PLUNGE MAY BE A NOISY NEIGHBOR, BUT LOUD ENOUGH TO GET THE BOOT? FILE PHOTO BY STAFF

Facing the Music
Hot on the Heels of a Bank Repo, Embattled Gansevoort Rooftop Takes on Noise Complaints

By Eleanor McCulloch

After a series of progress reports and continuances, the Miami Beach Planning Board gave the Gansevoort South Hotel the green light to continue operating the trendy rooftop venue — for now.

Plunge, the hotel’s rooftop pool and bar area, has been the site of countless celebrity sightings and is the hotspot of international A-listers, but has come under heavy fire via a barrage of residents’ complaints about noise and loud music, resulting in code compliance citations in late 2009 and again in early March of this year.

Sandy Lane Residential and Sandy Lane Retail, LLC, which operate the Gansevoort, received original approval in 2007 for their rooftop venue, but under the requirement that further approval would be needed in the event the location changed ownership.

After the hotel went bankrupt last year, it was announced at the Planning Board’s February meeting that creditor Credit Suisse had taken control of the property — meaning the chic getaway hotel would find itself back before the board.

In light of the noise violations, board members and city staff considered language for the Gansevoort’s final order of approval that would reference decibel levels acceptable to emanate from the 26,000-square-foot rooftop venue.

City Attorney Jose Smith’s office, however, opined that the language was “contrary to the City’s Noise Ordinance and its policies for enforcing the noise regulations,” city documents show. On Tuesday, June 22, planning department staff raised no objections to the removal of those decibel level regulations, and suggested sending the company a cure letter in consideration of a temporary suspension of the Gansevoort’s rooftop operation.

Credit Suisse Attorney Lucia Dougherty told the planning board that her clients understood the situation and letter, “however we ask that you do formally adopt this modification as well as taking out this one language that is the decibel level criteria which nobody wants – not the City and not us,” Dougherty said.
She added that she has met with representatives from the Roney Palace Condo, the property which houses the Gansevoort, although no agreement had been reached. Some strides have been made with the Riviera Condominium, she said.

The 340-room Gansevoort hotel’s new General Manager Brett Orlando, who took on the role in late March, said he’s been working hard on the hotel’s relationship with the Roney and Riviera, and has assumed other interactive roles within the community.

“My effort is really to repair some of the relationships that used to exist with the previous owners, and put the Gansevoort [South] in a light that shows we’re here to support the community of Miami Beach,” Orlando said.

He also assured the board that he has taken steps to stave off more noise violations, including “driving a lot of our evening events at Plunge to during the day,” Orlando said.

Andrew Dickman, attorney for the Rivera Condo Association, took issue with some arrangements regarding trash collection.

Roney Palace Attorney Kent Harrison Robbins addressed concerns over perceived discrepancies with some of the order’s legal descriptions and identifications, asserting the item may not have been properly noticed or may not even be legally before the Planning Board.

Because, without a variance, accessory outdoor bar counters can’t legally operate after 8 p.m., “there’s a fundamental problem of whether or not the approval of this matter will implicitly allow an illegal use to continue on the rooftop bar,” Robbins said. “We are not waiving our rights considering what we believe are illegal operating hours for the outdoor bar.”

The Planning Board voted to remove the decibel element of the order as well as approve the change in ownership. The board expects to set a public hearing to modify or revoke the Gansevoort’s conditional use approval for a rooftop bar at its next meeting; that hearing will likely be considered at a public hearing during the August meeting.

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