Rishi Kapoor offered to buy a city-owned property for $9 million
The developer who paid Miami Mayor Francis Suarez $170,000 to “consult” while he navigated permits and zoning for his developments is also paying “rent” to Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago while he builds his luxury condo on Ponce de Leon Boulevard and seeks other projects in the City Beautiful.
Vinnie is always following the footsteps of his brighter, hipper BFF.
The Miami Herald revealed Thursday that Lago is part owner of a Ponce de Leon Boulevard storefront that has been rented to Location Ventures, the company owned by Rishi Kapoor, who has been paying Mayor Suarez $10,000 a month while seeking approvals and permits from the city of Miami in a deal currently under investigation by the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust.
According to the Herald, Location Ventures also paid $15,600 for the former karate studio in June of last year, followed by monthly rental payments of about $12,410, according to sources cited by the Herald. It rented the space shortly after Lago and his partners — one of them is Baby X cousin Esteban Suarez — bought it in order to open a sales office for a luxury condo they have gotten approvals for at 1505 Ponce de Leon. That’s more than $152,000 so far. But the space has sat empty.
Lago, who does not return Ladra’s calls or messages, but did recuse himself from votes on the 1505 project, told the Miami Herald the he has known Kapoor for years. That seems obvious. The developer built Orduña Court, which was completed in 2018, and Villa Valencia, a controversial 13-story, 39-unit building on Valencia Avenue, which was completed last May. Lago and Kapoor are in a bunch of photographs together at the grand opening.
The latest project, 1505 Ponce, is a 16-story, 80-unit luxury building that is expected to break ground next year. In the meantime, Kapoor — who donated at least $19,000 to Lago’s re-election campaign — is letting the city use part of the property as a dog park.
The $35.5 million sale of the property was credited to Rosa Commercial Real Estate, owned by Oscar de la Rosa, the son of Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Stevie” Bovo. It is where Lago has his real estate license registered. Bovo does, too. And, curiously, so does someone on Lago’s city staff.
What else does Location Ventures want to do in Coral Gables? And how much is Lago helping them?
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago may have conflict of interest in Little Gables
Well, in an unsolicited letter of intent (read: unsolicited bid) dated Feb. 12 of this year and obtained by Ladra in recent days, Location Ventures offered to pay the Gables $9 million for a city-owned 20,000-square-foot parking lot at 234 Navarre Ave. The developer also offered to provide 30 dedicated public parking spaces as well as a perpetual easement for a “world class” open space on the north east corner of Salzedo and Minorca (a $3 million investment) and would “participate in the City’s future mobility hub initiative.”
The mobility hub that just happens to be the mayor’s pet project — and may not even happen anymore.
Nothing happened with that, but we don’t know if anyone tried.
The letter of intent, signed by Kapoor, looks like a better deal than an unsolicited bid sent almost a year earlier. A better deal for them, not for the city. The Jan. 28, 2022 letter of intent offered to pay the city an annual $214,375 a year — with adjustments every five years –for a 99-year lease. (Click here to see a copy of the bid). That would amount to more than $21 mil if there are no increases.
The ethics investigation should be expanded to the City Beautiful. Lago filed a new financial disclosure amendment on May 24 — after the Herald and Ladra started asking questions — that indicates he owns 40% of the companies that own the storefront property and the vacant land behind it. But he didn’t disclose it on the financial disclosure he filed in February for the election.
Had he just forgotten? Like he forgot his brother was the lobbyist for the owner of the trailer park in Little Gables?
Developer who paid Miami mayor also rents from Gables Mayor Vince Lago added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
