Will Miami Beach condo tower cast a shadow on a nearby hotel? There’s a showdown

A New York investor’s $1 billion project to restore the Raleigh Hotel with a new 200-foot luxury condo tower is triggering disputes over sunlight, scale and the character of Miami Beach’s Art Deco district.

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The plan to rehabilitate the long-shuttered Raleigh at 1775 Collins Ave. cleared another hurdle Tuesday after the Miami Beach Planning Board voted 5-1 to approve the developer’s request to add 66,000-square-feet of floor space to the project, which is backed by a New York investor.

Here’s the conflict: The Raleigh tower already has approval at 175 feet, but developer, Khaled Nasser and his Madison Avenue-based firm, Nahla Capital, plans to build a new condo tower up to the 200-feet maximum allowed by the city.

But the neighboring 171-feet Shelborne By Proper hotel says the new tower will cast a shadow over its pool, ruining the experience for guests at the luxury hotel. Both hotels are located along what has been dubbed Billionaires’ Beach, the ultra-luxury oceanfront corridor spanning a South Beach and Mid-Beach stretch that’s home to high-end and boutique hotels.

The redevelopment would transform the Raleigh and neighboring Richmond and South Seas hotels into a four-building oceanfront resort complex spanning three-acres, including the new condo tower on the east side of the project, closer to the beach.

Plans call for about 80 hotel rooms, a 52-unit luxury condominium tower, restaurants, gardens, shops and amenities overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

During the presentation, Raleigh attorney Alfredo Gonzalez showed renderings of the proposed condo tower.

“It looks huge,” Planning Board Chair Brian Elias said. Other board members agreed, but concluded the height issue belongs before the city’s Historic Preservation Board, not the planning board. They approved the additional floor space and declined to weigh in on the height dispute.

The hearing turned into a debate over the tower’s impact.

Nasser told board members his company is committed to preserving the Art Deco character of the area and has already invested about $5 million in the project.

“This project is about the rebirth of an icon on Miami Beach. We want to get it done,” Nasser said, adding that the redevelopment would revitalize the area, preserve three deteriorating historic hotels and generate new tax revenue for the city.

He also dismissed concerns about the shadows cast by the proposed tower, arguing they should not outweigh the broader public benefits of restoring the long-vacant property.

“I am asking you not to make this decision over someone else’s pool being covered for two hours a day for three weeks out of the year,” Nasser said.

Sun and shadow dispute

Results of shadow studies presented to the planning board indicate that, at the proposed 200-foot height, the tower would cast a shadow over the Shelborne’s pool for roughly two hours during December and January, the peak of Miami Beach’s tourist season.

Mitchell Cohen, owner of the Shelborne, told the board the proposed tower is out of scale with the surrounding historic district and would unfairly shift sunlight from neighboring properties to the Raleigh.

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“My understanding is that when they are done, the Raleigh pool will have more sun than it did in the 1950s,” Cohen said. “I feel that the applicant (Nasser) is asking you to do is take the sunlight away from me and give it to him. That’s not right.”

Cohen’s attorney, Amanda Quirke Hand, said the project is also incompatible with the surrounding historic district.

“The new tower is out of scale, out of context with the architectural district,” she told board members.

Meg Lousteau, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League, echoed those concerns, calling the proposed tower “fundamentally at odds” with the historic district. She said she opposed the proposed height of the condo because it is incompatible with the scale and character of Miami Beach’s historic Art Deco district.

Past attempts to redo the Raleigh

The Raleigh redevelopment has already undergone years of delays and two ownership changes.

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger once owned the Raleigh property but never moved forward with redevelopment plans.

In 2019, developer Michael Shvo and his investment partners purchased the Raleigh, Richmond and South Seas hotels for about $243 million, unveiling plans to restore the landmark hotels, create a luxury beach club and build a Peter Marino-designed condominium tower. Those plans also proved controversial.

After years of financial setbacks and little visible construction, the project stalled.

In October 2025, Nahla Capital acquired the property for $275 million, rescuing one of Miami Beach’s most closely watched abandoned Art Deco redevelopment projects.

The Miami Beach City Commission will next consider the planning board’s recommendation to approve the additional floor space. But for now, the project’s most contentious issue remains unresolved.

The Historic Preservation Board will ultimately decide whether the tower can rise to 200 feet. If it rejects the additional height, developers would likely have to redesign the project around the previously approved 175-foot tower.

It’s not the first time a shadow has cast a shadow on Miami Beach hotels. In 1959, the Eden Roc Hotel owners sued the Fontainebleau Hotel in an attempt to block an expansion that would cast a permanent shadow over the Eden Roc’s swimming pool area.

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