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David Grutman & Jeffrey Soffer Sue Miami Beach Over Proposed 2 am Alcohol Ban; Say Their Nightclub Will Suffer

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David Grutman & Jeffrey Soffer Sue Miami Beach Over Proposed 2 am Alcohol Ban; Say Their Nightclub Will Suffer

 By:  Marty Raminoff

The city of Miami Beach faces another lawsuit over its efforts to curb late night alcohol sale at clubs.

As reported by the Real Deal, Story, the popular neon-lit South Miami Beach nightclub, which boasts 5 bars & bottle service with a dance floor and DJ music, has sued the city over a commission vote to ban alcohol sales starting at 2 a.m. in the South of Fifth neighborhood.  Previously, alcohol sales were permitted till 5 a.m., and now in an effort to improve its party-city image, the commission is working to roll forward the time of the alcohol sales ban.

The nightclub, located at 136 Collins Ave, was opened in 2012, and is owned by David Grutman’s Groot Hospitality together with real estate mogul Jeffrey Soffer.  The popular club boasts 17,000 square feet of space, offering 60 VIP tables and five bars, making it one of the biggest venues in the neighborhood.

The company’s lawsuit, filed last Tuesday, says that the proposed ban specifically targets Story, because it allows for exceptions at smaller venues with a capacity of 100 customers or less. The owners allege the rolled-up time-out illegally singles out their nightclub, as there may not be many other clubs this size, as per the Miami-Dade Circuit Court lawsuit filed.   “Carving out large exceptions [is] designed to permit any business other than plaintiff [Story] to continue to sell alcohol,” according to court filings by Story affiliate Amnesia International. Some “commissioners openly discussed selecting arbitrary criteria that would operate to put plaintiff out of business and spare other establishments from” enforcement.

The company’s lawsuit requests that the court stop the city from enforcing the 2 a.m. alcohol sale ban.  As per the Real Deal, the ordinance was slated to become effective on Monday, but at a court conference last week, the city agreed to delay the ban till the hearing scheduled for March 14.  “The city agreed to postpone it in order to give the attorneys an opportunity to prepare and to give the court an opportunity to hear the case,” said Joe Serota, the attorney representing the city.

The nightclub says that the ordinance would really hamper their ability to do business, as most of its sales only start at midnight. The rollback would only give the club two hours to operate fully, allegedly impacting hundreds of employees’ livelihoods. The Story building has operated as a nightclub for decades, though it previously operated under other names, including Opium Garden and Amnesia.

This is the third such lawsuit against the city in the last three years.  South Beach has a party reputation that the commission obviously wants to shed.  In 2021, the Clevelander South Beach, a hotel and restaurant at 1020 Ocean Drive, had filed a similar suit against the city over a vote to stop alcohol sales at 2 a.m. instead of at 5 a.m. The city’s ban was exclusively for the entertainment district from Collins Avenue to Ocean Drive, between Fifth and 15th streets.   The city lost that suit.  Also, last year, the city had attempted to rollback alcohol hours for spring break, but the Clevelander and Story had worked together to sue the city. The venues won a temporary injunction in that case as well.

Sean Burstyn, a Story lawyer, said the ordinance is unfair because commissioners “openly picked winners and losers”.   “If the city can enforce an openly targeted and punitive ordinance against one of its constituents without any record basis for doing so,then no tenant or landowner is safe in Miami Beach,” he said in an email.

Miami Beach didn’t immediately respond to the Real Deal’s request for comment.

 

 

 

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