Harry Gross’ G-Holdings has filed a lawsuit against the city of Aventura and the developer behind Cassa Residences, seeking to reverse zoning changes that would allow for a larger mixed-use project next to its own planned development.
The legal action targets Miami Off Center Associates, a joint venture between The Lojeta Group and a Delaware entity. Their plan for Cassa Residences includes a 17-story tower with 208 apartments, 12,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and a seven-story parking garage. An existing one-story commercial building, mostly leased to Mo’s Bagels & Deli, will remain on site according to city records.
Neisen Kasdin, an attorney from Akerman representing G-Holdings’ affiliate, stated: “We have been engaged in discussions with our neighbor, and we are optimistic we will be able to resolve it. 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.
G-Holdings claims in its August 8 lawsuit that the rezoning does not comply with Aventura’s comprehensive development plan and harms its own adjacent project at Northeast 185th Street and Northeast 28th Court. In 2018, G-Holdings secured approvals for Port Aventura—a 17-story condo-hotel featuring 121 condos and 167 hotel rooms across two towers—but construction has not yet started. Kasdin said groundbreaking is expected next year. G-Holdings acquired the site in 2015 for $21.6 million.
Previously, zoning limited buildings on the Cassa Residences site to twelve stories with fewer units per acre. At a July meeting this year, the Aventura City Commission approved variances allowing an increase in maximum height by five stories (to seventeen), raising density from twenty-five units per acre to sixty-nine, and reducing minimum unit sizes for one-bedroom apartments from nine hundred square feet down to as little as eight hundred square feet.
According to G-Holdings’ lawsuit: “G-Holdings ‘is aggrieved and adversely affected by the City’s approval,’ and ‘has expended significant resources in developing Port Aventura.’”
The complaint further alleges: “The Cassa Residences rezoning is ‘significantly more impactful, with the parking garage directly blocking light and air from Port Aventura’s lower residential floors and [Cassa Residences] blocking much of the light and air from the upper floors.’”
Additionally, G-Holdings contends that city commissioners only approved Cassa Residences’ rezoning because twelve units were set aside under Aventura’s Hero Housing program—reserved at below-market rates for teachers or first responders working locally.
Kasdin indicated that any settlement would likely involve adjustments both to zoning rules and aspects of Cassa Residences’ design.
