A Pinecrest resident is suing the owner and operator of a Coconut Grove parking garage, alleging years of overcharges in violation of a city covenant requiring rates to match municipal meters.
A Pinecrest resident has filed a class action lawsuit against the owner and operator of a Coconut Grove parking garage, alleging they illegally charge drivers more than city-approved rates.
The complaint, filed July 14 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court by Eric Zimelman, targets Grove Garage LLC, managed by Coconut Grove developer Peter Gardner, and Southpark Management, the company that operates the 180-space facility at 2889 McFarlane Road next to Hotel Arya.
The lawsuit follows a Spotlight report early this year detailing allegations of price gouging and the city’s failure to enforce mandated parking rates.
Zimelman argues the garage has violated a 28-year-old agreement with the City of Miami requiring its rates match those charged at city-owned lots and metered spaces in Center Grove. Instead, drivers have been billed, at times, far above the $3-per-hour city rate, or $1.40 per hour for residents with registered vehicles.
The lawsuit seeks refunds for affected drivers, unspecified damages, attorney fees, and a court order barring the garage from imposing higher charges.
City officials have received complaints about the garage’s pricing for years but have not taken enforcement action against Gardner’s entity, according to the filing.
Zimelman, an attorney and realtor who lives in Pinecrest but also owns a single-family residence in Coconut Grove, declined an interview unless his attorney, David Rothstein, was present. Rothstein was out of town and unavailable for comment, according to the lawyer’s secretary.
Gardner, who owns and operates a variety of commercial and residential properties throughout Coconut Grove, did not respond to phone and text messages seeking comment.
The lawsuit claims that Grove Garage is bound by a 1997 binding covenant between the city and Ricardo Dunin, the original developer of the 16-story tower that is now Hotel Arya and the Mutiny Park Condominium behind the hotel.
The covenant granted Dunin a height increase and extra square footage for his project in exchange for a crucial public benefit: affordable public parking.
The agreement mandated that any parking garage built as part of the development would charge “no more than the prevailing rates for public metered parking in the vicinity, as established by the Miami Department of Offstreet Parking.”
Dunin, through a spokesperson, told the Spotlight earlier this year that he believed subsequent owners of the garage are bound by the covenant.
Marc Sarnoff, a former Miami District 2 commissioner who helped to enforce terms of the covenant during his eight years in office, said that the city’s code enforcement office is responsible for enforcing the terms of the agreement. Attempts by past owners to lobby for higher rates were swatted down by the Miami City Commission, Sarnoff said.
In recent years, however, residents have accused Grove Garage, which took ownership in 2014, of disregarding the covenant. Complaints claimed parking rates far exceeded those at nearby city meters, with posted fees at the McFarlane Road facility as much as $10 per hour on weekends, double or triple the city rate.
Miami City Manager Art Noriega, who previously served as head of the Miami Parking Authority, did not respond to interview requests sent directly to him and through city spokespersons about the lack of enforcement against Grove Garage. Miami District 2 Commissioner Damian Pardo also did not respond to a request for comment.
In his lawsuit, Zimelman alleges Grove Garage consistently posted and charged rates at $5 per hour from Monday through Wednesday, and $10 per hour from Thursday to Sunday. The suit includes copies of receipts showing he’s paid as much as $10 an hour. Grove Garage’s pricing practices amount to deceptive and unfair trade practices under Florida law, the complaint states.
Zimelman presented himself as representative of potentially thousands of individuals who have parked at the garage since 2021. If the class action is certified by a judge, any of those people could join the lawsuit.
John Fleeman could be among the claimants. Last November, Fleeman paid $17.55 for 90 minutes at the garage, and subsequently received a collection letter from Southpark – the Miami-based company that manages the lot — claiming he hadn’t paid at all.
A copy of the notice alleged Fleeman owed $58 in fines and was subject to additional fees up to $100. Southpark sent him two more warnings even after Fleeman emailed the company a screenshot of his debit card transaction showing he paid the garage’s mobile application.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Fleeman said he hasn’t received collection letters from Southpark since the Spotlight first reported, in January, allegations of overcharging at the garage.
“I haven’t heard from them again,” Fleeman said. I am glad somebody is standing up to them and pointing out that they are in violation of an existing agreement. I suppose the city can claim that no one brought it to their attention.”
Fleeman now avoids parking at the garage whenever he heads to Center Grove.
“I don’t want to run the risk of another hassle,” he said. “I will ride around two or three times until I find a street parking spot.”
This story should be hailed as a prime example of what good journalism can achieve. Remarkable. Kudos to the Spotlight for bringing this story to our attention. For once, we can rejoice that some kind of justice might be served and that those who seek to take advantage of the ineptitude of our City officials can be held accountable.
It is wonderful that the Spotlight is covering one of the constant irritants afflicting ordinary residents who actually live every day in the Grove. To quote baseball great Yogi Berra: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
In the January 24, 2002 issue of Miami New Times, reporter Kirk Nielsen in “Parking to the People” wrote:
“Just when you thought it was safe to go back into a Coconut Grove parking garage, some developer tries to gouge you. Under City of Miami law, a person is supposed to be able to park a vehicle in the garage at the 22-story Mutiny Park condominium (just a block east of CocoWalk) at the same annoying rates one pays at the street meters outside — that is, a quarter for fifteen minutes, fifty cents for a half-hour, and a dollar per hour. But since the facility opened this past November, developer Ricardo Dunin has been allowing Quik Park to charge an exorbitant five-dollar flat rate.”
Kirk’s article goes on to recount how:
“A group of Grove residents thought so, especially in light of Dunin’s 1996 agreement to provide 187 parking spaces at street rates. In exchange for that magnanimous gesture, the Miami City Commission allowed him to construct a bigger and taller building than originally permitted. (Commissioner Johnny Winton estimated the additional 65,000 square feet added ten million dollars to the value of the property, whose complete name is Mutiny Park Luxury Apart-Hotel Condominiums.) Then about nine months ago, with the assistance of überdevelopment lawyer Lucia Dougherty, Dunin began to envision a new ordinance. ‘We wanted the garage to be able to charge market rates,’ Dougherty told New Times.”
Now, here we are over two decades later, talking about the same price gouging at the same garage, and subject to the same covenant. There’s a different City Manager, a different developer/owner, and a different District 2 Commissioner, but the question remains the same: How is it that parking in this garage that’s required to cost the same as street parking now costing several times that amount?
The public lot at Tigertail and Mary should never have been sold to Terra Group. It had 388 spaces at municipal rates. As a consequence, we lost the Playhouse to a new garage and parking is now next to impossible in the Grove, compounded by more overdevelopment. Furthermore, the Tigertail and Mary location was easily accessible from 27th Ave. The new location next to the ‘Playhouse’ will cause an additional bottleneck at the already problematic Main Highway/Commodore Plaza intersection and will shunt traffic through the West Grove. It’s gross mismanagement of City property and funds.
After I read this I went back through my credit card statements to find the exorbitant charges. Not surprisingly, they were confusing listed as PP – MUTINY MIAMI FL. Hopefully that helps other people prove what they paid so they can one day be reimbursed. I know I’ll be joining the class once it’s certified. We’re coming for you Peter Gardner! And shame on Miami Dade for not holding him accountable.