Infinity Collective is the latest Miami Beach landlord to give troubled hospitality firm LuxUrban Hotels the boot.
Last month, New York-based Infinity, led by Steve Kassin, Etienne Locoh and David Berg, took possession of a five-story short-term rentals building at 1700 Alton Road after winning an eviction lawsuit against Miami-based LuxUrban, court records show.
Berg told The Real Deal that Infinity plans to announce a new hotel tenant next week. He declined further comment. Alex Rosenthal, LuxUrban’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2021, lender BridgeInvest acquired the 68-room building, formerly known as the Variety Hotel, via a foreclosure auction after the previous owner defaulted on a $32 million debt, court records show. The same year, BridgeInvest sold the property to Infinity for an undisclosed price.
In a June eviction lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Infinity alleged that LuxUrban failed to make monthly rent payments totaling $244,312. According to a lease agreement attached to the lawsuit, LuxUrban was required to pay $1.4 million in annual rent, divided into monthly payments of $123,295.
LuxUrban was also evicted from a 28-unit short-term rentals building at 1238 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach. The landlord, an entity managed by Scott Weinberg in Bay Harbor Islands, took possession of the property in April, court records show.
Another landlord, Eatontown, New Jersey-based Victory Investments Group, has a pending eviction lawsuit against LuxUrban to retake possession of Hotel Astor, an iconic Art Deco property at 956 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach.
LuxUrban, a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq, is reeling from a cascade of troubles. In May, Wyndham stopped listing LuxUrban properties on its Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Trademark Collection platform, published reports state. A month later, LuxUrban fired its CEO, Shanoop Kothari, just three months after he replaced company founder Brian Ferdinand.
Unlike traditional hotel brands, LuxUrban leases properties instead of buying them. The firm began nosediving at the beginning of the year when a Bleecker Street Capital short seller warned that LuxUrban faced looming financial problems and lawsuits.