Before hiring Francis Suarez as his paid consultant, developer Rishi Kapoor helped Miami’s mayor draft legislation in favor of his Coconut Grove project.
The proposed measure was never approved, but Suarez’s involvement revealed a deeper connection between the mayor and Kapoor, chief executive of Coral Gables-based Location Ventures. miami herald.
State and federal investigators are probing business dealings involving Kapoor and Suarez, who works as a private advisor at a Location Ventures subsidiary.
The $10,000-a-month consulting job has earned Suarez at least $170,000 since 2021, but the mayor has never reported the income on the annual financial statements he is required to file with the state of Florida.
Emails and other city documents obtained by the Miami Herald show that Suarez, Kapoor and city staff met at least six times between 2019 and 2021 to finalize changes to Miami’s zoning code to make it easier to build in Miami. Co-living apartments and micro-units. City. Location Ventures is developing Urbin Coconut Grove, a mixed-use co-living project at 3162 Commodore Plaza in Miami.
According to the Miami Herald, Kapoor’s development entity dropped its participation in changing the code and applied for a permit for the project in 2021.
In January, a group of investors sued the Urbin Coconut Grove development entity in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The complaint seeks to remove Kapoor as development manager for the project.
Kapoor’s company is also facing trouble for its co-living projects at 1234 and 1260 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach. This month, six contractors filed liens totaling $1.2 million for allegedly failing to pay for materials and services. The City of Miami Beach also issued a stop-work order for the Urbin Miami Beach development site after Location Ventures began construction without a permit.
Greg Brooks, the former chief financial officer of Location Ventures, also has a pending lawsuit against the company alleging he was owed $80,000 in unpaid commissions. In the suit, Brooks accuses Kapoor of misrepresenting financial information to investors and using company funds to buy himself a McLaren sports car and a Coral Gables mansion. In response to the suit, Kepple denied the allegations.
