World Cup scouting report: Miami, from swampy rail depot to global cultural crossroads

CoStar News examined each FIFA World Cup host city and what the tournament June 11-July 19 could mean for local infrastructure, real estate, tourism and economic development long before the first soccer match is played. Find links to all the markets here.

The FIFA World Cup is coming to 16 North American cities, including several that will be hosting the global soccer extravaganza for the first time.

Among the new host cities is one home to a diaspora of fans from across the globe that may be more comfortable calling the sport "futbol" than soccer. And that same diaspora has made Miami one of the most in-demand real estate markets in the country.

Miami is known for its year-round warm weather and beaches. But it’s the city’s strategic position bridging North and South America that helps drive its status as a key logistics hub, a growing global financial center and a cultural melting pot that give it the title of Capital of Latin America.

Here is CoStar News’ scouting report:

Miami was founded in 1896, with Ohio-born landowner Julia Tuttle — who owned 640 acres of land north of the Miami River credited for bringing Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railroad down to what was then mostly swamp to the area.

Legend has it that during the Great Freeze of 1894-1895 that devastated Florida’s orange crop north of Palm Beach, Tuttle mailed the industrialist flowers — some say it was a collection of orange blossoms — as proof of the region’s resilience and suitability for a new city.

Today, while the city of Miami only ranks 42nd in the country by population and spans 36 square miles, the metropolitan area ranks eighth, with more than 6.4 million residents spread across 5,067 square miles in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, per the U.S. Census Bureau.

For the time being, Miami’s tallest building is the 868-foot-tall Panorama Tower, built by the late Tibor Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty in the Brickell financial district in 2018. But that’s rapidly changing as a new generation of skyscrapers approaching the 1,000-foot-tall mark like the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and Residences and Cipriani Residences race toward completion.

The new skyscrapers are the latest examples of Miami’s knack for reinvention. Many point to the land boom of the 1910s and 1920s, when developers quickly — and somewhat magically — opened a swath of hotels and shops around what would become downtown while dredging canals to help pave the way for new development farther inland, the origin for the moniker of "Magic City."

It was during this formative era that the historic 326-foot-tall Dade County Courthouse, the tallest building in the South at the time, opened in 1928. Cities like Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Hialeah were founded, and shuttles took potential wealthy buyers from northern states looking for cheap land around the newly platted neighborhoods with the aim of converting them for future residents.

Decades later, a new generation of Miamians arrived from Cuba, and throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the city emerged as a haven for immigrants from Latin America escaping political violence.

In turn, many started new businesses and helped grow existing industries, with downtown high-rises like One Biscayne or One Downtown opening in the 1970s. The 765-foot-tall Southeast Financial Center followed in 1984, setting the stage for the iconic skyline featured prominently in the television show "Miami Vice."

Metropolitan Miami is home to 10 of the country's largest publicly traded companies, including homebuilding giant Lennar. Other Fortune 500 companies include World Kinect, Ryder, Watsco, MasTec, Icahn Enterprises, Chewy, AutoNation, Carrier Global and NextEra.

Miami is a key industrial real estate market thanks to its port, international airport and position between North and South America. Lack of available land forces development to move at a slower pace than the rest of the country, keeping vacancies well below the U.S. average for decades, according to a CoStar report.

After double-digit increases in multifamily rental rates following the pandemic, the region’s multifamily development boom has driven luxury apartment vacancies up to just over 10%, stymieing new rent growth that remains flat from the same time last year, CoStar data shows.

The median sales price for a single-family home hovers around $573,000, according to Homes.com.

Retail rents in Miami are some of the highest in the nation, and the priciest in Florida, with Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach close behind, according to a CoStar report. Limited availability and the expansion of major national retailers mean rent growth remains above the national average.

Hoteliers throughout Miami have been enjoying a strong few years, and 2026 is expected to bring seven World Cup matches, the Major League Baseball’s World Baseball Classic, the Miami Open and Formula One, along with the city’s traditional slate of professional and collegiate basketball, hockey, football and baseball games, as well as its world-class beaches.

The host venue will be the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Built in 1987 and originally known as the Joe Robbie Stadium, it is home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and the Formula One Miami Grand Prix. The stadium and football team are both majority-owned by billionaire and New York and South Florida developer Stephen Ross.

Because of FIFA policies that require neutral naming to avoid conflicts with World Cup sponsors, the stadium will temporarily be referred to as Miami Stadium during the tournament.

While Miami's Latin heritage meant that soccer has long had a home in the city, it was two famous international players — David Beckham and Lionel Messi — that helped solidify its position in the global landscape.

In 2018, Major League Soccer officially awarded the organization's 25th franchise to an ownership group led by the famed former Manchester United captain and three-time FIFA World Cup veteran Beckham, alongside real estate developers and brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, who also hold leadership roles in an engineering and construction firm called MasTec.

The trio was a driving force behind the creation of Inter Miami and the development of the recently opened Nu Stadium, a 26,700-seat dedicated soccer venue at the Miami Freedom Park development site next to Miami International Airport.

But it was Messi who arguably placed Miami on the map for the sport. The all-time leading scorer for one of Spain's top clubs, FC Barcelona, Messi is an eight-time Ballon d'Or winner honoring the sport's top player in a given year. He joined Inter Miami in 2023 and led the team to its first MLS Cup championship in a 3-1 win against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

That same year, Messi signed a three-year extension with Inter Miami and is expected to remain playing in South Florida until the 2028 MLS season, ensuring that Miami will continue to command a global fan base for years to come.

Locals will have to travel to see Messi play in this year's World Cup. The Argentine forward, who led his nation to victory in the 2022 tournament, is in part of a group stage that takes place in Kansas City and Dallas.