Business Owner Says "Nothing Illegal On Ocean Drive" As Strip Club Rumors Circulate
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A local business owner is quelling rumors being spread by hip hop insiders that a new strip club on South Beach will be the back drop for a new reality series starring rapper T.I.
"You can have a restaurant that serves alcoholic beverages, that has entertainment, live music or amplified music," said City Manager Jimmy Morales.
Those are the only things Akinyele Adams plans to have at his new venture on the beach.
Yet social media posts and press releases have hinted that the building at 1330 Ocean Drive will house a sister property to King of Diamonds, a strip club in Miami Gardens.
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine posted on Facebook a letter from city attorney Raul Aguila that said in part: "The City has received notification of an individual that has acquired the naming rights for the King of Diamonds (KOD), and intends on opening some type of business establishment at 1330 Ocean Drive."
The rapper T.I. has said to premiere a reality series based out of South Beach that will focus on his company working with King of Diamonds to open a gentleman's club on Ocean Drive.
But Adams said all those reports are untrue, including that he will open next week.
And while adult entertainment is illegal in the city of Miami Beach, it's of no significance to Adams.
The rapper turned business owner said he plans to open a restaurant that serves soul food.
"We're not gonna do nothing illegal on Ocean Drive," Adams said. "We're not doing no type of nudity. We just want to be like every other restaurant out here that's gonna have beautiful people, beautiful food."
He told CBS4 News that he'll open once all the work is done and the permits and licenses are hung on the wall.
However, Mitch Novick isn't buying that it won't become a strip club. He thinks he's about to have an unwelcome neighbor.
"My gut tells me if this is actually in the works, it's gonna happen," said Mitch Novick.
Novick, owner of the Sherbrooke Hotel on Collins, has seen a change on South Beach that concerns him – especially as the high-end clientele flee the beach.
"Barney's Co-op, Ralph Lauren, Levi, Diesel, Urban Outfitters, Kenneth Cole and many of those shops are being replaced with t-shirt shops, smoke shops, pizza parlors, tattoo parlors," Novick said.
Former NFL player Marvin Washington, loves to vacation on Miami Beach, but he too sees a change from when he won the Super Bowl in Miami with the Denver Broncos.
"We like to do the clubs and the restaurants and what have you, but we also like to shop and the thing is all the higher end retailers have moved out," he said.
He said South Beach is going in a direction that he doesn't like.
"I've lived in New York and I've seen what happened to 42nd St. in the entertainment district. I see what happens on Bourbon Street," he explained. "Unless the people in charge get their hands around this, it's going to happen gradually and all at once."
The city says they understand the concerns of residents, vacationers and businesses, but they said the law is the law, and a strip club would be against the law.
"If a business wants to come in and operate legally and pull the necessary permits and get their certificates of occupancy, etc." Morales said, "they're great to do that."
Adams, who is mystified by all the controversy over the restaurant he wants to open, believes his race has a lot to do with all the drama.
"I feel like this is a modern day lynching," he said. "The elephant in the room is that we're about to be one of the first black owned establishments on Ocean Drive and they just don't want to see that."
