A partnership featuring billionaire Barry Sternlicht is putting on hold a request for zoning changes to the site of The Standard Spa, Miami Beach that would have allowed a major renovation of the hotel.
The Miami Beach City Commission was set to vote on the rezoning at its Sept. 16 meeting, but The Standard Spa, Miami Beach ownership group requested that the item be removed from the agenda, according to a letter obtained by The Real Deal.
For the past year, plans to revamp the 100-key hotel at 40 Island Avenue have been embroiled in controversy tied to an agreement between the hotel’s owner, Nomade Lido, and the Belle Isle Residents Association that entailed a $1.2 million payment in exchange for the association’s support.
Miami Beach commissioner David Suarez has maintained that the deal may violate the city’s ethics code barring any person or entity from receiving payments in exchange for securing government approvals.
Sternlicht, CEO of Miami Beach-based Starwood Capital Group, owns 15.4 percent of Nomade Lido. Other major partners include star architect Bjarke Ingels, Argentinian businessman and lawyer Antonio de la Rua, Argentinian hotelier Sebastian Sas and Miguel Isla, CEO of Miami Beach-based Nomade People and managing partner of The Standard Spa, Miami Beach.
Minority investors include tech billionaire and political activist Peter Thiel and his husband Matt Danzeisen, biotech investor Jeff Aronin, businessman Martin Franklin and former CEO of Softbank Group International Marcelo Claure.
“What should have been an honest, collaborative process has been poisoned by Commissioner Suarez’s personal attacks, misinformation campaigns, and deliberate attempts to pit neighbor against neighbor,” Isla said in an emailed statement to TRD. “Such conduct erodes the confidence that has been built for both residents and businesses who see Miami Beach as a place worthy of long-term investment.”
Isla made similar comments in a Sept. 17 correspondence with Miami Beach commissioner Laura Dominguez, who sponsored legislation to approve the rezoning, which would allow Nomade Lido to add condo units to The Standard Spa, Miami Beach. Isla requested that Dominguez not move forward with the item.
“I believe it is in the best interest of our community that you withdraw the pending item from further consideration,” Isla wrote. “We will seek to move the project forward in a different way and not under the duress, distortions and smears of those seeking to make headlines.”
In a recent newsletter to his constituents, Suarez took credit for Nomade Lido’s retreat. “The bottom line is this: we stopped The Standard’s upzoning scheme,” Suarez wrote in the newsletter. “Residents spoke out, the truth came to light, and once exposed to public scrutiny, the developer backed down.”
Nomade Lido planned to replace the east wing of The Standard Spa, Miami Beach with a five-story building featuring six luxury condos, 50 hotel rooms and 66 parking spaces. The hotel owner also sought to renovate the three-story west wing, including reducing the room count to 50 from 67, according to plans filed with the city.
However, Suarez was adamantly opposed to the renovation plan largely due to the previously undisclosed deal between Nomade Lido and Belle Isle Residents Association, or BIRA. Nomade Lido had agreed to pay a nonprofit entity created by BIRA $1.2 million in three separate installments for public improvements to Belle Isle, the Miami Beach neighborhood that is home to the hotel.
