David Grutman

Founder, President, Groot Hospitality

Grutman recently completed a waterfront Miami Beach mansion on a $10.3 million site, along with his wife, model and fashion designer Isabela Rangel Grutman. But that’s not nearly the splashiest headline this prototypical South Florida fortune seeker has conjured. Grutman’s business relies on blending the right real estate with the glam crowd. 

Grutman made his name with the 2008 opening of LIV at Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Miami Beach (see related entry), still a premier club. He founded Groot Hospitality in 2018 and peddled a majority stake to Live Nation Entertainment the following year. The brand now owns LIV in Miami Beach and Las Vegas, and has stakes in restaurants Papi Steak (David “Papi” Einhorn is a partner), Komodo, Gekkō (with Bad Bunny) and Casadonna (with Tao Hospitality). 

He’s run into conflict along the way, including a lawsuit challenging the City of Miami Beach’s 2 a.m. last-call, a case he and Soffer lost, leading them to close Story nightclub. Papi Steak sued the city in 2022 over a curfew, taking another loss. 

He’s contributed $20,000 to Miami Beach First, a PAC backing Mayor Steven Meiner, who won reelection in 2025. He’s got other fights on his hands, meanwhile, including a stalled plan to take over Miami Beach’s The Forge. Grutman partnered with Pharrell Williams and Imperial Companies on South Beach’s Goodtime Hotel; his stake was unclear as of 2025 amid battling lawsuits between Imperial and its lender.