A real estate investment firm led in part by Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is eyeing a buyout at Mutiny on the Bay, a Grove landmark with a storied past as a party palace for celebrities and cocaine kingpins in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mutiny residents received notice from their condominium board on December 10 that DaGrosa Capital, where Suarez serves as senior partner, would be extending buyout offers for their individual units in the coming days.
The news has left owners in the 12-story building buzzing as they await bids from the Coral Gables-based firm.
Mutiny resident Sabrina Wilkinson, a real estate agent, said word of a potential buyout triggered a “bit of an uproar” among unit owners.
The board of the Mutiny’s condo association briefed owners on DaGrosa’s interest during a well-attended December 12 meeting, she said.
“You start talking about people’s money and people show up,” Wilkinson said.
“Not everyone is fond of this. I’m sure a few are,” she added. “I’m really trying to stay neutral, to be here for people who want to talk to me in a professional capacity.”
The property is set up as a condominium with roughly 170 units, ranging in size from less than 600 square feet to 3,300 square feet for a penthouse. Some of the suites are offered to guests through a hotel program managed by Provident Resorts, while other units are owner-occupied or rented out to tenants and AirBnb clients.
A December 13 letter from the condo board indicated that owners should expect offers early this week from DaGrosa’s property development subsidiary.
“DaGrosa Capital Development Partners LLC has expressed interest in purchasing 100% of the condominium units at the Mutiny on the Bay,” the letter to owners reads.
DaGrosa declined to comment when reached by email about the Mutiny.
Though the firm has not publicly revealed plans for the property, it’s safe to say the hotel is a prime acquisition target. It sits on a waterfront parcel with unobstructed views of Biscayne Bay across from Kenneth M. Myers Bayside Park.
Over the last six months, one-bedroom units have sold for between $400,000 and $600,000, and a two-bedroom place fetched more than $900,000. DaGrosa will have to shell out tens of millions of dollars to snap up the whole property.
Mayor Suarez co-leads DaGrosa’s acquisition initiatives and investment platform, according to the firm’s website. His position at the firm is one of several lucrative side jobs that have helped him grow his net worth by millions of dollars during his tenure as the city’s top elected official.
Suarez’s office did not respond to a request for comment sent via email on what role, if any, he is playing in a buyout of the Mutiny.
Built in 1968 by developer Burton Goldberg as an apartment building, the property was converted to a hotel in the mid-1970s and became the epicenter of Miami’s opulent party scene.
Hollywood A-listers and rock stars would congregate at the world-famous Mutiny Club, while the hotel doubled as headquarters for drug dealers whose wealth was fueled by the cocaine boom. The property was the inspiration behind the “Babylon Club” scenes in the movie Scarface.
Miami art critic and journalist Carlos Suarez de Jesus, who worked at the hotel as an attendant in the late 1970s, described it in a memoir as the “Taj Mahal of debauchery.”
Nowadays, the property is more subdued, with ownership consisting primarily of investors and part-time residents. The Mutiny has been operating in a condominium-hotel format since 1998, when it reopened after years of lying dormant.
A minority of owners are full-time residents of the Mutiny, some of whom appear wary of letting their units go for less than a premium price in a Miami real estate market where finding a comparably affordable abode on the bay is difficult.
“The view is spectacular. In the neighborhood, the Mutiny has the fewest steps to the water,” says J.C. Digon, who used to run the Mutiny’s onsite restaurant Table 14 and is a longtime resident. “You have investors that are looking for the cash, but there are people like myself who’ve been living here for many years.”
Digon sounded skeptical when asked about the deal: “No matter how much they offer you, will it even be enough to go to some building next door? You give me a million dollars – where am I going to go in the Grove?”
Indeed, the median sale price of a home in Coconut Grove was $1.7 million in November 2024, according to Realtor.com.
The hotel is abutted by two taller buildings, the 22-story Hotel Arya Coconut Grove to the west and the 18-story Yacht Harbor Condominium to the northeast.
Wilkinson said unit owners have been speculating that a buyout would pave the way for the Mutiny to be redeveloped into a bigger structure. “I don’t know that, but that’s the common assessment, that they are going to tear down the building,” she said.
Another unit owner emphasized that details on DaGrosa’s potential offers are still light.
“I wouldn’t sell for less than top, top dollar. I just redid my bathrooms and kitchen,” said unit owner George Gourousis, who bought his 620-square-foot one-bedroom unit in 2005 for $235,000.
If DaGrosa or an affiliated developer aims to redevelop the property, they would have to terminate the condominium, which requires approval from 80 percent of unit owners’ voting interests under Florida law. If 5% explicitly object, the plan would be halted.
Residents face some looming costs that could incentivize sales. A special assessment is coming due for a roofing project, and condo association fees have been rising, though Digon says maintenance costs in the building remain reasonable compared to other condominiums in the Grove.
“The expenses are not too bad for this area,” Digon said of the $900 a month in condo association fees he pays.
Wilkinson said she forks out about $1,400 for condo association fees and property taxes combined for her 560-square foot unit, the smallest in the building. She bought it for $375,000 in 2022— about $670 per square foot, county property records show.
Early reports from the board indicate that DaGrosa may offer at least $1,000 per square foot at the Mutiny, and more for penthouse units, Wilkinson said.
Buyouts of condominium properties on choice parcels in South Florida have been ramping up in recent years as developers seek to raze older buildings and erect high-rises in their place.
Steady condo fee hikes in communities across the state are expected to continue under new Florida regulations mandating that condo associations fund reserves for buildings’ structural maintenance. This has created an environment where many unit owners are facing financial hardship and are eager to sell.
DaGrosa lists investments totaling $2 billion, including private equity in asset management platform Axxes Capital, charter airline Global X, and cannabis company Sunburn. The firm was founded by Joseph DaGrosa Jr., a veteran of U.S. private equity acquisitions.
Federal disclosures filed during Suarez’s short-lived presidential candidacy in 2023 revealed he received a $360,000 salary from DaGrosa Capital along with profit-sharing.
When he joined DaGrosa in 2021, Suarez said the job would “in no way conflict with the time and energy” he spends working as mayor. In addition to the job with DaGrosa, Suarez works as a lawyer at the law firm of Quinn Emanuel.
Another Coconut Grove real estate venture tied to Suarez, the URBIN Coconut Grove complex, spawned an ethics probe after the Miami Herald broke the news last year that developer Rishi Kapoor was paying Suarez $10,000 a month while tapping the mayor’s office to remove zoning obstacles delaying the project.
Suarez denied wrongdoing and said claims that he lobbied the Office of Zoning on behalf of Kapoor amounted to a smear campaign.
