T
he Miami Beach landlord, Infinity Collective, has recently taken possession of a five-story short-term rentals building at 1700 Alton Road after winning an eviction lawsuit against LuxUrban Hotels, a struggling hospitality company. The New York-based Infinity Collective, led by Steve Kassin, Etienne Locoh, and David Berg, plans to announce a new hotel tenant next week. The building was previously owned by a Miami-based company and was acquired by BridgeInvest in 2021 after the previous owner defaulted on a $32 million debt. The same year, BridgeInvest sold the property to Infinity for an undisclosed price.
According to court records, Infinity alleged in a June eviction lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that LuxUrban failed to make monthly rent payments totaling $244,312. The lease agreement required LuxUrban to pay $1.4 million in annual rent, divided into monthly payments of $123,295. This eviction marks another setback for LuxUrban, which was also evicted from a 28-unit short-term rentals building at 1238 Collins Avenue in Miami Beach in April. The landlord, an entity managed by Scott Weinberg in Bay Harbor Islands, took possession of the property in April, court records show.
In addition, 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, has been facing a series of troubles lately. In May, Wyndham stopped listing LuxUrban properties on its Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Trademark Collection platform, according to published reports. 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 company's financial troubles began at the start of the year when a Bleecker Street Capital short seller warned of looming financial problems and lawsuits.
