Miami Beach 2 a.m. liquor cutoff can take effect, judge says. Will Story nightclub survive?
Miami Beach can impose a partial 2 a.m. alcohol curfew in the South of Fifth neighborhood, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge said Tuesday, handing a victory to the city in a ruling that affects one of the area’s biggest nightclubs.
Judge Reemberto Diaz issued the decree after hearing two days of testimony on Story nightclub’s challenge of an ordinance passed last month by the Miami Beach City Commission. The ordinance will force some South of Fifth businesses that are currently allowed to sell alcohol until 5 a.m. to move their cutoffs to 2 a.m. in response to nearby residents who want less noise and partying in their vicinity.
“This is a residential neighborhood that should not have to endure 24-hour nightclubs,” Mayor Dan Gelber posted on Facebook after the ruling. “Hopefully we can begin enforcement very soon.”
The ordinance provides an exception for bars and restaurants with capacity for fewer than 100 people — a carve-out that attorneys for Story derided in court as “arbitrary.” But Diaz said he had “no choice” but to side with the city based on a 2016 case involving the city of Hialeah, in which the Third District Court of Appeal said local legislative decisions should stand unless there is no “conceivable” rational basis for them.
“This Court must not interfere with the political judgment of Defendant’s duly elected officials merely because it disagrees with the outcome or with comments made by officials,” Diaz wrote in a brief order.
Attorneys for Story planned to quickly appeal Diaz’s ruling and ask for the ordinance’s implementation to be put on hold. Diaz rejected Story’s request for an injunction that would have temporarily blocked the ordinance from taking effect while an appeal plays out.
Tuesday’s ruling had immediate implications for the nightclub. Rapper Sheck Wes is scheduled to perform at Story in the early morning hours Wednesday. The club has been selling tickets at $40 for admission and up to $4,000 for a table, according to its website.
Other events are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday this weekend.
Late Tuesday afternoon, spokespeople for Story and Miami Beach said the city had agreed to let the club hold the Sheck Wes event and sell alcohol past 2 a.m., then reassess the situation Wednesday.
It’s high season for liquor sales
March is typically high season for South Florida nightlife as a rush of tourists comes to town for spring break.
“Story cannot live another day if this ordinance is put into effect,” attorney Sean Burstyn said at a hearing Sunday, presenting data to suggest the club makes about 88% of its alcohol revenue between 2 and 5 a.m.
Diaz’s ruling marks the first time a Miami Beach 2 a.m. liquor curfew has survived a substantial legal test. It’s a political win for Gelber and other city officials who have struggled to implement changes even after voters approved a non-binding referendum expressing support for alcohol sale rollbacks in 2021.
The city’s past attempts to impose 2 a.m. liquor curfews in parts of South Beach were shot down by a judge, in part because they were found to target particular businesses.
The South of Fifth measure passed 5-2 on a final reading Feb. 22, with Commissioners Ricky Arriola and David Richardson opposed. Several commissioners raised concerns that the city could be doomed to another failed legal battle if it approved the 100-patron exception, statements Story’s lawyers highlighted in court.
On Sunday morning, Diaz’s downtown Miami courtroom was packed with observers, including bleary-eyed Story employees who had been working at the club just a few hours earlier.
“We’re talking about people whose livelihoods are on the line here,” Burstyn said.
Jessica Nunez, a bartender at the club, said the job pays well and that she’d be “devastated” to lose it.
“I feel like I just got my life together financially,” said Nunez, 32, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader who lives in Miramar. “This job has been a huge blessing.”
Story was opened a decade ago by Miami entrepreneur Dave Grutman as the sister venue to LIV, the famous nightclub inside the Fontainebleau Hotel. Earlier this month, a firm led by billionaire developer Jeffrey Soffer bought the Story property for $23 million. Soffer also owns the Fontainebleau.
The club is one of a dozen South of Fifth businesses with 5 a.m. liquor licenses, nine of which have capacity of more than 100 people, according to city records.
Story will likely take the biggest hit under the new ordinance.
Three establishments in the area with 5 a.m. licenses, Ted’s Hideaway, the ScapeGoat and Sorbillo, hold fewer than 100 people. Others with larger capacity don’t list operating hours past 2 a.m., including Nikki Beach, Smith and Wollensky, Prime Fish, Forte dei Marmi, Monty’s Sunset and Papi Steak.
Big Pink, a retro diner, is also likely to be affected. It has capacity of more than 100 people and lists weekend hours until 5:30 a.m.
Restaurateur helped craft exception
Much of the court testimony Sunday and Monday centered on whether the city’s exception for businesses with fewer than 100 patrons was arbitrary.
Lawyers for the city said it was a good-faith attempt to distinguish between large establishments like Story, which can hold over 1,000 people, and places like Ted’s Hideaway, a popular dive bar with a capacity of 30.
Story’s legal team countered that it wasn’t well-reasoned public policy but rather was an attempt to appease one of the neighborhood’s most prominent restaurateurs.
An email filed in court shows that the 100-person exception came up last February in conversations between Myles Chefetz — who owns several South of Fifth businesses that have 5 a.m. liquor licenses — and the South of Fifth Neighborhood Association (SOFNA), a group of residents that has advocated for 2 a.m. alcohol cutoffs.
In an email to SOFNA vice president Keith Marks, Chefetz proposed exceptions for businesses with occupancy of under 100 people that don’t have an entertainment license or contain a “dance hall,” and that don’t sell alcohol outdoors after 2 a.m.
“If you all agree to support this legislation, I will commit not to attempt to widen the exception at any point during the upcoming legislative process or at any other point in the future,” Chefetz wrote.
The SOFNA board, which had previously called for a blanket 2 a.m. cutoff, subsequently said it would support Chefetz’s proposed exceptions. The city’s planning board green-lit a recommendation a few weeks later that mirrored what Chefetz had proposed. It then went to the city commission, which approved it last month.
“The die was cast,” said Burstyn, the attorney for Story, adding that Chefetz’s letter to Marks appeared to be a “covenant not to sue” the city. “It was a settlement agreement with a business competitor of Story’s,” he said.
Chefetz’s proposal seemed to be a compromise. Several of his businesses in the neighborhood — including Big Pink — have licenses to serve liquor until 5 a.m. as well as occupancy of more than 100 people.
At the same time, Chefetz is the landlord for Ted’s Hideaway and the ScapeGoat, which stand to benefit from the exemption.
“What he was trying to do was protect these smaller, longstanding businesses,” Neisen Kasdin, an attorney and former Miami Beach mayor who represents Chefetz, told the Miami Herald. “SOFNA, I think, recognized that the smaller establishments did not create the same undesirable impacts on the neighborhood that the larger establishments do.”
Marks, the SOFNA vice president, said the group didn’t cut any “side deals” with Chefetz. Rather, he said, Chefetz recommended the 100-person exception, SOFNA discussed it, and members agreed smaller bars aren’t the problem.
South of Fifth residents do take issue with large clubs, said Marks, especially when people leave drunk and amble into their neighborhood.
“This is like saying, ‘Why did a community zone say you can’t have a strip club next to a church, or medical marijuana next to South Pointe Elementary?’ ” Marks said. “This community said, ‘We don’t want late-night, drunk people running around here.’ ”
