Food Fight
Residents South of Fifth Contend With the Spoils of a
Neighborhood That’s Busy Feeding Tourists and Locals

“I want them to stop looking at these code violations as simply a cost of doing business.”

Brad Stevens, who owns a home in the Concord House condominium building, has taken photos on numerous occasions over the last couple of years of the alley behind Prime 112 that he says is not being properly maintained. Photos courtesy of Brad Stevens
 

By Samantha Smith

Located at 112 Ocean Drive, in what is fast becoming one of Miami Beach’s most exclusive neighborhoods, the ever-popular restaurant Prime 112 has more going on than just excellent cuts of beef. The establishment that serves what has been hailed by southflorida.com’s dining guide as “quite possibly the best meal on the beach” has proved itself to be a bad neighbor, say nearby residents.

Residents and owners of the Concord House Condominium have been fighting with the establishment and the city of Miami Beach since 2004 over what condo resident Max Habermann calls “disgusting conditions.” The Concord House is situated right behind the successful restaurant, with only about 25 feet of city-owned dilapidated alleyway separating the two buildings. Residents say they have repeatedly complained that the restaurant does not dispose of its garbage properly and that its practices cause conditions in the fragile alley to border on dangerous.

They are concerned about the sludge they say they have seen flowing out of Prime 112’s kitchen and into the alley, and about the improper disposal of the restaurant’s waste. Due to the numerous potholes that litter the alleyway, much of the greasy kitchen excrement gets caught and stays for days, baking in the hot South Florida sun, residents say. Of course, making it to the sewer is another problem altogether as the sewer filters into the Atlantic, carrying the “hazardous” waste into the waters around Miami Beach. As if that weren’t enough, according to neighbors at the Concord, the restaurant’s garbage cans are constantly full of leftover food and they leak, leaving grease and grime to accumulate around them and slowly trickle into the street.

Brad Stevens, an owner of what should be a prime piece of condominium real estate, has been leading the crusade for a cleaner atmosphere in the alley for more than three years. “This isn’t any way for anybody to live,” Stevens asserts. “I am tired of being miserable every time I come home. I paid a lot of money to live where I do and I just want the same consideration that Prime 112 gives to its guests.” Stevens recently spent his Christmas holiday writing a letter to Miami Beach officials citing numerous concerns over the safety of Concord’s residents’ quality of life due to Prime 112’s continuous violation of county health codes.

According to Stevens and Habermann, the problems do not stop with sewage in the alley. Both residents complain that instead of establishing an enclosed trash room as Florida law mandates, the restaurant has garbage pickups three to four times a day, causing 30 to 45 minutes of noise and nuisance each time. Up until the most recent meeting with Code Compliance officials and Prime 112’s owner, Myles Chefetz, which took place during the first week of January, the pickups started at 5:30 a.m., residents say. “When [Code Compliance official] George Castell heard what time the trash pickups started, he got on his radio immediately and ordered that there be no pickups before 7 a.m.,” Stevens said. “It’s illegal for trash pickups to start before 7 a.m.”

Although residents admit that conditions have improved since the last meeting, they stress that this is not enough. Lynne Harrington, an owner who served as president of the Concord House Condo Association in 2006, has lived for 10 years in the unit directly across from where Prime 112’s garbage cans now sit. “I hesitate to complain because the pickups have been around 7:30 a.m. since the last meeting, but before that I was woken up almost every day, sometimes as early as 4:30 in the morning, and I still can’t open my windows because of the smell,” said Harrington.

Harrington’s husband, Bruce, went so far as to install Plexiglas over the jalousies in an attempt to keep the putrid smell at bay. “Look as this,” he said, “we can’t even enjoy the weather because of the filth coming off the alley.” The Harringtons moved from Rhode Island a decade ago to escape freezing winters and enjoy their pseudo-retirement in Miami Beach. “We have been contacting code enforcement for years about this and we are just fed up,” Harrington said.

In an interview with the SunPost, Chefetz insisted he was implementing changes to make the condo owners happy. “We stopped even taking deliveries in the alley to accommodate the residents,” Chefetz said. He went on to say that he employs people whose only job is to keep the alleyway clean. “I am very sensitive to the complaints of the residents and I will do whatever it takes so that we can coexist.”

Chefetz cites the dilapidated alleyway as the main cause of the problem. “This alley is probably kept cleaner than any other south of Fifth, but it doesn’t do much good because the alley is in such poor condition,” he said. “I have been on the city to repave for a while. I have called and they have assured me that it would be done within the year, but so far nothing has been done.” As a testament to his desire to exist in peace with the Concord House, Chefetz went so far as to say he would even pay for the alley to be repaved.

While residents agree that the alley’s condition contributes to the mess, simply repaving it will not solve all of the problems, they say. “I would like to see the city step up and repave the 50-yard section behind the restaurant, but Prime 112 still has to take responsibility for their behavior,” Stevens said. “I want them to stop looking at these code violations as simply a cost of doing business.”

When the SunPost first spoke with Chefetz, he asserted that “we have not had any violations.” He went on to say, “This is just a weird situation.… Any time you have residential and commercial property inhabiting the same space you are going to have issues.”

SunPost later learned from CMB Communications Department representative Nannette Rodriguez that there have in fact been 22 code compliance citations issued for Prime 112. The first was on Jan. 24, 2004, the same month the restaurant opened its doors. The most recent was issued on Jan. 3, 2007 citing “Illegal disposal of biohazardous or hazardous waste, re. grease and yellow liquid in alley. Also deteriorated garbage receptacles at the location, missing drain plugs etc.”

The citations have been issued for various reasons over the years, among them violations for trash and grease dumped in the vacant lot next to the restaurant on Feb. 4, 2004; garbage containers needing to be in an air-conditioned room on March 2, 2005; grease containers overflowing on April 21, 2005; allowing industrial water to flow into a storm drain on July 2, 2006; three Dumpsters in the middle of the alley and not in an approved garbage facility; and litter and grease on private as well as public property on Dec. 31, 2006.

After learning what the SunPost had discovered from the CMB, Chefetz insisted that the citations issued for Prime 112 were merely warnings. “They aren’t violations per se … we have had some warnings and they were promptly complied with.” Chefetz continued, “Most of these were for very small things. They [Concord residents] call every day. Considering the amount of calls, they [Code Compliance] have to do something.”

The successful restaurateur of Prime 112, plus Big Pink, Nemo and Shoji Sushi — all within blocks of the busy tourist thoroughfares of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue — is adamant that Prime 112 will coexist with the Concord House. “Our position is that this is not unsolvable.”

Terminology aside, of the 22 citations, 15 have been closed for compliance, six have been paid, and the most recent is still open and carries an automatic fine of $250. Rodriguez told the SunPost if the same violation is issued again it will carry a fine of $1,000.

Still, residents want to know why the city is not taking stronger action. According to Habermann, a lot of the blame falls with City Code Enforcement. “They aren’t doing enough,” Habermann said. “Fines don’t matter to a business that makes so much money, and we end up being the bad guys.”

Chefetz and the Concord residents both say they are taking this situation very seriously.

It may be the zoning of the small district now commonly known as SoFi (South of Fifth) that plays an integral role in the conflict between numerous residents and businesses of the popular tourist area, making urban growing pains evident.

When asked what Code Enforcement is doing to rectify the issue between Prime 112 and the Concord House Condo, Jose Alberto of Code Compliance referred the SunPost to Nannette Rodriguez, spokesperson for the city of Miami Beach. Her bulleted reply included the following points: “All Ocean Drive alleys are being inspected by the day crew and the night crew when they are on. Code is monitoring for seepage from containers. Code has met with both the complainant and the proper owner and advised each of their responsibilities. Prime 112 has made a commitment to expand his storage capacity by working with his neighbor on a larger garbage area. The grease trap has been moved outside of the trash room. The complainant has also addressed issue with his trash storage. Night Crew monitoring for early sanitation pickups - outside of the approved areas because ongoing paving activity.”

One Concord resident, Brendan O’Neill, while disgruntled at the situation, attempted to take a lighter approach. O’Neill suggested Prime 112 make an attempt to “look out for your neighbors. They could give us a discount or a free steak now and then,” O’Neill chuckled. “Hey, at this point any gesture is appreciated.”

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.