A controversial takeover of the Coral Gables Country Club by a politically-connected businessman and lobbyist could be dead in the water after Rodney Barreto sent the city a letter Saturday saying that he gives up on what he called a “painful process.”
Barreto has withdrawn his proposal to lease and operate the historic, taxpayer-owned “crown jewel” of the City Beautiful — considered one of the few remaining bastions of the Old Gables — and the quaint-if-outdated Burger Bob’s, which recently got a lease extension but is reportedly closing anyway later this year.
“They say, ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story,’ and unfortunately, our efforts to breathe life into what are some of the most important locations in the city were met with a coordinated, vitriolic, and persistent campaign of misinformation,” Barreto wrote in a letter that was hand-delivered and emailed to Zeida Sardiñas, asset manager for the city’s economic development department.
“Those who perpetrated this campaign succeeded in brewing considerable unrest in the surrounding community and in the city at large,” Barreto went on. “They impugned our integrity, and that of the City Manager, the Mayor, and the Commission. They painted vivid pictures of smoke-filled rooms and ‘back-channel deals,’ all of which were a fantastical farse. But alas, the damage was done.”
Barreto said the community had painted his group as bullies pushing Burger Bob McGuire out of his beloved old-style diner at the edge of the Granada Golf Course when that lease was coming to a natural end. What started as a proposal to “preserve his legacy by rejuvenating the city’s favorite diner was twisted into a web of misinformation that resulted in nothing but suffering for those trying to do a good thing, including several former elected officials who introduced me to Bob.”
And he doesn’t want anyone to think this was an inside track deal?
City administrators and commissioners claimed that the current country club operator has defaulted on the rent and neglected to maintain the historic property since taking over the lease in 2009. Last March, the Di Donato family that operates the club were told that they would not be allowed to renew the lease, which was up in September (extended to this April, 2022, so they could fulfill commitments). Last April, the city put out a request for proposal, seeking a minimum $4.5 million investment.
Only the Barreto Hospitality Group responded. But because the operators said they were approached in October of 2020 by Barreto to take over the operations, the move not to renew seems political. The Di Donatos say the only rent missed was for one month during the pandemic because they were shut down and that they have since paid up. And that they tried to meet several times with City Manager Peter Iglesias, to no avail.
Defenders of the current country club operators say the city went out of its way to find a reason to reject the automatic renewal.
Barreto, who is a prolific political fundraiser, also made an unsolicited bid to lease and operate Burger Bob’s, which everybody feared would be turned into a fancy restaurant, like the other one he runs. They also feared Barreto would turn the country club into a mini mall or something.
In other words, the proposals were not met with cheer from the old Gables community. Residents who live directly around the country club and some of the 1,200 or so members began to actively fight it. There were jam packed meetings at the Country Club where residents practically begged the current operators, Liberty Entertainment Group as Gables Grand, to fight harder to keep the lease. An online petition to keep the current operators and the country club as is has more than 3,200 signatures. The operator hired an attorney.
“This ‘process’ was flawed from the start because it had one goal,” attorney David Winker told Ladra. “To hand over control of these two beloved community assets in yet another ‘special deal for special people done behind closed doors.’
“In the process they damaged our community by creating more mistrust and causing Rita Tennyson to close Burger Bob’s and terminating the Di Donato’s lease of the Country Club. Both are answers to problems that don’t exist,” Winker said.
“The City needs to have an outside investigator dig into what happened, so we can stop this pattern. From Wawa, upzoning to allow hated out-of-scale development like the Agave Plaza, to the recent ‘mistake zoning’ on Biltmore Way — we need to change Coral Gables government to reflect what residents want.
“And the City needs to apologize for falsely maligning these beloved operators and work with the Di Donato family to keep the Country Club and Liberty Caffe as they are… because that is what residents want,” he said.
The “vitriolic” tone of the debate can be seen on the Gables Insider, where Barreto wrote a guest column explaining his interest — no, he doesn’t identify the former elected that introduced him to McGuire — which was then responded to by the Di Donatos and members of the community.
In the somewhat snarky note, Barreto hinted that the city will regret losing his interest.
“The ‘bad will’ created by a few malcontents is costly. This is clear now and will become more so in the coming months and years. It would be imprudent for us to commit to investing over $5 million in places where we are not welcome,” he wrote, adding that this withdrawal would also save commissioners discomfort.
“Any member of the Commission who votes in favor of approving our proposals would suffer politically with the loud minority of malcontents in the nearby neighborhood, and for no good reason. Our Commissioners and Mayor are underserving of such ire. We have, in our view, among the best local government officials and staff anywhere in the world.”
Especially if they give you an inside track, right?
“Best of luck to you and the City with whatever the future will now hold for these iconic locations,” he ended, signing it with what looks like a fat, blue Sharpie.
Drop mic.
Rodney Barreto withdraws proposals to operate Coral Gables Country Club and Burger Bob’s by Political Cortadito on Scribd
Read MorePolitical Cortadito
