Mila founder to open restaurants, hotel on Miami River 

Mila restaurant founder Gregory Galy and his partners plan to open Casa Neos with a boutique hotel and three eateries along the Miami River this year. 

Riviera Dining Group, led by Galy, along with Pacific Star Capital and a Spanish investor are completing interior and exterior renovations at the four-story building at 40 Southwest North River Drive, Guillaume Vidallet of Riviera Dining told The Real Deal. 

They plan a beach club with dining on the first floor, a formal restaurant on the second floor, a four-key luxury hotel on the third floor, and a lounge with a Mediterranean and North African restaurant called Noora on the fourth floor. 

The partners paid $9.5 million for the unfinished building in 2021, records show. 

They plan to complete Casa Neos in time for the start of the tourist season in October, according to Vidallet, construction and asset director at Riviera Dining. The partners also are adding a pool and working on improvements to the riverwalk, which the city requires for projects along the Miami River. The riverwalk and seawall improvements for Casa Neos are estimated to cost roughly $400,000, Vidallet said. 

Miami-based Riviera Dining’s brands include Mila and Bâoli in South Beach. Pacific Star Capital, founded by Aria Mehrabi, has offices in Santa Monica, California, Miami and Singapore. Since its inception, it has developed and purchased a portfolio worth more than $1.6 billion, according to its website. 

Aaron Butler, a broker with Avenue Real Estate Partners who represented the partners in purchasing the property, also is partnering on the project. 

Casa Neos marks a new chapter for the 30,000-square-foot building on the Miami River. 

Miami-based developer Melo Group, which sold the building to Galy and his partners, had planned for Sushi Samba to open at the property. In 2017, Melo Group sued to evict Sushi Samba parent company Orange Brands Management, which had a 15-year lease for the site, over unpaid rent. Orange Brands denied the allegations and claimed Melo never completed the building. A judge granted Melo possession of the property in 2017, and Sushi Samba never opened. 

Development along the Miami River has ramped up in recent years. Last year, the Chetrit Group revived a plan for a 4 million-square-foot project that was originally approved in 2015. Called River District, the development will consist of 1,600 residential units, 30,000 square feet of retail, offices and a marina between I-95 and Southwest Second Avenue. David Grutman’s Groot Hospitality is a partner on the project and will run the food and beverage operations at River District. 

In January, Edgardo Defortuna and Shahab Karmely scored a $38 million loan for their planned condominium development, consisting of a pair of towers with a total of 386 units at 24 Southwest Fourth Street. The financing is a line of credit to be used for development of the 60-story towers, as well as for sales and marketing.