site fronting Little River Canal at 8300 Northeast Fourth Place.
In the complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in late April, Kobrick alleges village officials violated El Portal’s code by approving a site plan for The Launch at Little River, a planned eight-story building with 152 apartments and a 2,500-square-foot restaurant space.
Barrington bought the six-parcel assemblage for $5.1 million in 2022, records show.
A majority of El Portal residents, who spoke at two contentious first and second reading meetings in December and March to green-light the site plan and a development agreement, objected to the project, council meeting minutes show. Kobrick’s son, Scott Kobrick, was among opponents who spoke against The Launch at Little River.
The lawsuit is seeking a judge’s injunction to stop Barrington from building The Launch at Little River, and reverse the village council approvals, said Raul Gastesi, Kobrick’s attorney.
“This project is just a bad idea any way you look at it,” Gastesi told The Real Deal. “Especially for my client. She’s entitled to not have an eight-story building within 250 feet of her property. [Village officials] just didn’t care.”
Thomas Robertson, the lawyer for Barrington’s development entity, did not respond to requests for comment. Village Attorney Joseph Geller, who is also a Miami-Dade County Public Schools board member, said Kobrick’s lawsuit won’t prevail.
“We think that there was compliance with the requirements of the village code,” Geller said. “We think the outcome will likely be in the village’s favor.”
El Portal is primarily composed of single-family homes, duplexes, townhouses and two-story apartment buildings. But the village does allow higher density developments near Biscayne Boulevard.
Last year, Barrington completed Kavista, an eight-story, 282-unit project on almost 2 acres adjacent to The Launch at Little River site. In March, Adam Neumann’s Miami-based Flow and Canada Global bought a 16-acre former trailer park at 8500 Biscayne Boulevard for $71.5 million that the joint venture plans to redevelop into a mixed-use project with 2,380-plus apartments.
However, the village code prohibits construction of buildings taller than four stories if the project site has less than a 250-foot distance from a residential home, Kobrick’s lawsuit states. Her house is 171 feet away from The Launch at Little River site, the homeowner alleges.
The village council wrongfully approved the eight-story project because Barrington agreed to pay El Portal $733,000 that will be used to add more public green space and make public infrastructure improvements, the complaint alleges. Last month, The village and Barrington’s entity filed identical motions to dismiss the suit, claiming Kobrick doesn’t have standing to file a complaint.
“This is a residential neighborhood, and [the developer is] shoving an eight-story building into the middle of it,” Gastesi said.
