Swire Properties’ planned Residences at the Mandarin Oriental hit a sales milestone with the South Tower reaching $1 billion in condo deals, making the 66-story structure 50% sold, just the latest sign of high-end demand in Miami.
The Residences at the Mandarin Oriental are planned for the last available parcel on Brickell Key, a 44-acre island overlooking Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami. The two-tower project is expected to rise on the site of the existing 326-room Mandarin Oriental hotel at 500 Brickell Key Drive that will be demolished next year.
The hotel is closing its doors at the end of the month after a 25-year run, to make room for the new project that will include Mandarin Oriental's North American flagship hotel in the proposed North Tower. The 850-foot-tall South Tower comprises 228 residential units. Sales launched for the South Tower last year with prices starting at $4.9 million and going up to over $17.5 million. Half of the units that span from two to five bedrooms and from 2,300 square feet to more than 5,800 square feet are sold in the South Tower.
Buyers are willing to spend large amounts for Miami real estate. According to the latest figures from the Miami Association of Realtors, condo sales above $1 million accounted for 16% of transactions in March, a 1% increase from the same time last year. Overall, residential sales over $1 million were up 3.7% in the first quarter.
Condo buyers in the city of Miami paying cash, a metric typically associated with affluent buyers who can afford to pay for large transactions up front, accounted for 51% of sales during the quarter.
At the Residences at the Mandarin Hotel, developers are catering to that demand. The North Tower is also expected to have residential units along with the hotel. Plans call for 121 hotel rooms, 28 hotel residences, and an additional 66 private residences, with sales expected to launch later this year.
Completion expected in 2030
When Swire Properties first unveiled the project at the beginning of 2024, the developer expected that construction would be completed by 2029. However, Swire Properties is now anticipating completion in 2030, according to a statement.
Swire Properties canceled plans for a proposed supertall office tower in Miami’s Brickell financial district, less than a mile away from the Mandarin Oriental redevelopment project, earlier this year after disappointing preleasing activity.
The developer reportedly plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the land where the office tower was planned to help fund the Mandarin Oriental project.
The North Tower is expected to rise 426 feet and include a porte cochere where guests will arrive at the new hotel.
The project includes 100,000 square feet of amenities on a resort-style podium with landscaping design by Thai architecture firm Shma.
Plans call for 11 pools, a private tea pavilion, dining pavilion, rooftop bar and sky terrace.
For the record
Both the South and North towers at the Mandarin Oriental project were designed by the New York-based architecture firm Kohn Pederson Fox. Speirs Major, based in the U.K., is providing lighting, and Parisian designers Tristan Auer and Laura Gonzalez are creating interiors. Fortune Development Sales, based in Miami, is leading sales.