Miami Beach Mayor’s Campaign Accepts Prohibited Donations

Rishi Kapoor and Mayor Dan Gelber (Dan Gebler, iStock)

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber’s re-election campaign raised $ 324,642 in donations, including $ 3,000 from a developer on the city’s banned donor list.

Gelber will face four opponents in Tuesday’s election: Jean Marie Echemendia, Ronnie Eith, Carlos Enrique Gutierrez and Gus Manesis.

The incumbent has come under fire in recent weeks after audio leaked from a private meeting with developers at which his predecessor Philip Levine suggested forming a political action committee that would raise funds for city commissioners. Eith filed an ethics complaint against Gelber with the Miami-Dade Ethics Committee earlier this week.

Three companies associated with developer Rishi Kapoor, founder of Coral Gables-based Location Ventures, gave Gelber’s campaign $ 3,000 on April 30, according to campaign funding documents. But Kapoor is not allowed to donate.

Under city law, developers who have a pending application or are negotiating a development contract with the city are excluded from submitting contributions to mayor and city commission candidates. Developers seeking a zoning change or land use map are also prohibited from donating to campaigns for an elected office in Miami Beach.

Each election cycle, the city publishes and updates a list of companies and individuals who cannot participate in the candidates’ campaigns. Kapoor is on the list for the upcoming election.

After The Real Deal requested comment from the mayor on Friday, Gelber’s campaign manager Christian Ulvert said the funds would be returned by Kapoor.

“Write checks on Monday morning,” said Ulvert.

Kapoor is seeking approval to convert a single story retail building on 1260 Washington Avenue into a six story mixed use project with hotel, co-living and retail components.

Ulvert said Kapoor was not on the list when the campaign received his donations. “We ask the town clerk for clarity on what to do if this happens,” said Ulvert.

Gelber’s re-election campaign relied heavily on real estate actors who have no shops in front of the city for donations. A TRD analysis of donations shows that 28 percent of Gelber’s total donations, or approximately $ 92,650 from 113 donors, came from the real estate industry.

The mayor’s top coordinators include companies that are tied to Codina Partners; Groupe Heafey, developer of the Hilton Bentley Miami / South Beach hotel; and OKO Group, developer of the Aman Hotel & Residences in the Faena district.

The banned list also included Atlantic Pacific Communities, a commercial real estate and property management firm led by CEO Howard Cohen. Six Atlantic Pacific-controlled companies gave Gelber’s campaign a maximum of $ 1,000 each on March 24.

In 2019, the company was working on a deal with Miami Beach to lease and develop the on-site property of the Barclay Plaza Hotel near the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Ulvert said Atlantic Pacific withdrew its proposal and was inadvertently placed on the Prohibited Contributor list. He added that one of the directors at Atlantic Pacific is a longtime friend of Gelber’s.

Atlantic Pacific’s Kapoor and Cohen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Even if the dues were made inadvertently, Kapoor would be banned from doing business with the city for a year unless the Miami Beach City Commission issued a waiver under the city’s Campaign Funding Act. Candidates and their committees must also check with the city’s planning and development department before accepting donations from developers.

“We’re pretty conscientious,” said Ulvert.

Other developers on the city’s list of banned donors who have not contributed include Terra CEO David Martin, Turnberry Associates CEO Jackie Soffer, Crescent Heights co-founder Russell Galbut, New York contractor Michael Shvo and Ocean Terrace developers Sandor Scher and Alex Blavatnik.

Martin and Soffer are leading the development of the planned Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel. Galbut has several ongoing projects in Miami Beach, including the Five Park Condo Tower in partnership with Terra. Shvo plans to renovate the Raleigh Hotel and build a 175-foot luxury tower behind the historic property.

Audio leaked to media outlets including The Real Deal, revealing part of a private September 13 meeting in which Gelber, along with city manager Alina Hudak and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, courted a group to which included at least 12 developers to submit proposals for redevelopment on Ocean Drive, giving them free access to city staff who can help them implement their ideas.

Levine is heard on the audio as he urges attendees to form a political action committee and raise funds to support commissioners who support Gelber’s agenda for Ocean Drive, which includes a non-binding referendum on Tuesday’s vote to make a final call for bars to usher in at 2am and nightclubs in the Art Deco Entertainment District.

Eith’s ethics complaint against the mayor alleges he violated the city’s campaign finance law by attending Levine’s PAC pitch.

Contact Francisco Alvarado

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