Partygoers stumble back to The Club at Brickell Bay at 4 a.m. March 30, 2026.
Linda Robertson
lrobertson@miamiherald.com
The Club at Brickell Bay, one of Miami’s largest condos, has been overrun by short-term rental chaos as full-time residents dwindle to 15%. A Miami Herald investigation found the city fails to enforce its own ban on Airbnbs in multi-family residential buildings.
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Here are key takeaways:
The 43-story, 643-unit building has roughly 545 units operating as investor-owned Airbnbs, with full-time homeowners and residents reporting wild parties, sex workers in hallways, porn shoots on balconies, drug use and near-daily police calls.Karl de Borbon, the former board president who runs six Airbnbs under the host name “Mr. Wonderful,” insists short-term rentals are legal at The Club, telling a code inspector, “I know everybody at the city.” The five-member HOA board controls the building; all officers are in the Airbnb business.The city of Miami dismissed five citations issued to owner-hosts without a code enforcement board hearing or fines after their online listings were briefly removed.Miami’s zoning code prohibits stays under 30 days in multi-family residential buildings without a condo-hotel Certificate of Use. Former Club grievance committee member Alex Fornet says his signature on the building’s 2007 Certificate of Use was forged: “As far as I’m concerned the entire document is a fraud.” In addition, the certificate contains no mention of lodging.Former property manager Yissely Herrouet was arrested in November on four felony charges, accused of stealing more than $142,000 from the HOA through ghost employees and doctored expense reports. She has pleaded not guilty. While she was working at The Club, her mother’s housekeeping company got a contract to clean the building, and she and her relatives purchased five units, which are still operating as Airbnbs.
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The Club at Brickell Bay, 1200 Brickell Bay Drive, is one of Miami’s largest condo towers with 643 units. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com
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