Two large waterfront Brickell programmes with very different structures behind them. The desk at Miami Dossier reads the difference and says which buyer each one is for.
Written by the desk at Miami Dossier, which holds developer material on both buildings and represents neither, for readers who have narrowed it to these two. All comparisons.
These are the two comparisons the desk at Miami Dossier is asked to make most often in Brickell, and the reason is that they look alike from the outside: both large, both waterfront, both carrying a luxury name. Underneath, one is an operating business and the other is a development programme, and that distinction outlives the finishes.
Both sit on the water rather than inside the Brickell grid, which is the single most durable advantage available in this neighbourhood. Water frontage cannot be built out. Inland views in Brickell can be and will be.
Both are large by the standards of this tier, with amenity programmes scaled to a substantial household count, and both are being delivered into the densest new construction corridor in Miami.
St Regis carries a hospitality operating agreement. That means staff, service standards and an operator with a record that can be checked against other properties. It also means an operating cost structure that a residential budget has to carry after the sales gallery closes.
Baccarat is Related Group at scale with a design name attached. Related's delivery record in South Florida is the longest of any developer in this market, which is a different and arguably more concrete reassurance than a service brand: it is evidence about whether the building gets built and delivered rather than about how the lobby feels afterwards.
Phasing separates them practically. Where a programme delivers in phases, the phase you buy is the product you get, and phase one and phase three of the same named development can differ in view, in construction period and in what is finished around you on move-in day. Ask which phase, always.
Ask what you want the brand to be doing five years after closing. If the answer is running the building, St Regis is the honest fit. If the answer is nothing in particular, and what you actually want is a well delivered building on water with a developer whose record you can verify, Baccarat is.
The second question is household count. Neither of these is a small building. If a quiet lift lobby matters to you, both are the wrong end of the market and 1428 Brickell or Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key is where that conversation should go.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
Both carry a three-note series at Miami Dossier. What follows is the comparative read that the individual notes deliberately do not attempt.
If you will live in the building and want it run for you, St Regis Brickell is the straightforward answer and the operator's record elsewhere is checkable evidence rather than a promise.
If your concern is that the building gets built, delivered and holds up, and you do not need staff, Baccarat gives you Related's record on a waterfront parcel, and you should spend your diligence on which phase and which line rather than on the brand.
Most of the people who bring this comparison to the desk at Miami Dossier are not only choosing between buildings. They are moving to Miami from New York, California, London, Bogotá, Mexico City or São Paulo, or adding a Miami position to a portfolio held elsewhere, and the building question sits inside a larger one: how to buy new construction here, how to hold it, and what changes when you do.
The desk keeps short notes on the parts that come up every week: how buying preconstruction in Miami actually works, what a normal deposit schedule looks like, whether you need to be in Miami to buy, whether a foreign buyer can get a mortgage, what taxes a foreign buyer pays on a Miami condo, what happens if a developer delivers late, and the Florida state income tax question. For buyers arriving from a specific market there are notes for Bogotá, Mexico City and London.
Read the ones that apply, then bring the rest to the desk at Miami Dossier. It usually takes one conversation to see which of these fits, or whether neither does.
This page is general information for people considering Miami, written by a real estate desk, not by a law or accounting firm. Nothing here is legal, tax, immigration or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances. Rules change, treaties differ by country, and the right answer for one family is the wrong answer for another.
Figures and building details are compiled from developer documents held by the desk at Miami Dossier and from public filings. They are approximate, subject to change, and anything material should be confirmed against the current developer release before you rely on it. Where the desk at Miami Dossier does not know something, the page says so.
Speak with your own attorney and CPA before you commit to anything. If you do not have one who works with international buyers in Florida, the desk is glad to recommend an attorney, a CPA or an adviser suited to your situation, and to sit in the first conversation so that nothing is lost in translation.
Structure, financing, currency, timing, the right building and the right line: the desk works through these questions with international buyers every week. What this page cannot do is know your position. Tell us the shape of it and we will say plainly which of these fits, which does not, and what we would want to see before anyone commits.