Miami, FL
A day in the life of Robert Rivani, a 34-year-old real-estate mogul with $750M in deals who left LA to invest in Miami
Robert Rivani got a taste for business flipping shoes as a teenager in his hometown of Los Angeles.
At first, he said, he sold his own Air Jordan and Nike shoes to just afford other shoes, but when business took off, he was making $10,000 a month before he could legally drink. He dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. At 18 years old, Rivani said he was approached to sell his shoe collection for over $150,000 and he took it.
“The hustle came young because my family wasn’t wealthy or rich by any means, and I wanted to be able to afford nicer things in life,” Rivani, now 34, told Business Insider. “The only way for me to go about getting that done was by making it on my own.”
He started working in property management, helping run buildings in Los Angeles, and has stayed in real estate ever since. He specializes in buying more dated buildings, from restaurants to offices, and revamping them.
“I consider myself somewhat of an artist when it comes to designing the properties,” he said. “Painting a building a certain way or making it more aesthetically pleasing, from the facade or the landscaping, and then being able to have tenants buy into the vision. It was an amazing thing to turn around these dilapidated properties into something special or unique.”
Rivani left California in 2022 to make his mark in Miami, where he’s grown his real-estate portfolio.
His investment group, Black Lion, has a portfolio of restaurants, office buildings, and mixed-use buildings in South Florida totaling 500,000 square feet of space owned.
His hospitality real-estate investment firm has completed $750 million in transactions, he said.
In April, he paid $62.5 million for a building in Miami Beach with stores at its base and offices above. He plans to renovate the interior and exterior and rebrand it at The Rivani. So far, West Elm and Williams Sonoma are retail tenants.
“To buy my own office building at 34 years old for 60-some-odd million with no investors or no partners was a huge milestone in my career,” Rivani said. “It was a dream of mine since I was a kid to have that and then also have the building named with my last name.”
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Rivani is also known for his California home — a Beverly Hills castle inspired by “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones,” including a $50,000 replica of the latter franchise’s iron throne — which he sold for $22 million in 2023.
Rivani now lives in a 9,000-square-foot mansion in Miami. He let Business Insider take a peek inside a typical day, and described how he sets his life up for success.
5:30 a.m.
Although Rivani left California for South Florida, he still sticks to his West-Coast rituals and wakes up around 5:30 a.m. or 6 a.m. While working in California, he still had properties to worry about on the East Coast, so he had to be up early to stay efficient. Now it’s just a habit.
“I get anxiety if I sleep until 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.,” Rivani told BI. “I feel like I’m missing things. I feel like I’m being disrespectful.”
6 a.m.
Once awake, Rivani immediately spends 30 minutes to an hour catching up on emails he didn’t get to the night before and researching current market trends. He also takes time to meditate and visualize what’s ahead in the day.
Around 7 a.m. every morning he has tea with his wife, Krystal.
Anna Orsborn
“I can’t stress how important it is to have a healthy, stable marriage when you’re trying to do what you do in real estate because you’re always so busy 24/7,” he said. “I make sure I spend quality time with her in the morning.”
8 a.m.
Rivani usually hits the gym in the morning for about an hour.
“I’m a big, big believer in going to the gym at least four to five days a week — or at least staying active, whether that’s hitting weights or playing paddle or tennis or physical therapy to keep my body,” he said. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that without your health, there’s no wealth.”
9 a.m.
Rivani leaves his home in Miami to his office in Miami Beach — which can take up to 45 minutes depending on traffic. Even that 45-minute drive is valuable time, so his personal assistant or wife drives while Rivani texts and takes calls.
“I’d rather not text and be on phone calls,” he said. “A lot of the good old residential brokers do, and I see them on their phone. I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
10 a.m.
Rivani is a believer in intermittent fasting and has his first meal, usually a protein shake, at 10 a.m.
His next meal won’t come until dinner.
“I’m a big fan of intermittent fasting, so that’s why I decided to drink tea versus other drinks because I fast for 14 to 16 hours every single day,” he said. “I won’t eat any food or have any special breakfast routine.”
1 p.m.
On Mondays, Rivani is usually slammed with a gauntlet of meetings from the legal team, to the construction team, to designer meetings, so he’s usually in the office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Throughout his meetings he’ll meet with his legal team and go over the status of pending deals. Meetings with the construction team checking in to see where they’re at with bids on new projects and ensuring current projects are on track. He’ll have interior design meetings to go over renderings for projects and help with furniture selection.
However, he’s a little more active every other day of the week. Tuesday through Friday, Rivani meets with tenant companies, potential vendors, and contractors.
Rivani has the luxury of having restaurants, including Delilah Miami, as tenants and can host multiple meetings in one location instead of bouncing around Miami.
Michael Timzil Nio
“I’ll set back-to-back meetings at one of my restaurant properties where I’ll just have people coming there,” he said. “So I try to be as efficient with my time. I’m never lapping the city to go to a meeting and going to another meeting — that’s just an inefficient use of my time.”
7 p.m.
About 65% of the time, Rivani eats dinner at home, he said.
“My wife loves to cook, and if I decide to eat out too much she’ll kill me,” he said. “On the weekends, that’s when we’re going out and having dinners. I’ll be having dinners much later than that, unfortunately.”
After dinner, Rivani winds down by watching TV for about an hour — he’s on his third watch of the History Channel’s Viking-age drama “Vikings,” he said.
Rivani said that because of the nature of the job, he’s still fielding calls up until bedtime.
“There’s no cutoff,” he said. “There are times when I’m talking to people right up until bed. I had a really bad habit where I would leave my phone on at night. But now it’s on silent and I don’t pick up anyone’s call. Once it gets to 9 o’clock-ish, my phone just goes on silent and time’s up.”
9 p.m.
It’s time for bed.
After starting their season off on the West Coast against Stanford, the Miami Hurricanes will return to Coral Gables for their home opener against the Florida A&M Rattlers.
Scheduling an in-state HBCU will never be a bad look for Miami, and while keeping these traditions alive is important, what the U will really gain out of this is a solid crowd for its home opener, a chance to score a lot of points, and ample opportunity to show off its new, glittery offense.
That being said, this is a FAMU team that went 5-7 last season and did make a trip to Hard Rock Stadium for its season opener against Howard in the Orange Blossom Classic, so the Rattlers aren’t walking into a totally new environment. The new-look Rattlers also bring a fresh head coach to the table, who will look to make a statement against the Canes.
2026 Miami Football Early Opponent Preview, Game 2: FAMU
The Offense
The buzz around Tallahassee and FAMU is all about first-year head coach Quinn Gray, who came to FAMU from Albany State, where he posted three consecutive winning seasons. He brought in a litany of transfers from Albany State, including quarterback Isaiah Knowles.
This is a homecoming for Gray, who played quarterback at FAMU before logging a more-than-solid career in the NFL. Alongside Knowles, FAMU added two quarterback prospects: one from the portal in Alabama State transfer James Hayes, and another in Thomas County Central (GA) prospect Jaylen Johnson.
While Gray’s offense will still need to be proven in the SWAC, Albany State managed to put up 33 points per game in 2025 and averaged nearly 200 rushing yards per contest. Couple that with around 200 pass yards per game, and the offensive resumé for Gray gets harder to ignore.
This won’t be the FAMU of last year, but that doesn’t mean that Miami shouldn’t still handle its business.
Defense
The defense for FAMU was its Achilles’ heel in 2025. In fact, Gray and company almost bested the Rattlers in Club Bragg when Albany State visited last season. The Golden Rams managed to put up 25 points on the Rattlers.
When it played against the upper echelons of the SWAC, the same story held true. Jackson State, Alabama State, Bethune-Cookman and Mississippi Valley State all put up at least 35 points against the Rattlers. FAMU hopes that the addition of Ryan Lewis Sr. as defensive coordinator will remedy its troubles, or at least start to do so, in 2026.
Lewis comes to FAMU from Alabama State, where his defenses were among the most impressive in the SWAC.
Schedule
After traveling to Stanford for the season opener, having a team like FAMU awaiting the Hurricanes in Coral Gables is as good of a get as one could ask for. The first two matchups of the year are as low-pressure as could be.
While the U is probably paying close to seven figures for this game to take place, it’s worth it for the final tune-up before ramping up the schedule and to keep a tradition alive in the Sunshine State.
Much like Game One, Miami will be a heavy favorite in this matchup, and rightly so.
Outlook
All signs point toward Miami having no trouble starting the year off 2-0. Stanford and FAU shouldn’t put up much of a fight against Miami’s hopes of returning to the National Title game.
Next week, though, is when things get serious as ACC play rolls on with a bout against Wake Forest.
The Game
Date: September 10
Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV: ACC Network +
Location: Hard Rock Stadium
Series History: Miami leads 3-0
Last Meeting: 2024
The Team
The Coach: Quinn Gray
Offensive Coordinator: Nicholas Sewak
Defensive Coordinator: Ryan Lewis Sr.
2025 Record: 5-7
2025 Rankings: N/A
Players to Watch: Isaiah Knowles, QB
Top Newcomer: Mike Peterson Jr., WR, Florida
Biggest Question: How will Gray’s offense transition to the next level?
The School
Location: Tallahassee, Florida
Founded: October 3, 1887
Enrollment: ~8,000
Nickname: The Rattlers
Colors: Pantone 151 (Orange), Pantone 348 (Green)
Mascot: “Venom” the Rattler
The Program
Last Win in the Series: N/A
Last ACC Title: N/A
National Championships: 1978 (DI-AA), 17 Black College Football Nat’l Championships
Playoff Appearances: N/A
Last missed bowl season: 2025
Heisman Trophies: N/A
The Schedule
September 10, 9 p.m., Miami Hurricanes vs. FAMU Rattlers
This is the second story in Miami Hurricanes on SI’s early preview series of all 12 regular-season opponents for Miami football in 2026.
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Sunshine Coffee, the homegrown brand known for its cheerful vibes, buzzy drinks and must-have treats, has officially opened the doors to its new flagship location in North Beach.
The new café at 7351 Collins Avenue sits in the same neighborhood where founders Alan Philips and Gelareh Mizrahi live with their four children. Through that proximity, the couple has created a business expansion that’s more like an open invitation to the surrounding community.
The new space was designed to capture the carefree spirit of a Miami beach day, with soaring curved ceilings, a dramatic wave-inspired coffee bar and a color palette that flows from sunshine yellow to ocean blue. It’s a sunny space that both a coffee shop and a happy beach getaway.
Fans of Sunshine Coffee’s signature drinks will find plenty to celebrate. The beloved Miami Iced is on the menu alongside favorites like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Bananababy and the nutrient-packed Super. Matcha lovers also have reason to rejoice, thanks to an expanded Gelly’s Matcha lineup, featuring colorful creations including the popular Baby Blue Butterfly Vanilla Matcha topped with strawberry foam.
Of course, Sunshine Coffee wouldn’t be Sunshine Coffee without a playful menu. Established winners include the internet-famous Pancake Cake, Brown Butter Focaccia Cinnamon Roll, Truffle Hashbrowns with Caviar and fresh-made Sundrop Doughnuts. New additions such as the Spicy Tuna Wrap with Crispy Rice Crumble and Huevos Rancheros Burrito add even more flavor to the mix.
Perhaps the biggest splash comes from an exclusive new soft-serve program available only at the North Beach location. Choose from naturally-colored yellow vanilla or blue Greek yogurt soft serve, then turn them into dreamy creations like the Sunshine Affogato or the cookie-topped Dream Team.
With two locations now open and plans to continue growing throughout Miami, Sunshine Coffee is establishing itself as a neighborhood café, a gathering place, a local landmark and place to grab a daily dose of both caffeine and sunshine.
A Miami Gardens man is facing DUI and other charges after he allegedly drove as fast as 125 mph while fleeing deputies in the Florida Keys, authorities said.
Jefry Julian Chaucanes Vasquez, 23, is facing charges of DUI, fleeing and eluding, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, reckless driving, and dangerous/excessive speeding, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
Authorities said deputies had seen Chaucanes Vasquez speeding at 90 mph in a Mazda sedan on U.S. 1 near Mile Marker 80 at around 11:48 p.m. Tuesday.
A traffic stop was attempted but Chaucanes Vasquez sped away, illegally passing other motorists as he reached speeds of 125 mph, officials said.
Deputies used tire spikes to stop Chaucanes Vasquez near Mile Marker 83, and he was taken into custody and later booked into jail.
Two THC vapes were found in his possession, the sheriff’s office said.
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