Scott and Kathleen Wessel claim they were promised ongoing payments as part of a licensing agreement for the waterfront site, now home to the upscale Bayshore Club.
Nine years after the iconic waterfront bar and restaurant Scotty’s Landing closed its doors, its former owners are claiming they’re owed millions of dollars by the group behind its successor, Regatta Harbour, for supporting its winning bid to redevelop the city-owned seven-acre site on Coconut Grove’s historic Dinner Key.
Scott and Kathleen Wessel, who owned and operated Scotty’s landing and the adjacent Grove Key Marina from 1991 to 2015, claim in a lawsuit filed last year that they signed an agreement in 2013 promising them a minimum of $200,000 annually through the life of what could be an 80-year lease between Regatta Harbour and the City of Miami.
Payments ceased in March 2019 shortly before groundbreaking for two new restaurants and a revamped marina complex at the site, according to the lawsuit.
Named in the lawsuit are Grove Bay Investment Group, Bayshore Club, Miami Food Brands and Francesco Balli, a key principal in those entities.

The rustic, open-air structure housing Scotty’s Landing served for years as a low-key eatery and watering hole for locals, live-aboards, and regulars from Miami City Hall, just a few steps to the south.
When city officials in 2012 solicited proposals to redevelop the site, the Wessels initially were among the interested bidders. But that changed in March 2013 when the couple inked a deal to license the Scotty’s Landing trademark to principals backing a competing group – Grove Bay Investments.
Many local activists, hoping a Wessel-led proposal might help preserve the laid-back vibe of Scotty’s Landing and its surrounding boatyard, blasted the arrangement.
The licensing agreement was with Miami Food Brands, an entity created by Grove Bay partner Francesco Balli to operate the “casual restaurant” that, under lease terms with the city, would replace Scotty’s landing.
The deal was a sweet one: at least $300,000 a year if Miami Food Brands used the Scotty’s Landing name, and, more importantly, a flat $200,000 a year -– through the life of the city lease – even if the trademark is not used.
After city officials selected the Grove Bay proposal, voters approved a 40-year lease agreement – with a 40-year option – to upgrade the marina facilities and replace the aging Scotty’s Landing with a new “casual” restaurant and the adjacent Chart House restaurant with a new “formal” one.
Miami Food Brands and its affiliates never opted to use the trademark and thus began issuing the required $200,000 annual payments to the Wessels in November 2015 when the Grove Bay group took control of the site.
Payments ceased on March 2019, according to the lawsuit, shortly before demolition in July of that year of the Scotty’s Landing structure and construction of what Grove Bay officials have long described as its replacement – the sleek, open-air Bayshore Club.
Francesco Balli did not respond to messages from the Spotlight seeking comment but his attorney, Alejandro Brito, says the agreement with the Wessels was designed to expire upon construction of the new “casual” restaurant.
Further, he adds, Miami Food Brands – the Balli-controlled entity that entered into the agreement – is no longer in business, rendering the lawsuit meaningless.
“This is just a blind money grab,” he insists.

In their filing, the Wessels portray a vast conspiracy to defraud them after securing their help winning city and voter approval for the Grove Bay development plan. Their lawsuit alleges breach of contract, conspiracy and fraud.
They argue that Balli replaced one sole-purpose corporate entity (Miami Food Brands) with another (Bayshore Club) to avoid years of contracted payments.
“Bayshore Club was formed by Defendant Balli with the knowledge and consent of Grove Bay and Miami Food Brands for the purpose of avoiding Miami Food Brands’ obligation to pay Plaintiffs under the Licensing Agreement,” the lawsuit contends.
Neither Scott Wessel not an attorney, Norman Segall, responded to the Spotlight’s requests for comment.
The Bayshore Club opened in August 2022 as the centerpiece of the Regatta Harbour entertainment and marina complex. City records show that the Bayshore Club alone – noted in internal documents as the site’s “causal restaurant” – routinely tops $1 million per month in gross revenues.
Regatta Harbour is not without controversy. Some residents have complained that the project as built does not match the plans pitched to voters, and in other instances, as required under city lease terms.
Preservationists have been incensed by alterations to one of the historic seaplane hangars at the site to make way for an interactive, sports-themed attraction.