MiamiHerald.com:
The fight over whether to tear down or preserve an 88-year-old Miami Beach mansion has made its way to court.RELATED: Lisa Hochstein Reveals Newfound Friendship With Adriana De Moura, No Longer Close To Joanna Krupa
Miami Beach resident Leonard Hochstein has filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that Miami Beach’s rules illegally gave a leading nonprofit preservation group — the Miami Design Preservation League — the authority to ask the city to designate his home as historic.
The lawsuit also claims that the application for historic designation is delaying Hochstein’s ability to get permits to build a new home and that his constitutional rights are being violated.
“The lawsuit is without merit and will be vigorously defended and ultimately dismissed,” city attorney Jose Smith wrote in an email to The Miami Herald.
John Shubin, an attorney representing Hochstein, didn’t return a call for comment.
The drama centers around a Star Island mansion designed by Florida’s first registered architect, Walter DeGarmo. Celebrity couple Leonard and Lisa Hochstein — he, a plastic surgeon known as “The Boob God,” and she, a cast member of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Miami — bought the home late last year after it fell into foreclosure.
They asked the city for permission to tear it down and build a new, bigger home. The Miami Design Preservation League responded by filing an application to save the home from the wrecking ball by declaring it historic.
The Hochsteins got their application approved first. But the Miami Design Preservation League on Tuesday filed an appeal of the decision. Their application for historic designation is also still pending.
Miami Beach’s city code allows “any organization whose purpose is to promote the preservation of historic sites” to ask the city to designate a site as historic. The lawsuit claims that that section of the city’s rules is “unconstitutional” and is “being illegally enforced.”
Smith, the city attorney, countered in an email by writing: “In a prior opinion from the Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal, argued by John Shubin … the Court rejected an argument that a neighborhood association much like MDPL, lacked standing to appeal an adverse ruling from a county board.”
The lawsuit also claims that the league’s application for historic designation is preventing Hochstein from getting permits to redevelop the site of his recently bought home. But city officials say that the preservation league’s actions aren’t what’s holding up the Hochsteins.
I heard on the show that the house was used in Scarface, I have watched that movie more times then I can count and I don't think it was. If they want to demolish and rebuild she should be able to, they paid for it, she should be able to do what they want with it.
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