Inside the Plan to Save Virginia Key | Robert Christoph Jr.

Robert W. Christoph Jr., President of RCI Group and the man behind Monty's and Nick's Beach, joins us to share his plan to finally save Virginia Key. He walks us through why preserving Miami's most iconic waterfront spots has always been central to his projects, why this particular redevelopment has taken so long to get moving, and what the referendum on November 3rd actually means for the future of the site.

We get into the vision for the redeveloped Virginia Key, plans to keep current businesses operating there, public access, the RFP process, public-private partnerships, why there will be no condos involved, and how much this will actually cost taxpayers. Plus a first look at the renderings and his top 3 Miami restaurants.

If you care about Miami's waterfront and its history — this episode matters.

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Produced by: Ben Schwede
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0:00 Intro
2:42 Bobby’s Background
3:14 Monty’s and Nick’s Beach
4:52 Investments in Ft. Lauderdale and Coconut Grove
5:45 Preserving Miami’s History and Iconic Spots
7:26 Save Virginia Key
10:40 Why It Takes So Long
12:18 Referendum
13:45 What Are They Going to Build
15:34 Working with Current Business There
16:34 Cost to Taxpayers
17:48 Next Steps
20:28 Renderings and Bringing Back Iconic Places
21:52 Rusty Pelican
22:56 Available to the Public
24:14 UM Rosenstiel School
25:11 Current Operator and Failed Referendum
26:44 Politics
31:26 Transportation
32:19 RFP Process
33:11 Public Private Partnerships
34:52 No Condos
36:31 Why Should Voters Care
37:25 Funding of This Project
38:33 How the Experience Will Look There
40:05 Marine Stadium
42:20 Top 3 Restaurants
46:17 ADIM Filming the Site
48:04 Buying Monty’s
49:08 Problems with Developing Waterfronts
50:44 Outro