Famous NYC Restaurant Rao’s Opening Soon in Miami Beach

Rao's Italian Restaurant
Rao's Italian Restaurant

The iconic New York City eatery Rao’s, noted for both its exclusivity and its red-sauce cuisine, is establishing a presence in Miami Beach and we can’t be more excited to try it!

The Pellegrino family’s Italian restaurant is slated to launch at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel at 1601 Collins Avenue in the first few months of 2023. Rao’s will be replacing the ground-floor restaurant Lure Fishbar.

The original Rao’s is located in Harlem, New York, and is known for turning away notables due to the difficulty of reserving tables. Rao’s also has a location in Los Angeles and their location in Las Vegas was closed last year. Rao’s is run by Frank Pellegrino Jr. and Ron Straci

Frank Jr. is the 4th generation owner of Rao’s and since his undertaking of the restaurant, he has created a family brand of sauces, pasta noodles, and soups that can be found in your local groceries.

The restaurant recently ran a pop-up at David Edelstein’s W South Beach hotel while shopping for a location to set up shop.

The 790-key hotel is owned by the Tisch family, which is headed by Loews chairman Jonathan Tisch and had housed renowned chef Emeril Lagasse’s eatery.

The most recent New York restaurant chain to open a location in Miami is Major Food Group’s Carbone in South Beach. Since then, the company has had fast growth throughout Miami and in Boca Raton. Additionally, Pastis is anticipated to debut at an Edelstein property in Wynwood.

Locally, other restaurants and hospitality chains like Casa Tua and Cipriani are also growing. The NoMad Residences in Wynwood, developed by Edelstein, Related Group, and Alex Karakhanian, will soon welcome Casa Tua.

The Mr. C Residences in Coconut Grove and the Cipriani Residences in Brickell are being branded by the Cipriani family, which already owns a flagship restaurant in Brickell and co-developed the Mr. C Hotel there.

‘Millionaire’s Tax’ Heads to New York While Bankers, and Big Earners Head Out

The Charging Bull bronze statue in the Financial District of Manhattan.

High tax rates are common within the city of New York and it has never really steered bankers, fund managers, and big earners away from ‘The Big Apple.’ In fact, the appeal to live in New York has always been the exclusivity of living there if you could afford it. But with a recent New York state budget agreement that plans to raise rates among certain high earners, there are some that are looking to move and settle south.

According to a Reuters article, a high level employee at a large bank who does not want to be identified stated, “I’m already looking for an apartment in Florida.” There has also been talk among others who are earning more than $1 million are considering moving their entire firms out of the city.

The breakdown of the legislation would have the top New York City earners paying an upwards of 15.73% in combined state and city taxes. To put it in perspective, the current tax rate for the state range from 4% to 8.82% and the city ranges are 3.08% to 3.88%

This legislation was named the “millionaire’s tax,” and is expected to increase taxes for earners who make more than $1 million a year. If implemented, this tax would beat California’s (highest in the country) tax rate.

The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street.

Larger companies have already started moving staff out of New York. Some of note are Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, Virtu Financial Inc, and Elliot Management. A smaller hedge fund manager stated, “This creates an overwhelming incentive to move.”

Geoffrey Weinstein, a tax attorney for Cole Schotz stated that, “When wealthy people don’t like something, they don’t protest, they just leave.” If this is the case, then the tax will eventually fall on earners making less that $1 million.

With more people working remote due to the pandemic, places like Florida that have lower tax rates, lower real estate taxes, and are fully opened are becoming an ideal location for top earners. And we at Miami Condo Investments welcome them with open arms!