The practical questions on Ziggurat that the brochure does not answer: what is left in a collection of roughly 19, what living above a retail paseo and beside an office building means day to day, what the deposit schedule looks like, what the carrying cost of a rooftop and a hydrotherapy circuit across 19 homes will be, and what to read with your attorney. From the desk at Miami Dossier.
Written by the desk at Miami Dossier for buyers who are past the brochure and into the decision. The desk works in English, Spanish and Portuguese and does not represent the developer. All notes from the desk.
The reasons to like Ziggurat are covered in a companion note. This one is about the decisions, in the order a buyer meets them. The desk at Miami Dossier walks buyers through every one of these on Grove buildings every week, and the answers change from person to person, which is why the note asks questions more than it gives instructions.
Roughly 19 homes, reported as mostly sold before groundbreaking, means the remaining list is short and the plan you want may not be there. The desk at Miami Dossier obtains the current availability on request rather than working from the published range, and the honest conversation is about what is.
The residences sit above roughly 45,000 square feet of retail and a courtyard with a restaurant, a cafe and a market, and beside a five-storey office building with a rooftop restaurant. That is the village life the building sells, and it is also activity below and beside the homes, in the evening as well as the day. Visit the corner at the hours you would use it, and ask how the residential entry, parking and terraces are separated from the public spaces.
In a stepped building of a few storeys the decision is not height; it is which terrace, which orientation to the park across the street, and how much of the planted facade is yours. Ask the desk at Miami Dossier for the plans by residence.
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.
Ziggurat, like every Miami preconstruction building, has a staged deposit schedule set by the developer, with the site cleared and construction to follow. The desk at Miami Dossier obtains the current one on request. Read it alongside our general note on what a normal deposit schedule looks like, and read the escrow clause with your attorney.
A rooftop pool, a hydrotherapy circuit, cabanas and a shared landscape carried by roughly 19 owners is a real budget over a very small count, and how it is shared with the office and retail components is set in the documents. Monthly assessments will be meaningful. The desk at Miami Dossier obtains the current estimates and shares them on request rather than publishing numbers that change.
A collection this small is built around owners in residence. Leasing rules in the condominium documents will say what is permitted: minimum terms, frequency, and any owner-occupancy expectation. If income is part of the plan, confirm the rules before you commit.
Allen Morris has completed more than 90 projects in Florida since 1958, and the desk at Miami Dossier holds the delivery history: what was announced, when it was estimated, when it delivered. With the loan closed and the site cleared, the remaining risk is schedule. Read the estimated completion date, the extension rights and any outside date with your attorney, and read our note on what happens if a developer delivers late.
Whether to hold a residence in your own name or through an entity turns on privacy, liability and, for a foreign buyer, U.S. estate tax exposure. It is decided at contract and it is expensive to unwind. It belongs with your attorney and CPA, and the desk at Miami Dossier can introduce both.
The purchase agreement in full: the deposit and escrow clause, the estimated completion date and extension rights, any outside date, the assignment clause. The condominium documents on leasing, assessments, and the allocation of shared costs with the office and retail components. The desk at Miami Dossier is not a law firm and does not give legal advice; we make sure you have the documents and a good lawyer to read them.
Sometimes the answer is another building. A buyer who wants the water, a tower with a full service platform, or quiet at street level, may be better served elsewhere, and the desk at Miami Dossier will say so; Four Seasons Coconut Grove on the bay is the usual comparison. Ziggurat suits the buyer who wants an Oppenheim house in the centre of the village, with the cafes downstairs and roughly 18 neighbours. If that is you, the next step is a conversation, and the first thing we will do in it is check what is left.
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.
Most of the people who ask the desk at Miami Dossier about Ziggurat Coconut Grove are not only choosing a building. 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 in Miami, 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, and the Florida state income tax question for anyone relocating from a high-tax state. For buyers arriving from a specific market there are notes for Bogotá, Mexico City and London, and a broader one on why so many wealthy families are moving to Miami.
Read the ones that apply, then bring the rest to the desk at Miami Dossier. It usually takes one conversation to see how Ziggurat Coconut Grove fits the move, or whether another building fits it better.
This note 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.
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, and the answer is nearly always that it can be done, in order, without surprises. If Miami is on your mind, as a home or as an allocation, we would be glad to share what we are seeing, privately, and to start with the question this note did not answer.