A 62-story condo tower may rise on the ocean. Why neighbors are pushing back
Towering glass condos have remade a Miami-Dade County beach town once known for kitschy motels like the Sahara, Suez and Castaways.
Now, most of those 1950s motels are gone. And another tall building may be added to the oceanfront skyline of Sunny Isles Beach.
Developers BH Group, Dezer Development and Related Group have collaborated on plans for a condo building that would be the tallest in Sunny Isles Beach, at 820 feet and 62 stories. Without a cap on the height of buildings in the city, Sunny Isles Beach has become home to the tallest buildings on the barrier island.
But the developers are facing pushback from people who live on the beachfront strip, squeezed between Haulover to the south and Golden Beach and the Broward County line on the north.
The proposed Miami Beach Club would replace an aging low-rise condo building with the same name at 19051 Collins Ave., between Ocean Two Condominium and the Residences by Armani Casa.
In January, the developers brought the project before the Sunny Isles Beach City Commission, seeking approval for the plans. But after a contentious hearing that stretched for hours, city commissioners delayed the vote. The commission will review the proposal again at its meeting on Thursday.
Before the January meeting, developer Gil Dezer told the Miami Herald that he expected there would be no issues getting approval from the commission because he wasn’t requesting any zoning variances. Dezer said he’d already received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to build an 820-foot building.
Although the project will not technically require exceptions to the city’s zoning code, the proposal makes use of transferable development rights, which allow developers to buy the right to build projects with more units or floor area than the city code normally permits. If their plans are approved, the developers would pay more than $26 million for transferable development rights and bonuses, and they would be allowed to build a tower with extra floor area and units.
Dezer on Wednesday reiterated that he expects the commission to approve the site plan at the meeting. He added that he finds it “disrespectful” that the residents of the Armani building, which he developed, are now protesting his next project.
The commission has the authority to decide whether to grant a developer these rights, said Alessandra Stivelman, an attorney representing residents in the Armani building. But this is the last time the plans will be heard by the commission in a public meeting.
Some Sunny Isles Beach residents spoke out against the project during public comment at last month’s meeting.
Joel Simon, who owns a unit in the Armani building next door to the Miami Beach Club, is a music producer who splits time between New York and South Florida. He grew up staying in Sunny Isles’ campy motels during family vacations.
But now he’s taking issue with what he is seeing.
“It’s really about quality of life,” Simon said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “I’m a capitalist ... but there comes a point in which that sort of mentality, when it compromises the existing residents of an entire city.”
Simon said he’s worried the residents of the proposed building’s 145 units would worsen traffic in Sunny Isles Beach, which has one main street, A1A, that’s already congested much of the day.
Joe Levine, a cardiologist who also owns a unit in the Armani building, spoke at last month’s meeting about how worse traffic could prevent emergency vehicles from reaching people quickly.
Simon said when he bought a condo next door to an aging motel, he knew the site would be redeveloped. He said he doesn’t mind the redevelopment, but he thinks the proposed building is too large for the site. The Miami Beach Club would be nearly 200 feet taller than the neighboring Armani building.
“There’s no doubt it’s a beautiful building,” Simon said, “but it’s the wrong building in the wrong spot.”
Simon and Levine are concerned about the impact the construction of the Miami Beach Club will have on surrounding buildings, including theirs. Sunny Isles Beach, which is built on a sandy barrier island, has had issues with sinking and unstable buildings. Experts have warned that drilling a foundation deep enough for such a tall building may cause vibrations that could disturb the foundations of nearby buildings.
READ MORE: Sinking skyscrapers? As buildings got bigger in Sunny Isles, so did engineering concerns
Levine, who splits time between New York and South Florida, told the Herald he’s also concerned about the environmental impact of the proposed tower, including how it will affect the sea turtles that nest on the beach. Lights and shadows from buildings can confuse hatchling sea turtles as they try to make it to the ocean.
Levine encouraged other Sunny Isles Beach residents who want to share their opinions on the proposed development to attend the commission meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Sunny Isles Beach City Hall, 18070 Collins Ave.
“There’s going to be six more buildings that are going to go up in Sunny Isles, because you see the vacant lots,” Levine said. “My argument to the city was, you have a chance to change the process. You have a chance to protect the people.”
This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 5:58 PM.
