Miami Beach officials are backing Robert Rivani’s plan for an estimated $50 million rooftop addition to his mixed-use building at 1691 Michigan Avenue.
On Wednesday, the Miami Beach City Commission unanimously approved on first reading extending the ground lease into the next century for the city-owned land underneath the seven-story building known as The Rivani.
Rivani, who leads his Miami-based namesake firm, is dangling an annual rent bump to the city of at least $500,000, as well as $1.3 million for public benefits to obtain it, a city memo shows. He purchased the building and the ground lease for $62.5 million in 2024, and he has previously told The Real Deal he invested roughly $40 million in renovations.
The current agreement, approved in 1999, runs through 2052 with two 20-year renewal options and an annual base rent payment of about $600,000. Under the proposed lease amendment, Rivani would get a pair of additional 20-year renewal options, a city memo shows. If approved, the lease would expire in 2132. The city commission scheduled a second reading for July 22. The amendment would need to be approved by Miami Beach voters.
In 2033, the rent increase would kick in, city documents state. The city’s percentage from the building’s gross revenue would increase from 2.5 percent to 3 percent. Last year, that percentage rent generated $279,700 annually, the city memo states. Rivani is also contributing $1.3 million to city projects and programs, including $600,000 for improvements and art on Lincoln Road and $150,000 to support Miami Beach’s human trafficking tip line and sister cities initiative.
Rivani plans to tear down the garage’s sixth level and eliminate 250 parking spaces to make way for 36,000 square feet of office space, three rooftop padel courts and a 6,000-square-foot restaurant.
Joe Magazine, a Miami Beach city commissioner who’s been close friends with Rivani since he acquired 1691 Michigan Avenue two years ago, sponsored and championed the lease extension. Rivani took over the building when it was 30 percent occupied and “struggling with class B” rents, and now it is “almost fully occupied with rents that are much higher,” Magazine told his colleagues at Wednesday’s meeting.
The most high-profile tenant is Playboy, which signed last year for a 20,000-square-foot penthouse office suite at The Rivani. The once-iconic magazine brand plans to move its 250-employee operation from Los Angeles to Miami Beach. But there’s a caveat. Rivani asked the city to provide Playboy with an $800,000 job creation incentives package.
“Full disclosure, the applicant here, the property owner, is a very good friend of mine,” Magazine said. “I was not involved in negotiating a single item of any of the terms. That was all done by city staff. There’s nothing that would not allow me to act impartially or fairly for this.”
Rivani is required to secure a master building permit by July 2031 or the lease extension becomes void, according to city documents. He could also face financial penalties for missing construction start or completion deadlines. For instance, if Rivani does not secure a temporary certificate of occupancy by the end of 2033, the annual rent increase would be $575,000 instead of $500,000.
In addition to 1691 Michigan Avenue, Rivani also owns the former Lincoln Theatre building at 551 Lincoln Road. Last year, he paid $37 million for the property, which is anchored by an H&M store.
Recently, Rivani sold Wynwood Jungle, a retail plaza in Miami’s trendy Wynwood neighborhood, for $26 million as part of an ongoing sell-off of a retail and hospitality portfolio he acquired between 2021 and 2024.