Vita at Grove Isle

Building facts

Address

4 Grove Isle Drive

Neighborhood

Coconut Grove

Year built

2024

Floors

5

Residences

64

Status

Pre-Construction

Developer

Ugo Columbo

Architect

CallisonRTKL

Pricing

Starting at $5.16 Million

Vita at Grove Isle is finished. It received its temporary certificate of occupancy in December 2025, roughly a year later than promised and after more than a decade of litigation that at various points threatened to stop it entirely. Sixty-five residences across three interconnected seven-storey buildings on a private twenty-acre island in Coconut Grove, developed by Ugo Colombo’s CMC Group.

This is no longer a pre-construction purchase. It is a completed building with real closings, a real association and a real litigation history — and the litigation is the part most write-ups skip. It is on this page, dated and sourced, because it is the single most relevant thing a buyer here should understand.

By Josh Stein — Miami real estate associate, Florida license SL3057661. Selling Miami luxury property since 2002, with more than $1 billion closed.

What Was Actually Built

65 residences across three interconnected seven-storey buildings named Mare, Luce and Sole, on Grove Isle — a private twenty-acre island reached by a single causeway off Coconut Grove. The developer is CMC Group, Ugo Colombo’s firm, which acquired the land entity in 2022 from prior developer Eduardo Avila.

The scale is the point. Seven storeys and 65 homes on twenty acres is the opposite of what is being built two miles north in Brickell, and it is only possible because the entitlement predates the current regime by decades. Colombo is also building Four Seasons Private Residences Coconut Grove on South Bayshore Drive, which is the closest comparable product by sponsor.

The Litigation History — Read This First

Grove Isle’s existing residents fought this building for more than a decade, and the record is long enough that a buyer should see it laid out rather than discover it at closing.

• 2020 — a settlement resolving existing residents’ loss of the island’s club, hotel, spa and tennis courts was approved by Judge Michael Hanzman and affirmed by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in May 2021.
• April 2022 — the Tigertail Association and homeowners sued City of Miami officials, alleging permits were issued and the property subdivided before the site was properly platted. The suit was voluntarily dismissed in October 2022, with stated intent to refile.
• January 2025 — opponents refiled against the City of Miami over the same permitting question, and separately argued the project breaches a 1977 covenant capping Grove Isle at 575 residential units — Vita takes the island’s total to 589. Homeowners are represented by attorney David Winker, who has argued the project lacks the setbacks and other requirements that platting would have imposed.

The building was completed anyway, in December 2025. What I cannot tell you from the public record is the current status of the January 2025 action — the most recent primary source I have is the December 2025 completion coverage, which reports the suit as live. Anyone buying here should have counsel pull the current docket rather than rely on this page for that one fact.

None of this means the title is bad or the building is at risk. Completed, occupied condominiums with contested entitlement histories are not unusual in Miami. It means the diligence is different from a normal resale, and it means a title commitment and a litigation search are not optional here.

The Timeline, Dated

• June 2021 — the project is announced under the Vita name, replacing the earlier Markers Grove Isle scheme.
• August 2022 — presales launch.
• February 2023 — completion publicly stated as winter 2024.
• 21 April 2023 — groundbreaking, with a stated build of 24 to 28 months, implying roughly April to August 2025.
• December 2023 — $239 million construction loan closes with Bank OZK; delivery now late 2025.
• September 2024 — tops off, late 2025 holds.
• December 2025 — temporary certificate of occupancy. Delivered, 85% presold, ten units remaining.

Two documented slips, roughly a year of total movement. Measured against the field on the Miami Pre-Construction Delivery Tracker — where 22 of 38 towers have slipped and the record is 33 slips across the set — a year’s drift through a contested entitlement is a respectable outcome.

Buying Here Now

Because the building is delivered, the transaction is a resale or a remaining-inventory purchase, not a deposit against a rendering. That is a better position for a buyer in almost every respect, and the diligence changes accordingly.

What to ask for, in order:

• The current litigation docket on the January 2025 action and any successor filings — through counsel, not through the sales office.
• The association budget and reserve study, and the milestone structural inspection report now required by Florida statute.
• The insurance placement and any assessment history. Waterfront Florida in 2026 makes this the single largest variable carrying cost.
• The closing history — what has actually recorded since December 2025, at what prices. Ten units were unsold at completion, so developer inventory and resale inventory may be competing.
• The 1977 covenant capping Grove Isle at 575 units, and how the association treats it. Vita takes the island to 589, which is the heart of the opponents’ argument, and the covenant runs with the island.

Grove Isle and Coconut Grove Around It

Grove Isle is a private island of roughly twenty acres in Biscayne Bay, connected to Coconut Grove by a single causeway. That is an unusual piece of geography in Miami-Dade and it is most of the value here — it is gated by water rather than by a guardhouse, and no more of it is being made.

Coconut Grove itself is Miami’s oldest continuously inhabited neighbourhood, and it is protected in a way Brickell and Edgewater are not. The NCD-3 conservation overlay under Miami 21 caps most residential structures at 25 feet to the eave, imposes 70-foot yard setbacks on South Bayshore Drive parcels in its larger lot categories, requires green space of at least 0.3 times lot area, and requires a waiver and Planning Department tree review for every demolition permit. Developers routinely describe Grove zoning as restrictive. For an owner, that restriction is the asset — it is what protects the view and the canopy.

Within a short radius: CocoWalk at 273,000 square feet and fully leased as of 2023, the Dinner Key Marina with 587 wet slips taking vessels from 30 to 135 feet, the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club founded in 1887, and two of the strongest independent schools in the county — Ransom Everglades (founded 1903, 1,246 students, 1:8 student-teacher ratio) and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart (founded 1961).

Since2002Selling Miami luxury

Closed$1B+In career sales volume

Years24In this market

Buildings478Tracked across Miami

Vita at Grove Isle — Frequently Asked Questions

Is Vita at Grove Isle finished?

Yes. It received its temporary certificate of occupancy in December 2025 and is no longer a pre-construction purchase. It topped off in September 2024 and was 85 percent presold at completion, with ten units remaining available.

Where is Vita at Grove Isle?

4 Grove Isle Drive, Miami, FL 33133 — on Grove Isle, a private twenty-acre island in Biscayne Bay connected to Coconut Grove by a single causeway. Some records cite 5 Grove Isle Drive.

What is the litigation history?

Extensive. Existing Grove Isle residents opposed the project for more than a decade. A 2020 settlement over the loss of the island’s club, hotel, spa and tennis courts was affirmed by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in May 2021. In April 2022 the Tigertail Association and homeowners sued City of Miami officials over permitting and platting; that suit was voluntarily dismissed in October 2022 and refiled in January 2025, with opponents also arguing the project breaches a 1977 covenant capping Grove Isle at 575 residential units — Vita takes the total to 589. The building was completed anyway. The current status of the January 2025 action is not established by any source later than December 2025 — have counsel pull the docket.

How many residences are there?

65, across three interconnected seven-storey buildings named Mare, Luce and Sole. Seven storeys and 65 homes on a twenty-acre island is a density that could not be entitled today.

How late was it?

Roughly a year. Completion was publicly stated as winter 2024 in February 2023, moved to late 2025 at the December 2023 construction-loan close, and delivered in December 2025. Two documented slips — a respectable outcome given the entitlement was contested throughout.

What should I check before buying at Vita at Grove Isle?

The current litigation docket through counsel; the association budget, reserve study and milestone structural inspection; the insurance placement and any assessment history; the closing history since December 2025, since developer inventory may still be competing with resales; and the 1977 covenant, which runs with the island and sits at the centre of the opponents’ argument.

Sources and further reading

• Ugo Colombo completes Vita at Grove Isle condo project after years of legal fights — The Real Deal18 December 2025: the temporary certificate of occupancy, 85% presold, ten units remaining, and the refiled January 2025 litigation.
• Ugo Colombo gets Grove Isle construction loan from Bank OZK — The Real Deal4 January 2024: the $239M Bank OZK facility, the late-2025 delivery target and the decade of neighbour opposition.
• Grove Isle legal battle ending as developer rebrands planned waterfront condo project — The Real Deal9 June 2021: the 2020 settlement, its affirmation by the Third District Court of Appeal, and the rebrand from The Markers Grove Isle.
• Homeowners drop lawsuit over Ugo Colombo Grove Isle project approvals — The Real Deal26 October 2022: the voluntary dismissal of the Tigertail Association suit, with stated intent to refile.
• CMC Group breaks ground on Vita at Grove Isle — Florida YIMBY21 April 2023 groundbreaking, with a stated 24-to-28-month build.
• Miami 21 Neighborhood Conservation District NCD-3 (Coconut Grove) — City of MiamiThe zoning overlay governing Coconut Grove: the 25-foot height cap, setbacks, green-space ratio and tree-preservation waiver requirement.

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