Coral Gables Country Club seized with help from police, operator says city action illegal
The Coral Gables Country Club was placed under the control of a court-appointed receiver Wednesday with the help of county police to prevent the removal of valuable items such as speakers and marble from columns.
After the city filed a lawsuit against the club’s operators, Coral Grand LLC, Tuesday evening, saying they were illegally trying to remove items from the property, a Miami-Dade Circuit judge appointed a receiver within hours. Miami-Dade police on Wednesday arrived at the club to help the receiver, retired Judge Joel H. Brown, ensure that nothing would be removed from the premises.
City Manager Peter J. Iglesias said in a statement Thursday that the club remains open and operational for members of the club’s fitness center and for people with weddings and other scheduled events.
An attorney for the receiver, Erin Kolmansberger, said it was “business as normal” on Thursday, even though the receiver had taken legal possession and control of the club’s operations and assets.
“Mr. Brown is dedicated to preserving and protecting this beautiful venue and ensuring it’s preserved for the benefit of the city and all of its citizens,” she said.
In an emergency motion late Wednesday night, the operator’s attorney, David Winker, blasted the city’s actions. “American citizens do not normally have to be worried about government officials obtaining secret orders in the middle of the night to seize their private property,” Winker wrote.
But Iglesias said the move was necessary “because the current operators have stated that they will remove many items that are part of this facility, not only causing considerable damage to this historic building but delaying the re-start of operations.”
“The city is committed to working cooperatively with the receiver as he operates the club and safeguards the interests of all Coral Gables residents,” Iglesias said.
The country club is city-owned but is leased and operated by Coral Grand LLC, an entity led by Nick Di Donato and his nephew Anthony Di Donato. They reached an agreement that gave them 30 days to vacate the premises after their lease expires April 30. Then the city’s Community Recreation Department will begin managing the club.
The city had solicited bids from other potential operators, including influential lobbyist and businessman Rodney Barreto, but Barreto dropped his bid in January in response to public backlash.
Nick Di Donato told the Miami Herald on Thursday that the city’s latest move came after the two sides failed to agree on a price for the city to purchase the club’s equipment. Di Donato said he believes it is worth over $1 million, but the city presented a lower appraisal. When the negotiations stalled, he said he informed the city that he planned to take the equipment as was allowed under the terms of a settlement deal.
But in its lawsuit Tuesday evening, Coral Gables accused the Di Donatos of “defrauding” the city and forcing legal action to ensure a smooth transition to city control. The city said the Di Donatos were planning to remove valuable items from the club after their lease expired — including marble from columns, speakers, counters and “other items deemed fixtures,” and then “load everything up in a truck that is headed for Canada where Nick resides and runs other businesses.”
Di Donato says the items in question were purchased with his own money and belong to him.
“If I don’t cooperate, they’re going to take them,” he said. “We just want to be treated fairly and equitably and move on.”
The city also said the Di Donatos hid the fact that they created a new entity to sublet and manage the club’s fitness center, preventing the city from accessing data it needed to calculate how much rent it was owed.
Nick Di Donato denied that, saying the city had required the fitness center to be managed by a separate entity when their lease agreement began 10 years ago.
“They know who’s been running it,” Di Donato said. “How can they say, 10 years into this, that they had no idea?”
As of Thursday, Di Donato said his team was still operating the club, including its Liberty Caffe restaurant. He said he expected the receiver to monitor the club’s operations until the lease expires April 30.
Coral Gables city commissioners entered an executive session meeting Thursday morning to discuss the litigation outside public view.
The takeover of the property was first reported by Gables Insider.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 2:18 PM.
