MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

VULTURES ATTACK SOUTH BEACH CONSTRUCTION SITE!

Parking Vultures Swoop Down on Hapless Workers

29 January 2014
By David Arthur Walters
MIAMI MIRROR
MIAMI BEACHSuddenly and without warning, construction workers vehicles parked in front
of Keith Menin and Jared Galbuts 800 First Street development were attacked by parking
code vultures last week.
Workers managed to scramble down from the rising structure to their cars quickly enough to
escape two competing tow trucks hovering behind the code officer, but others were not so
lucky. It was the general contractor, G.T. McDonald Enterprises, who picked up the tab for the
assault. Project superintendent T.J. Cook said the company paid for a dozen $18 parking
tickets before renting parking spaces in Joes Stone Crab lot behind the project at $160 per day.

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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Thanks a lot, sweetheart, was all Mr. Cook had to publicly say about the parking maid who
had handed out tickets like candy. He had pleaded with her for a break, and even managed to
shelter a few fleeing cars behind the temporary construction fence as other workers hurried to
their vehicles.

Mr. Cook had approached me after he saw me taking pictures of site. I chatted with him about
my experiences with an unlicensed general contractor named Jihad who had done millions of
dollars of construction inside condominium buildings, some of it without permits.
After Jihad was tagged at the Continuum without consequences, I said, he built out a unit at
the Icon without a permit. He liked to go into units with a flooring contractor then do all sorts of
unpermitted work
Yeah, said Mr. Cook, there are those guys around, but we are careful to abide by the law.
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

Well, what about the signs on the fence? Are they permitted?
The owner takes care of that.
I doubt it. Hardly any contractor gets Planning to review and permit temporary construction
signage, and nobody cares unless someone complains.

I asked about the signs on the fence in front of the project. Construction fences are permitted
by the Building Department along with other permits. So-called wrap-around advertising must
be reviewed by the Planning Department. Signs standing independently or hung on fences must
be separately permitted, and, if they are real estate advertisements, they must bear permit
decals.
We can have construction signs, pronounced Mr. Cook.
They must be permitted. Actually, state law requires your No Trespassing sign to have your
contractor license number on it since it is a form of advertising. Your general sign in the back
has the number on it but not your No Trespassing sign here in front.
My comment drew a look from Mr. Cook that said, If its not one thing, its another. Yet he
was cool as a cucumber as he took calls and people came at him from all sides, until, at that
very moment, the parking vultures swooped onto the scene, giving him cause to panic for his
comrades. Workers on top of the project were whistling the alarm like mad.
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

The guys are mad about you, I said to the parking enforcement maid. I think they want a
date.
I doubt it, she said in good humor.

Well, here come the vultures, I nodded at the black tow truck.
Theyre not vultures. Theyre jus doin their job.
Indeed. Everyone is just doing his job.

The Legendary Russell Galbut

The Galbut family has convenient interests in the beachs towing duopoly and in parking
garages as well. Rule Number One in South Beach: Park in a garage or feed the meter or get
your car ticketed, towed, and maybe get your vehicle cleansed of valuables if not stolen.
If all goes as planned, the 800 First Street project will house a Red Ginger Restaurant, a local
Bake House, incorporate the Radio Bar next door, and will support a lift garage with 100 parking
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MIAMI MIRROR TRUE REFLECTIONS

spaces. A grand residence with a pool is on the tops off the structure. The developers, locallybred hoteliers Keith Menin and Jared Galbut, are familial protgs of cruise company director
and developer Russell Galbut, a father-figure whose Crescent Heights company served as the
boot camp for their conversion of old apartment buildings into boutique hotels. Uncle Galbuts
influence has helped them get financing, cut red tape, and get several projects done quickly
around the city.

Rendering on construction fence at 800 First Street site

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