Legal fight to tear down Miami Beach mansion over [Private Property Victory]

WPLG-TV ^ | 3/18/14

[SoFloFreeper]

... Miami Beach mansion, owned by "Real Housewives of Miami" star Lisa Hochstein, is coming down after a long legal battle....

[SoFloFreeper]

Video at link.

Summary: A couple find an old house on the market, buy it.

They decide to demolish it, when all of a sudden a bunch of "preservationists" filed legal action. They claimed the house was a historical landmark....

After YEARS of fighting, these folks are FINALLY getting to do what they want WITH THEIR OWN PROPERTY.

[skinkinthegrass]

fine, IF these (d@nm) "preservationists" wanted "to preserve", they should have bought it?
Can these (d@nm) preservationists be held responsible for the homeowners' cost (loser pays)?
"i would have countersuited till all costs were retrieved. "

[liberalh8ter]

And the newscaster repeated the misinformation that the house was used in the movie Scarface. During the Real Housewives show, the couple visited the home as a boat full of tourists circled the property and the tourists were told it was a Scarface location. The couple laughed and stated it was a pervasive rumor and that the house was not used in the movie. A visit inside the house showed the decrepit state of the inside, as well as the remnants of various squatters who had been staying inside. I'm glad they won the case but appalled they had to even deal with it.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“Ex post facto” preservation is nonsense. If a place is to be designated as a historic site, it has to be done with the permission of its current owner, not by others against someone who just bought it.

This brings to mind something that is happening today just in ordinary suburbs. Someone moves in, and after a year campaigns to turn the neighborhood into a “historic district”, touting all sorts of alleged benefits. And these people get very emotionally invested in the idea, because they think they will make money on the deal.

It’s a scam. A devil’s deal.

If the people in that neighborhood agree to it, they are effectively agreeing to zoning control over their property. Other people who can say what you can do to your house. And no, zero, zoning variances in the future. You want to add a bedroom? Tough.

It’s like a homeowners association run by Democrats, on steroids.